i think this is the right area to discuss my problem. i have a pretty reliable machine except when i boot up my games. what i experience is a total freeze. no audio, no mouse movement. nothing.

AMD athlon xp (2075mhz)2800+
2.07GHz
BIOSTAR M7VIZ mobo KM400
768mb RAM
EVGA 7800 GS video card

i had problems with the computer freezing before purchasing a video card, installing additional RAM and adding a beefier PSU (350w). i even reformatted my hard drive. still....tried running CIV4 and it would freeze. it used to freeze a lot in windows media player or when on line loading large pages. i added RAM after reformatting and upgrading the PSU plus an evga 7800gs gpu. it ran faster. but i still would freeze. it freezes now when i play BF2142. its a total random freeze.

can you suggest a starting point for troubleshooting?
i have the case opened for circulation. i don't know why, but i think its an overheating issue.

plus, is there a way to change the thermal shut off settings? or would this have nothing to do with the problem.

thanks.

what i have done:
dusted
swapped RAM to see if problem persists....it did.
reformatted computer and reinstalled windows xp
selected optimized bios setup in bios
running norton antivirus
installed newer PSU 350w

flash bios? any ideas?

thanks again.