XP intermittent freezing

[seanf77]

I am running Windows XP Pro on a system with the following specs:

Athlon 1Ghz
256-SDRAM
ECS K7VTA motherboard
20GB Seagate HD
Chaintech Nvidia Video card

This machine is only about a year old, and I have been having this problem for quite some time. The machine will intermittently lock up solid...no mouse movmement, keyboard, etc. Majority of the time it freezes after sitting idle for several hours, but on occassion it will freeze while doing various things (surfing, email, using Word, etc.) I have already replaced the video card and updated the drivers for it, and also re-seated the memory. I have also verified that the PSU fan and CPU fan are working (and I tried running the PC with the cover off, although I didn't blow a fan into it).

My next step was to replace the RAM, but I was wondering if anyone else had some suggestions? I have also tried reformatting and reinstalling XP (without installing any other apps) but experienced the same the problems. I know it's a very general problem so I don't expect to find an obvious answer, but anyhelpis appreciated

Thanks!
Sean

 

[Enkrypted]

What type of video card is that?<A little more on the card>

What driver version do you have? More than likely your drivers are conflicting with something. I personally would recommend installing different drivers.I personally would try any of the 28.xx versions. They seem to be pretty stable. I'm not an expert in XP...but I have found these to help others out before.

Let us know if that resolves the problem... Enkrypted
A+
Let others know how much help they are by marking the helpful posts.

 

[seanf77]

I tried that last evening, updating to the 28.x series of drivers. The card is a Chaintech Nvidia GForce 400 (I believe. I updated the drives last night, but this morning it was hung again solid

 

[linney]

Just a few jumbled thoughts for you to try.

http://www.memtest86.com/

For a free memory and Ram test program.

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking.


HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP (Q310560)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/5/60.asp

Have you looked in your Event viewer.
Look in the System or Application folder. You can get to the Event Viewer via right click My Computer icon and select Manage.
Any errors logged in the Event Viewer can be expanded by double clicking on the error line.

Is your Bios up to date?

Try running the compatibility checking program again.

 

[seanf77]

Yep, I tried all of those things. Memtest comes out clean withno errors. Eventvwr shows no errors at all. I ran chkdsk and it found no problems at all. I played around with Msconfig but that didn't seem to have any affect (it hung again this morning after sitting idle all night).

I ordered some memory to see if that solves anything. After that I was thinking maybe CPU and/or motherboard....