PC freezes periodically

[peterocc]

Hey everyone.

I have a clone AMD Duron 900Mhz, 512MB RAM, 30GB WD HDD, running Windows XP. Several times a day it freezes for no apparent reason, sometimes it happens during the installation of applications. At first I thought it was the HDD so I used a brand new HDD and re-installed the OS and everything else. Still experiencing the problem. I've swapped the RAM for new RAM and it works fine.

Does anyone have an idea?

 

[viol8ion]

Does CTRL + Alt + Del get you out of the freeze? If not, then I would begin checking hardware.

If so, what other apps are you running when this happens? Do you have Norton AV (or any AV) running? If so, disable before installing apps. You should do that anyway.

If you give us more info, as much detail as possible, you will get more direct help.

Right now, I would suspect power supply, or overheating CPU (are fans all working, heatsink, etc?).

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[micker377]

Also post on the Windows XP forum.

 

[cdogg]

Random freezes particularly when the system is busy usually indicate an overheating problem. How long has this been happening? Did you recently build the PC?

If you haven't made any changes recently to the system (besides that HDD change you made to troubleshoot the issue), then it's hard to say. After letting the system run a benchmark like Sisoft Sandra or PCMark for 5-10 minutes (which you can download for free off the net), warm reboot the PC (without the power button). As soon as the PC starts to boot back up, go into the BIOS and check the motherboard and CPU temperature. Report back what you find.

If for some reason you can't get your hands on a benchmark, then simply play a game or do something to stress your system for a good few minutes.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle