I have a perplexing problem with my Acer notebook. It is an Acer Aspire V3 112p. As far as I know, this model was not available in New Zealand at the time I bought it and I purchased it directly from the USA on Amazon. 

For some time, at least a year or so, the computer has been subject to random freezing. Without any warning or any other indication, it will abruptly stop responding to any kind of input. The display doesn’t change. It just freezes. Sometime this happens when browsing, sometimes when typing something. It can happen at any time. I have never been able to determine any kind of pattern to it. Sometimes it may go a day or so without freezing. Sometimes it can happen two or three times in a few minutes. It seems to be completely random and unpredictable. 

When the computer freezes, nothing I can do has any effect on it. I have tried every key combination and other input I can. The only thing it responds to is the power button. After a forced shutdown it reboots normally when powered on. It then works normally until the next time it freezes.

I have checked the event log several times but the only thing it shows is me forcing a power down. There is nothing that indicates any other anomaly. I have also set the system clock to display seconds on the task bar. When the computer freezes the clock also stops but the rest of the display stays the same. Whatever was on the screen when the freeze occurs remains exactly as it was. 

When this first started happening, it didn’t occur very often and I decided that putting up with it was the easiest course of action. The big problem with this kind of intermittent issue is it cannot be reproduced on demand, which makes it very hard to diagnose. I figured if I sent it out to be repaired, it would come back with a comment that the technicians couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I didn’t want to go to the hassle and expense just for that kind of result. To experience the problem, someone needs to actually use it for an extended period of time. I doubt most repair places would bother with that.

The problem now seems to be occurring more frequently, which is why I am posting this. I was hoping at some  point the computer might stop working completely, which would at least make it possible to diagnose. That hasn’t happened yet, but maybe the time is approaching to try a repair place anyway. 

I have tried searching for this issue in the past but I could never find anything. I am wondering if anyone here might have any ideas about this. If anyone repairs laptops for a living, maybe we could also discuss having this looked at. For something like this, I might be more comfortable entrusting it to a Geekzone member than an arbitrary repair place.