10 Important Hardware Failures and Reasons:

Symptoms:

• "Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy”

• Blue Screen of Death.
• Fatal Exception Error. (RAM)
  
• Parity error messages. (RAM)
• RAM lock up and freeze the computer’s display. (BIOS)
• Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors. (Video Card)
• Computer can not start.(Power supply problem) system files missing.
• Computer loop on BIOS.(Power supply problem) system files missing.
  
• Blank screen.(Overheating)
• Black screen of Death.(Overheating)
  

Cause of problem:

1. Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. If there are a lot of devices, or if the hardware are not installed properly, when the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen.

Sometimes mismatch driver also can make your device can function properly.

Troubleshoot:

• Go to 'Device Manager' to check if all your device functional properly and all the driver for the device is install.
• Make sure your computer drive is up-to-date.
  

2. Bad Random-Access Memory(RAM)

RAM problems might bring on a fatal error message that indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing. But a fatal error caused by RAM might be caused by a mismatch of chips or mismatch speed of RAM.

Troubleshoot:

• Enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the RAM.
• Rearrange the RAM chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out.(Do not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.)
  

3. BIOS settings

A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up. Usually BIOS problem is come up, if you change something in the BIOS and the computer becomes more unstable.

Troubleshoot:

• Write down on a piece of paper all the BIOS settings that appear on the screen. That way, you will know what settings to revert to.
• Restore BIOS setting to default.
  

4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become fragmented. Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full.

Troubleshoot:

• Defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. (Use Windows Disk Defragment or any defragment application such as Diskeeper.)
• Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space.
  
• Scanned your hard disk every week for errors or bad sectors.

5. Video card

Troubleshoot:

• Take a look at the color settings in 'Display Setting'. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.
• Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Check it in 'Device Manager'
  
• Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6. Viruses

Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. Viruses also can 'eat' all your files in your hard drives including system files.

Troubleshoot:

• Install and update antivirus in your computer.
• Install also spyware application such as Spyware Doctor.

7. Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

Troubleshoot:
A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8. Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Incompatible software also cause of this problem. For example, you install Bitdefender and Kaspersky antivirus in a computer.

Troubleshoot:

• Use application like Your Uninstaller to uninstall this software.
• Make sure you have remove all the software before install a new software. To be safe, restart your computer after uninstall or remove a software.
• Use registry cleaner like Registry Booster to remove obsolete entries.
• Entering Safe Mode(Press F4 when Windows Start). Restore your computer to previous restore point.
  

9. Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or fills with dust it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

Troubleshoot:

• Install bigger and faster fan on the CPU.
• Install more fan to make air flow move faster.
• Clean your fan.
• For laptop user, dont put your laptop at your bed. Make sure your laptop have good air flow.
  

10. Power supply problems

Sometime computer crash because data lost in your computer. Computer is not properly shutdown may be the cause of the problem.

Troubleshoot:

• Buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut