Please help! My computer keeps freezing!

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

Hello, I'm having trouble with my home computer. My windows xp pc keeps freezing randomly. It especially freezes during gaming, but also when I'm just surfing the net, it just randomly freezes even when I haven't even did anything. I don't really have a backround in anything computer related, but I do know a little bit. My computer specs are:

607 mb of ram
1.15 ghz
64 md video card
amd xp processor
etc.

any help would be appreciated.

[mystvearn]

Welcome to pcmeh. Soon you'll know everything Could you give details on what were you doing during the incident? Any music on during the freeze?How often does it freeze?How long can you use the pc before it freezes?

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

thanks for the welcome. To awnser the questions. Sometimes it freezes when I'm playing music, and the only music is the in-game music and sound. It freezes everytime I try to play any game, watch a dvd, or even sometimes when I just type or browse the net. Um you know it just happens randomly, but if I try to play a game or watch a dvd then I know it'll freeze for sure. but I have gone through movies without it freezing.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

Oh yea I haven't really investigated the problem or anything, but I did have a peak at the BIOS, but I got confused and didn't mess with anything. I'm really need help since it's really frustrating. Again I appreciate any help you guys can give me.

[Markoman01027]

What is the brand and wattage of your power supply?
What is the brand of your RAM? How many sticks of RAM Do you have? Perhaps you can try running the system with 1 stick of RAM?

[MrBigglesworth]

Well what I would do first would be to go to http://www.download.com and download spybot:search and destroy and ad aware then go to http://www.grisoft.com and download their free anti-virus. See if you've got any nasties on your hard drive that's messing you around.

[raftero]

is this a home built or a bought?what are the temp.

[human1987]

Temp might be the problem. Check out your temp through BIOS or use AIDA32. www.aida32.hu

High temp might cause it to be unstable.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

Hmm I tried running my pc with one stick of ram and then the other, the brand is Kingston 256 and 128. It's a bought computer. Not sure on the power supply, how do I check that. I think it was a barebones system and came with the tower and motherboard.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

Oh yea what is AIDA32?

[Computer Hobbyist]

AIDA32 is a diagnostic tool.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

OH YEA I HAVE AWARD BIOS

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

I did a search to see if people had the same problem, and I saw the terms overclocking and even hardware damage. What is overclocking and what am I suppose to look for when check hardware?

[Computer Hobbyist]

Unless you messed something up in the bios when you looked, don't worry about the overclocking comments. Overclocking is what happens when you take steps to make a cpu run faster than standard specifications.

Your symptoms could easily be heat related, so you should make sure your system isn't overheating. They could also be related to your power supply so you should check that as well. You want to make sure all the fans are working.

As to hardware damage, the damage would most likely be to your motherboard and would most likely be the result of a power surge. You haven't had any power failures lately, have you?

[Computer Hobbyist]

Oh, as has been said, your problem could easily be a software problem. I would run an anti-virus program and an anti-spyware program before I did anything else. I would then turn off any software that might be running in the background. I would clean up the harddrive as well.

You see random freezes is a pretty common PC problem and it can be caused by a lot of things both hard and software related.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

I have a pretty heavy duty power surge protector, so I don't think that would be the case. I'm going to see if its hardware failure. Oh yea I just reformatted my hard drive and it still freezing. I erased everything off my harddrive and my games are still freezing and I just typed something earlier and it froze. so I'll try the other suggestions. Oh yea what do I do if it heats?(sorry for asking so many simple questions.)

[Computer Hobbyist]

The following are some random thoughts. Hopefully a real expert will jump in here and give you more precise advice.

If you are going to mess around inside your case you need to ground yourself before you put your hands inside. You need to make sure the plug is unplugged. Turning the computer off is not good enough. There is always power flowing even if the switch on the back of the computer has been thrown. You need to unplug.

If a fan is broken replace it. If the fans aren't broken install an additional fan.

Assuming all the fans are working. Before you install an additional fan you need to run a diagnostic program that tells you your processor's temperature. Hopefully you have such a diagnostic program on your system already (if no place else look in the bios at bootup.) If you are real lucky you will be able to find the temperature of the motherboard as well.

The fan most likely to fail is the fan in the power supply. If it has failed, replace the power supply. Don't, I repeat, don't open the power supply and try to replace the fan. You could be badly shocked.

The second fan to look at is the fan that sets on top of the CPU. Most likely that fan is held on the heatsink by screws. No need to remove the heatsink or the processor below the heatsink. The heatsink is the boxlike thing with a bunch of metal fins. If that fan fails, it could easily lead to the kind of freezes you have discussed. Just replace that fan with another fan of high quality.

If you get the idea that the heatsink needs to be removed, find someone who has done it before to show you how. You can fry the CPU if the heatsink is not installed. You can break things pretty badly if you don't remove the heatsink carefully. If the heatsink does come off you will need to use Artic Silver or some other heat transfer compound when you reinstall. You will need to clean the heatsink and the processor (carefully and completely) before you install new compound.

In short, don't remove the heatsink without instructions. Contact this board or better yet find somebody who has done it, before you remove a heatsink. In any event make sure you have good instructions before you replace a heatsink.

Even the best surge protectors don't protect you from everything. Especially they don't protect you from lightning strikes.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

Okay I'll check and try to find some pro help. thanks for the advice. My friends says that since it freezes most often during gaming it might the video card.

[Computer Hobbyist]

The operative phrase in that last sentence is "most often" which indicates to me that the problem is more likely related to heat. Heavy game playing creates a lot of heat. So that it would freeze during game playing is not a surprise. That it freezes during other activities would point away from the video card.

Of course, it could be the video card, but try checking the fans and power supply first. They cost less.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

That makes a lot of sense Computer Hobbyist. okay will do what are some fans and power supplies I should buy, and not for a whole lot of money?

[Computer Hobbyist]

Before you spend money, identify the part that needs to be changed. If you need a PSU you might try Sparkle or Enlight or Enermax. I'd go to newegg.com. As to fans, they are cheap. You can pick them up at your local compusa.

[fudtone]

Not sure what OS you are on but W2k has a patch for a freezing issue at windows update its not a critical file but recomended if you encouter freezing.

It seems to have worked for me...

hmm my sig is a bit out of date.

[Slanted-Eyed_NewB]

what is a psu, and what does it look like? Oh yea will it help if I leave the cover off my comp, and see what stops working or if anything is too hot? Oh yea I'll make sure I don't produce any static by doing what computer hobbyist said.

[Computer Hobbyist]

PSU means "power supply." I had sort of written off software since you reformatted your drive, but you might try looking at the microsoft website for updates as fudtone suggests.