Computer freezes when i try to install windows XP

[aaronN42]

i have a very big problem.. my computer keeps on freezing.. it freezes ALL the time whenever i try to install a major program.. such as a virus scanner.. or adobe photoshop.. and sometimes it freezes out of no where. it was all fine until this one day i brought my computer to my friends house and we lan. my graphic card is built in wit the motherboard which is a Soyo SY-P4VGM.. and the graphic card supports only 32mb.. and i was playing a game which needs more.. and then my computer crashes. so i stopped playing the game. then when i brought it home my computer was slow and freezes. so i try to format my computer. but then when i tried to format it it keeps on freezing on me.. and i actually got it formating but then when it was in the process of installing it froze on me.. so i had to go through the whole process again.. i used different Windows XP disc also.. after a few attempts i gave up.. then i got my Windows Me disc.. and i reformatted using thta and installed windows Me.. it worked fine.. but still freezes a lot. then i tried upgrading to Windows XP but again.. it keeps freezing.. can any one PLEASE help me with my problem.. i really cant take the freezing anymore.. thank you.

[Civilian]

What happened when your computer crashed the first time, when you were playing the game? Ive never heard of running a game thats has higher requirments than your PC to crash or cause long term problems such as this. How old is your computer, it sounds like your HD may have a bad sector on it.
Also when you are installing XP did you create a partition for just XP?

[aaronN42]

my computer is about couple months old.. i just built it very recently. and all it did was just froze when i was playing the game. so i just had to restart it manually and that was it. i tried switching my harddrive with an older harddrive i had a while ago.. still the same problem trying to format and install windows XP.. and when i was installing it i deleted all old partition and created a new one just to run windows xp on. ive done that many times with no problems.. and i dont know what the problem is now.

[Civilian]

try stripping the computer back to bare essentials, I.E. only one stick of ram no modem or NIC, just the bare minimum, see if it still crashes then, if it doesnt, then add stuff in one at a time until it does crash and then youll have your culprit, ALSO go into your system bios and make sure you arent running on the optimized settings.

[aaronN42]

but i dont get that.. this never happened to me before on this computer.. everything on my computer is compatiable.. wit windows XP.. i never had and problems like this before.. and i did not install any new harddrive.. it just happened after the one time i was at the lan thing..

[Civilian]

It sounds like that "freeze" may not be the culprit. it doesnt seem to be a software issue being as you have already tried a new HD. I built a computer a few months back and the computer would freeze up on me randomly, i narrowed it down to a bad stick of ram. Since you have an on-board vid card wich doesnt have its own ram, i would also grab a card from another computer and disable the on-board card. Also do you have your bios set to shutdown or warn you when your CPU reaches a certain tempurature?

[aaronN42]

ill try that tonight. thanks a lot! hopefully this will work...

[aaronN42]

but another thing.. i dont understand why.. i could install windows ME but not XP

[Civilian]

Me is a smaller O/S in terms of file size so its a faster install, so it has less of a chance of setting off whatever the freeze is I.E. bad ram
That on the other hand is just speculation

[aaronN42]

yeah.. im thinking ram too.. i will have to go buy new ones.

[Civilian]

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

[Catweazle]

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.

[aaronN42]

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!

[aaronN42]

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?

[RockSTARBandit]

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.

[Catweazle]

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.

[DMR]

...but the problem is i do not no where to get it at.. does anyone know?

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.