i order all my parts through www.newegg.com usually pretty good deals there

If you initially purchased cheap, unbranded 'generic' RAM, then I'd also strongly suspect that was your problem. RAM incompatibilities will certainly cause the behaviour you've described.

But another thing which would cause the behaviour is overheating. If the heatsink fitted to your processor came with a 'Thermal Pad', are you sure that is was put in place cleanly, and clipped down without the heatsink moving sideways at all during the process? A bit of sideways movement when you're fitting the clip, and that wax pad can 'tear', causing a poor connection beteen heatsink and processor, and eventually resulting in overheating problems.

when i built my computer.. the ram came along wit the mother board as a package.. i dont see a label.. so im guessin it's a generic type?.. and i previously.. had a 1.7 gb celeron processor.. but then i upgraded to a 2.5 gb celeron processor.. maybe when i upgraded it.. this happened? but after i upgraded.. couple months i used it.. was no problem.. maybe when i was carrying the computer around it might of moved?... probably.. but ima take a look at the ram.. get a new one and look at the cpu... and everything.. thanks guy!

hm.. i actually found out the problem. i opened up my computer once before.. but didnt really noticed it.. until i took out my cpu fan and saw that one of the four clips is broken.. so the fan wasnt on correctly.. so now i will have to replace that.. but the problem is i do not no where to get it at.. does anyone know?

Hey Aaron, since I have the same comp as you, tell me, are some games real slow on your pc? Cause I have the problem. Oh ya, and tell me what proccesor you have and so on. I have a celeron 2.8.

Hi RockSTARBandit,

New questions warrant a new topic please. 'Piggybacking' new questions onto an existing discussion just makes things confusing, and limits your chances of getting an answer.

aaroN42, I must have missed your question earlier. I think the heatsink on that processor is attached by four 'pushpins' which go through holes in the motherboard. Is that correct?

Having all four securely attached is a necessity, but I'm not sure if the pushpins are sold separately as a retail item. With one broken, I'd be purchasing a replacement heatsink/fan unit, which would come with new pins provided. They're quite inexpensive.

You can buy computer fans at a zillion places online, but to make sure you get an exact fit I'd suggest you take the fan with you to one of the large computer stores in your area. They usually stock a good range of fans, heatsinks, etc., and by having the fan on you you'll be able to verify that you're getting a replacement that will definitely fit.