Windows Xp Freezes at Random Intervals

[Aandaleeb151]

Hello, I have been facing this very unusual problems with my desktop computer installed with Windows Xp. Whenever the computer is kept running for a long time or if any high end application is executed, the system freezes and have to restart it to get it to working state again. I am suspecting that this is a heating issue but i am not sure. The following is the configuration of my PC. Intel Core2 quad processor with clock frequency of 2.6 ghz, Intel Motherboard with 3gb ram and a ATI radeon Catalyst graphic card.

[Luis234]

You are right this issue is certainly because of overheating of the peripherals. Keep the cabinet open and keep the computer running for long time and see if the computer freeeze's after some time. If it does not freeze even after kept running for too long then your cabinet is not ventilated properly. Check if all the cooling fans including the processor fan are working properly. Clean them if the fans are covered by dust. Add extra cooling fans to the cabinets if it possible. Also keep the Computer in such a place where the Airflow is continuous.

[Calvin K]

The problem i think with your computer is a corrupted Operating system. Many applications when installed, link themselves with the system library files. If such application is removed later, the files which are linked to them also get removed. Such missing files create problem in smooth working of the windows. Whenever these files are required by the system, they are not found which results in system getting freezed up. The only solution to your problem is reinstallation of the windows. Before reinstalling windows, dont forget to take the backup of the required data.

[Rajesh4mLA]

As far as i know the ATI graphic card does not come with an external cooling fan and as a result it gets overheated if used for long time or while running high end applications. Whenever the graphics adaptor of the system gets overheated, it shuts down itself to prevent damage due to overheating. When the graphics adaptors shuts down the system cannot display anything and hence it feels like system has freezed. To avoid this situation, add an extra cooling fan over the graphics card.

[mv]

Check if the hard drive is working properly or not. If the system is not able to read data from the hard drive it will get stuck up as all the files needed by the operating system are there on the hard drive. I think your hard drive stops responding after some time which is creating this problem. There are many hard drive diagnostic tools available online, download one such utility and then run them on the hard drive. Check the results of the tests and see what type of faults are there on the hard drive. If the problems are repairable, the utility itself will guide you through to solve them. If there is some physical problem then you will have to replace the hard drive.

[Elijah]

The problem you are facing can be because of several reason. One being a faulty PSU or faulty RAM. The PSU might be not working properly. If the PSU is not able to provide enough power to all the devices, it may result that the some devices will stop working which can cause a system freeze. Therefore check the voltages in all the power cable connected to the devices. The voltage levels should be inside the specified range. If it is overshooting or is less than the specified range, then the PSU needs to be replaced. If there are multiple chips of RAM, then boot the system with only one chip and check the performance of the computer. If for any ram chip the system does not boot then discard the RAM chip.