computer problem: freezing up

[runeedgegames]

I'm not sure if anyone can help me, but I've had this situation for a little while. I unfortunately don't know that much about hardware, but here is what I know.

My computer is about 2 years old. Starting around January it began freezing up on startup. I've had this problem before and at that time, it was because the fan had become clogged with dust. However, after cleaning the dust out of my system this time, the problem remained. Every time I turn it on, it boots up as normal. Usually within 5 minutes or so the system freezes up. Sometimes, the computer automatically restarts. Other times, the computer will freeze and, if I'm playing music, my speakers will emit a grinding noise, and I will have to manually turn it off.

This usually happens between 1 and 3 times before the computer will turn on and be stable. Has anyone had a similiar problem? Any suggestions? I returned it to the store I bought it at and they were unable to fix it. I'm running a 1.15 AMD Athlon with 256 MB RAM.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

 

[OldMX]

Freezing is the most difficult computer failure to diagnose in my opinion

Try loading bios defaults
Remove unnecesary cards
Test RAM
Check power supply voltages
Try newer ide cables
Check case/mobo for shorting or loose screwes
etc

good luck on it

0ldMX

 

[runeedgegames]

Bio defaults are loaded.
I removed my video card, which I actually suspected was causing the problem, but I got the same problem again.

However, I don't know how to test RAM or check the voltage on my power supply.
If its simple could you explain it, or else provide a link to hardware maintance?

I think it be easier to throw this out and buy a new one computer, but I really don't want to spend the money on upgrades. However, I might just have to. I've been reading up on them and I've decided that I'm going to build my next computer from scratch. I'm not really understanding some of the things though, such as voltage requirements. Any recommendations or good starting points I should check out?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[lesman]

Yeah, you should look around on the forum...explore...find out what's good and what's not...learn some new stuff here, usually the folks here will help you out a lot...personally I would upgrade if I were you. Set a budget, get some opinions, and then do what you gotta do! But yeah, a computer freezing could be ANYTHING. About 5 minutes in and it freezes... first thing that comes to me is somethings overheating. Check the CPU fan/heatsink and see if there's any dust stuck in the heatsink, check if the heatsink is seated properly, etc. Try many things (just dont break anything) try reseating video card, RAM. Try swapping parts in and out and narrowing it down.

 

[Rumrunner]

I think you should upgrade. Were you running xp on that computer? XP uses a lot of ram and other resources, which means you are really restricted with that computer as far as multitasking goes. If you upgrade, I suggest going with a 939 nforce 4 platform.