My computer is less than a year old. A week ago I received a virus, after reinstalling windows, my computer began freezing randomly. To make sure it was gone, I reformatted and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP Home Edition. Before I could start putting drivers on, it froze. Since then I have put on all my drivers and even some programs. It has froze three or four times since. I've been running PC Probe II, and so far everything seems normal. I'll list the stats with my hardware later. I was wondering if any hardware is overheating, or since my processor fan was loose and had to be tightened, the heat sink paste should be replaced (I think it was smudged.) I just cleaned out the inside of the computer with some canned air, and I defrag and maintain it often. Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Computer:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2
ASUS P5N-E SLI Motherboard
Intel Core2 Duo CPU E6750 @2.66GHZ Processor
2.67GHz, 2.00 GB Ram
Radeon X1950 Series Video Card
Hitachi HD T725032VLA360 300Gig HDD
ask for anything else.

PC Probe II

Vcore 1.36V
+3.3 3.28V
+5.0 4.84V
+12.0 12.03V (sometimes drops to around 6 volts and alerts me, then kicks back up)
CPU temp 34 C
MB temp 41 C
CPU fan 2327rpm

I would first check the RAM. Here is a link where you can download a program and create your own boot disk.

http://www.memtest.org/

Good luck.

DR

Processor fan was loose...my question is: What about the heatsink? What is the current condition of the CPU/heatsink/thermal compound bond?

I guess that I'd be thinking hardware damage, even though you seem to indicate that your problems started a week ago.

Louis

The heat sink wasn't messed with. As far as I know everything else should be fine, though some of my fans didn't work when I first got my computer. It seemed like they were plugged into a sensor that didn't exist, so I plugged them in directly to the power supply and now they're just always on.

As far as memory goes, it seems strange to me that it would just go bad. I can't get the memtest to work because I don't have a floppy, and I've never made a boot cd before.

Boot CDs are easy to make...what burn program do you use?

Whatever program it is, it should have an option for making a bootable CD unless it's exceptionally outdated.

Louis

I've got magic Iso. It seems I should say make bootable disc, load the iso, then... load the iso again? Four combinations and four cds later, I'm at a loss.

Not familiar with that program...I can only tell you how I do it with Nero.

a. Follow screen prompts, after selecting bootable CD option.

b. If an .iso is the content which I want to boot to, I just pick that up as I would the content for any other CD.

c. Burn the CD, then test it.

Louis

I'll download and give it a try. While I wait, what do I have to do if my memory is no good?

Okay, I ran a memory test, and everything checked out.

I'm thinking, it can't be software related, because it froze right after a formatting, and a brand new xp install. So it is either software I should have, since it did start after I reinstalled windows, or hardware related.

The only hardware I have changed is removing and replacing the processor fan, which probably needs new compound, and I have some fans that I moved up the chain of power chords so they would always be on. The heat sensors say everything is fine though.

Could the video card over-heating cause a freeze? It runs crazy-hot.