Computer Freezes when bumped or moved.

[Tyrion]

I keep thinking I solved it, but at last I think I finally have an answer, twice today I've bumped or moved my PC slightly, and in both cases it's freezed up. So that being said, it seems like something is loose someplace, how do I figure out what is loose? There are lots of things in a computer that could be loose.

[upcoast]

So this is a laptop or tower? Hdd or ssd?

[Tyrion]

Tower, something inside must be loose.

[upcoast]

Originally posted by Tyrion:

Tower, something inside must be loose.

Bumping towers with hdds isn't good consider yourself lucky it only freezes then works again.

I lost all the data off of a 2TB wd hdd from a small bump luckily it was a duplicate drive.

[Tyrion]

All my PC did was rock side to side for half a second. Oh and I picked it up and set it down. If that is enough to ruin a PC, then they are poorly made.

[_I_]

recheck all connections
power, to mobo, drive data cables, usb connections ect..
and tighten the mobo screws, gpu drives ect..

[Tyrion]

I have been getting errors that point to memory, either GPU, or RAM, so I'll try there first.

[OLDMAN🎅]

Sudden Motion Sensor

[Azza ☠]

While rocking a PC isn't recommended, it should be able to handle it even when running.

Some hard drives can get very upset...

Firstly there's the SATA data/power cables on the back, if loose, even slight bumps can bounce their connection off just on 1-2 pins, then reconnect and start working again. If this occurs the drive, spins down, could gets data corruption at the point it was reading/writing, but will attempt to carry on spinning back up again.

Sometimes with old well-used drives the plastic edges around those SATA ports at the back of the HDD break off or become lose, you have to apply force back there to keep pins in full connect, a small piece of ice cream container plastic wedge (if you want a really budget D.I.Y fix). However, it's basically time to get a new drive at that point if you don't want to risk losing all your data.

Rocks which tilt the PC case, also tilt the HDD plates inside, causing a slight hit and upset in performance. If the HDD isn't flat, performance stays slightly affected. Later model Western Digital Black Editions for example will add anti-tilt plate technology, this adjusts the plates slowly to any tilts to flatten back out and re-achieve maximum performance. Higher-end PC cases will also have more secure drive cages, which rubber padding on the screws and/or other anti-vibration technology.

However, low-end budget drives have a lower tolerances level and pc cases tend to miss this protection step and therefore vibration of the hard drive actually goes up the entire metal case, increasing noise levels and possible problems if knocked around too much. The hard drive head bumping can cause temporary freezing.

Also - Checking other things... Make sure the ram and GPUs are seated good too. All cables on the motherboard are firmly in place, etc.