My PC freezes when using certain programs

[culttvguy]

Until 3 weeks ago,everything worked,then suddenly i start having PC freeze-ups when using certain programs,namely these:
DVD Shrink 3.2 (while encoding a disc)
NAV 2003 (during full system scan)
Spybot S&D (during a scan)

Disc burning does not seem to be affected.I can burn discs with DVD Decrypter,and use the copy function with Nero.

All this is the same in Safe Mode too.

Like i said,it just suddenly started doing it after working fine for a few weeks after i built a new PC.I didnt build with all new components,I got a new case,M/B,hard drive,and an extra 256 RAM.The sound and video cards,CPU,DVD Rom and DVD writer came from the old PC,which was a 2 year old Compaq Presario.

I have done a memory test,which came back with no errors.I even tried the memory modules in seperately,but i still get the same problem no matter which i use.

I went into BIOS and saw CPU temp at 56C,system temp at 40C

I have cooling fan on CPU,that works,4400RPM according to BIOS readout.I also have a case fan pointing at the CPU,and one on the rear of the case.

I noticed that in Task Manager,when any of the affected programs are running,that the CPU is near or at 100% capacity.

I tried a test to see if i could overload it and freeze it using other programs,but couldnt get it to go up to 100%.I had open 4 video players(WMP,ATI file player,DIVX player,and Real Player),all playing 4 different video files at the same time,and they all played perfectly at the same time with no ill effects.

The only way out when it freezes is to turn it off,and reboot.Occasionally,just before the welcome screen,it will show the blue screen of death for about a second,and then restart.

My full specs are below,and if anyone has ideas,please let me know
thanks

Gigabyte 7N400 Pro 2 MB (new)
AMD Athlon XP 2600
Western Digital SATA 160GB hard drive (new)
512 MB RAM (256 from old PC,256 new,Ultra brand)
ATI Radeon 9000 All in Wonder video Card
Soundblaster Live 5.1 Audio
PSU 350w max,came with case,made by Linkworld
HP200i DVD writer
16x DVD Rom (LG i think)

[Cricket]

Have you scanned for viruses, spyware and trojans yet?

Cricket

[Digitalic]

AFTER a scan for viruses and trojans like Cricket said if the problem still persists I would uninstall NAV and see what happens.

[Raskolnikov]

Cricket You Are The Coolest : D yes exactly serch for spywares and viruses first. Do an intensive search. free prgs and possible online scans. And if you decide to uninstall NAV you ll have some pain. add and remove prgs wont remove the whole thing. make sure u get Rnaw2003 and SYMnrt to remove it. And also pls look in your eventviewr logs. we might find a useful information in there.

[Digitalic]

"add and remove prgs wont remove the whole thing"

Yes, exactly my point, NAV is bloatware!!

[culttvguy]

Well part of the problem is that i cant scan for viruses/spyware etc,becasue the freeze happens DURING those scans too.So if it is something like that which is causing the problem,and i cant use the programs to find it,how am i supposed to find it ?
I suppose i could uninstall NAV (it's 2003 BTW,not 04 or 05,so less bloated than it could be) and then see what happens.The thing is though,everything worked perfectly together,even with NAV running,so why would it suddenly decide not to work?

cheers for replies

[culttvguy]

By the way,if i uninstall NAV 2003(inc firewall/internet security etc) will i need to use that SYMnrt program to remove it? Apparently it's only for 2004 and 2005 versions,so does that mean i should be able to uninstall 2003 without any crap left behind on the computer?

thanks

[Panama Red]

Try running your scans in Safe Mode and see if it locks up.

[culttvguy]

Thanks Red,but i already tried it all in safe mode,and it freezes. then too
I also uninstalled Norton and still get the same problem.
I just installed AVG free,and tried to do a scan with that,but 2 minutes into the scan,guess what...it froze !!

Could i have bad RAM even if the test says it found no faults?

And i dont know why my thread was moved to a different forum,i think it was relevant in the hardware forum

[Digitalic]

Have you tried trimming your start up list in msconfig? Sometimes that works wonders.

[culttvguy]

Yeah i tried that,although there were only 12 items in that startup list.I removed 3 which i didnt need,but it made no difference.

You see,it's not like its being choked with too many processes running at once,becasue there's nothing much else running apart from the essential stuff

I'm starting to think i'll never figure this out. !!

[thefultonhow]

I'm leaning towards this being a hardware problem. You could try backing up your data and doing a clean install of Windows, and hopefully that would fix it. But if it doesn't, then you should look at system temps, your PSU rating, and the integrity of your RAM.

[culttvguy]

It seems strange that i should need to do a clean install of Windows only a couple months after i did it before on this new hard drive.
Also,is there another way to test my RAM other than the memory tests which can be downloaded ? I tested it already and it came back with no errors.
I do have another PSU,which is a higher power rating,so i think i will swap it out and try that one.I'll post back here with results !!
cheers

[thefultonhow]

Of course, power rating is not everything -- a 400-watt Antec or Fortron Source is batter than a 500-watt Deer or Raidmax.

[culttvguy]

Well it turned out to be the CPU which was on the blink.I replaced it and it all works fine now. ( I hope i'm not tempting fate by saying this!!)
thanks to all who replied.