My computer freezes on me 2 or 3 times a day

[UltramarineX]

For the past couple of years my computer has been randomly freezing up on me. I know freezing something that happens to everybody’s computer every now and then, but lately my computer will freeze up on me at least 2 or 3 times a day. Also, it does not matter what I do when it freezes. I could be playing a game, watching a video file, or doing nothing at all. Here are my system’s specs:

MSI 648 Max Series Motherboard (Model: MS-6585 with the latest BIOS drivers)

Pentium IV 2.4GHz Processor

1GB (two 512MB sticks) PC333 DDR-RAM (with frequency set at 133MHz in BIOS)

40GB Hard Drive (Brand unknown)

Integrated Sound Card

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 Pro video card (with the latest ATI reference drivers)

DVD-ROM Drive (Brand unknown)

HP DVD Writer (model dvd420i)

Windows XP Professional (with Service Pack 2)

Any help you guys can provide is much appreciated.

[UltramarineX]

Sorry guys I completely forgot to mention one other thing about my computer. In addition to freezing, my system often also gives me a blue screen of death (my comp used to just restart after a crash, but I disabled the restart feature so I can see what the problem is when a blue screen of death comes up). When the BSOD comes up, it also gives me this Stop error:

0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0x8054B534, 0xB80535AC, 0x00000000)

Also these numbers & letters would stay the same, except for the third parameter (where 0xB80535AC is) which changes each time a new BSOD comes up. Can anyone here interpret this Stop error for me? Thanks in advance.

[dlh6213]

Here are a couple of links that may help:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315335

http://www.smartcomputing.com/techsupport/detail.aspx?guid=&ErrorID=21389

Since you have SP2, it's most likely the RAM problem (first link)

[UltramarineX]

Here are a couple of links that may help: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315335 http://www.smartcomputing.com/techsupport/detail.aspx?guid=&ErrorID=21389 Since you have SP2, it's most likely the RAM problem (first link)

At first I thought it was a problem with my RAM as well, so (after looking through other posts on this forum) I downloaded a program called Memtest-86 v3.2. I ran the test through three times, and my system passed on ALL three occassions. As such I am 95% confindent that my computer's problems are not caused by my RAM. Is there anything else that could possibly cause my system to crash and freeze so often?

[dlh6213]

It could be overheating, have you cleaned the inside recently? (Be careful when doing this, either wear an anti-static wrist strap or touch a metal part of the case frequently while doing so)

Are the fans all operating properly?

[UltramarineX]

It could be overheating, have you cleaned the inside recently? (Be careful when doing this, either wear an anti-static wrist strap or touch a metal part of the case frequently while doing so) Are the fans all operating properly?

I don't suppose anyone could give me an idea of what the "average" CPU/system temperature should be?

[dlh6213]

I don't suppose anyone could give me an idea of what the "average" CPU/system temperature should be?

Here are some threads that may help answer that: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=21263-temperature

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=20467-temperature

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=20016-temperature

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=19749-temperature

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=17692-temperature

[davidredwine]

Least likely scenario (but not uncommon) is that the video card drivers require the motherboard chipset AGP support drivers, and you did not install the MOBO drivers, (or they need updating).

1st go to the MOBO manufacturers site, and get the latest motherboard and firmware updates for your motherboard.

2nd, go the the video card makers web site and get the latest drivers from them.

Then de-install the HP software you got with the DVD writer (HP software is written in India and programmers there cannot program there way out of a cardboard box!) Lots of HP software is crap. Remove the HP drivers, HP software, and the DVD writer hardware.

now see if the error goes away.

If not, you should face up to the fact that you probably have a bad MOBO, CPU or RAM (90 times out of 100, it's the MOBO)

You have either a heat sink problem (too small, fan getting stuck, not mounting properly, not really seated well, etc), a bad CPU or a bad mother board. Strip your machine down,

[UltramarineX]

Wow. It's been a while since I posted about my problem on this board. (Since I subscribed to this thread, I recently received a message about it on my email)

Suffice it to say, my problem was solved sometime late last summer, and even though it is really late to do so, I think that it may be best to tell everyone what the cause of the problem was, so hopefully I can help other people.

The root of my problem(s) stemmed from several hardware issues, (some of which were noted by davidredwine above me):
1) Faulty motherboard
2) Faulty video card
3) Faulty power supply
4) Insufficient cooling

Yes. My computer was THAT messed up. Myself, and the people that helped me out, discovered these problems over a couple of months of on and off testing.

We discovered that the motherboard was an issue...after the motherboard died out during testing. I replaced my motherboard soon after event.

After the motherboard was replaced, many of my crashing/freezing problems were solved (e.g. no more random freezing while on the desktop). However, I noticed that when I played games, my computer would still crash or freeze. It also crash/froze consistently after about 1 to 1.5 hours of game playing. On a hunch, I swapped out my video card with a different one, and the problem went away. As such, I took out my old video card, and bought a new one.

Next, after replacing my motherboard and video card with new ones...my power supply box fried out. It turns out that the power supply was pretty bad, and it could not handle to power requirements of my new hardware. And so, I had to replace my old power supply with a new one.

Oh, as for the cooling thing, my friends suspected that due to my lack of fans inside my computer, this may have damaged my old motherboard and video card, and so we added in a couple of fans.

This story is a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it did cost me pretty penny to fix up my computer. On the other hand, almost one year later, my computer has given me ZERO problems since fixing it up. I don't know if explaining my story will help anyone, but I hope it does, so others don't have to go through the same frustrations of finding out what's wrong as I did.