What Should I Do If My Computer Freezes Completely?

☑️ Steps you can take when your computer locks up.

☑️ When your computer freezes completely
Things to try:
- Wait
- ALT+TAB
- CTRL+ESC
- CTRL+ALT+DEL
- A graceful, controlled restart
- A forced restart (holding down the power button)

Chapters
0:00 Computer Freezes Completely
1:00 Wait
1:35 ALT+TAB
2:20 CTRL+ESC
3:40 CTRL+ALT+Delete
5:00 Reboot (graceful)
5:50 Reboot (forced)

More Ask Leo!

#askleo #computer #freeze

[genewaddlerandomstuff]

I've never had a situation where the machine froze where I still had a functioning keyboard.

[meture]

Hey Leo, am a huge fan of your videos which I find extremely useful. Thanks.
Instead of Ctrl+Esc, one can also use the Start button key, which is there on most keyboards.
The Task Manager can be accessed directly by using Ctrl+Shift+Esc

[johnfurseth]

Thank you. I did not know of imethods 2 and 3.

1. Wait (for a few minutes)
2. alt tab
3. ctl esc
4. ctl alt del
5. gracefully reboot

[SpiritintheSky.]

Priceless. Thank you. Also, if the mouse won't work, its battery may simply be exhausted.

[larrylambert]

One of your best. Wish I had understood this a few years ago when I had a problem.

[f.p.m]

Didnt know about the Cntr+Esc option before. Thanks!

[verdedoodleduck]

Thanks for an informative video. If you can't get there through ctl-alt-del then you need to reboot. Also, task manager is the highest priority task if you can get it to run. You didn't mention programs that are deliberately trying to sabotage you [not that it changes much what you need to do - but they do present a little differently while still effectively freezing the machine] - I try to take care of my neighbor's machines when I can - it's fairly common for them (despite my warnings) to end up getting an evil browser page that fullscreens and reposts windows to keep alt-tab and other solutions from working (they can be pretty intimidating but the browser does yield to the task manager, of course.)

[baz]

Thanks for your expertese and time to make these tutorials Leo. Im amazed at your subscriber numbers, they should be alot more, imo. ‼

[boblangill]

A couple weeks ago my computer locked up during a Zoom session. Mouse and keyboard completely inoperable. Went through all the keyboard control options. Nothing. Even the power button didn't work. I was talking through this with my daughters as I did it because Zoom audio was still working. Fortunately I was using a desktop so I pulled the plug.
Waited. Plugged it back in. Hit the power button. Windows 10 did not make any complaints about the irregular shutdown.

[davinp]

Windows has a secret emergency restart button. To get to the hidden emergency restart function, first press Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard. The usual “lock, ” “switch user, ” “sign off, ” and “Task manager” options will appear in a full screen. Go to the power button in the bottom right of the screen. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the power button. Now the following note is displayed by Windows in full-screen mode:

[glasslinger]

I was hoping for some secret "soft start" trick that didn't use the keyboard or mouse. (both frozen!) The power button is all that works.

[godtyrgaming]

Ive got a pc ive built, for the first time in like 4 years its frozen, freezes so quick now i can only get to the bios screen and if i get to type my password, its already frozen, i have a couple things to try but after that, im stumped.
Weirdly enough, ive had hundreds of faulty computers and i dont know whats wrpng with this one considering my mobo tells me "we have no issues here, have fun gaming"

[MinecraftMark]

Thanks, I use test manager and I restart the computer

[larsassinck]

First my pc was super slow, think about taking 30 seconds just to respond to button presses, since I couldn't really do anything effective i just held down the power button to force it to turn off, after starting it back up again, after a few minutes it froze completely, it didn't respond to anything and even the clock on my task bar was frozen, I decided to restart it again and now it luckily works as intended again, super strange and don't know what could have caused this

[davidmartin]

Additional video idea: what to do if your computer has continual freezes. Eg software vs malware vs hardware.

[jaredfrew]

What do i do if my computer screen is frozen and the mouse and keyboard doesn't work

[johnhpalmer]

I have been having an issue with an old graphics card that is not playing nice with Windows 11 and simply crashes, sometimes with a brief buzz, then both screens go black, triggering the power saver on both, but the PC is still operating (say, a video still is playing).

So I used to hit the power button and hold it until the PC shuts off, now realizing that if you press momentarily the power button, the PC will do the proper shut down command. Wait a second or so, then repress the power button and it'll go through the boot process and you can then resume.

Otherwise, I tend to hit Ctrl/Alt/Del to bring up the task manager open and scroll down and select it, find the offending driver/program, and force Windows to shut it down and resume from there.

[roberts_irregular_random_rec]

After trying ALT-TAB, if that does not work, try ALT-ESC. The difference? ALT-TAB cycles through open programs - but only the main screen of each program. ALT-ESC will ALSO cycle you through any daughter windows that may be open. Often times I find if I can cycle to a daughter window and answer any outstanding prompt, then the main program will "come alive" again.

[nasserdiyqtrdny]

Thanks you unfreezed my computer without losing a very important Document

[MikeAnn]

Well I'll be darned, Leo, Alt-Tab works on my _Linux_ machine, too! I would've guessed that was a Windows command. Ctrl-Escape did not, though. Thanks for the tip!

For other viewers using Linux, here are a few more tips that might work for a frozen computer. I've had _some_ success using both of the first two in Linux Mint (the distro I've used the most). The third one seems to work _every_ time. I can't speak for other Linux "distributions, " but many commands seem to work on many different ones, so they might work across distros.

(1) If the key combination Alt-F2 works (it should open a box and prompt you to type a command) type "xkill" into the box and hit Enter. Then if the system isn't completely borked, the mouse cursor should turn into an x. Mouse over any window and click, and it should close that window.

(2) Ctrl-Alt-Backspace logs you out of your current session, which is supposed to be better and faster than rebooting, according to something I read a few years ago.


(3) The last resort before pressing and holding the power button, this sequence of commands causes a sequence of actions that I no longer recall specifically, except that the goal is a safe shutdown with no data loss. I learned it once, and no doubt it will turn up in a web search if anyone is curious, but I've used it enough to not care much now...

Press and hold both the Alt and SysRq keys while slowly typing the following (I typically pause just a second or two between each letter): r... e... i... s... u... b (to reboot)
or to shut down...
hold the same two keys and type r... e... i... s... u... o (o is for off, I presume).
A good way to remember that reboot sequence is that it's the word "busier" (as in a busier computer) backwards .😊
But again, each of those letters has a specific function, and I think the "busier" was just a lucky mnemonic aid.