What should I do when a computer freezes or locks up?
Give the computer some time
Wait. Give the computer a few minutes to process. Sometimes a computer may appear to be frozen, but it's only slow or busy processing a complex task.
Is the computer deadlocked?
See if the computer responds by pressing the Caps Lock key on the keyboard and watching the Caps Lock LED (light) to see if it turns on and off.
If nothing happens, the computer is deadlocked, and you must reboot the computer. If the computer can turn on and off Caps Lock, continue to the next step.
End Task the not responding program
If the Caps Lock can turn on and off, Windows is still working, but another program may not be responding and causing the computer to freeze. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open the Windows Task Manager. If the Task Manager can open, highlight the program that is not responding and choose End Task, which should unfreeze the computer.
If the Task Manager opens, but the mouse is still not working, it may be a problem with the mouse's hardware.
Reboot a frozen computer
If none of the steps above helped, you must reboot the computer. To reboot a frozen computer, press and hold down the power button until the computer turns off. Once the computer is off, wait a few seconds, then turn the computer back on and let it start as normal.
What happens to any work not saved?
Any work not saved is lost when a frozen computer needs to be a reboot. In some situations, some programs may autosave your work every few minutes. If the program you are using performs this action, you can recover the work up to the last autosaved state.
Resolve hardware or device driver issue
If you tried all steps above and the computer still freezes, there may be defective hardware or a device driver that is not working correctly. A defective hard drive, stick of RAM, video card, or another piece of hardware can cause a computer to freeze. A device driver can also cause a computer to freeze if it's out of date, conflicting with another driver, or not working properly.
If you determine that a defective piece of hardware is causing the freezes, replace the hardware right away to prevent further damage to the computer. If a device driver is at fault, download the latest driver from the manufacturer's website and install it before the computer freezes. Or use another computer to download the driver and try installing the driver on your computer.
If you cannot install the latest driver before the computer freezes, another option is to start the computer in Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode, you can access Device Manager and uninstall the hardware device corresponding to the device driver that is not working correctly. Then, restart the computer and load it into Windows normally. Windows should detect the hardware you uninstalled and try to reinstall the device driver. This process may be enough to fix the issue, and stop further freezes from occurring. You can also try installing the latest driver at this point, to make sure your computer is up-to-date for that device driver.
How to open Safe Mode.
How to open Windows Device Manager.
You can also try accessing the computer BIOS and disable any hardware that is not working properly, to see if that stops the freezes from occurring. If this helps, consider replacing that hardware.
Other possible causes for computers being frozen
Please view our page on Windows freezes or stops responding frequently for other possible causes and ways to troubleshoot.
Windows freezes or stops responding frequently.
Take PC to repair shop
If the options above do not work, we recommend taking your computer to a computer repair shop and allow a computer technician to diagnose and fix the problem.