What should you do if a customer is experiencing frequent system crashes?

When a customer experiences frequent system crashes, the most logical first step is to perform hard drive diagnostics. Frequent crashes can often be a symptom of underlying issues related to hardware or corrupted data, and a failing hard drive is a common cause of these problems. Running diagnostics on the hard drive can help identify any issues with data integrity, seek errors, or other malfunctions that might be causing the system to crash.

The other steps, like upgrading memory or reinstalling the operating system, might be solutions if specific preliminary tests indicate those areas as potential problems, but they are not the first thing to check. Similarly, while checking for overheating is important, it is often less immediately indicative of the software or hardware failure directly related to system crashes compared to hard drive diagnostics. Thus, prioritizing hard drive diagnostics can lead to more effective troubleshooting of frequent system crashes.