Frequent Lockups

For about two weeks now I have had my computer lock up on me anywhere from every 30 seconds to every 5 minutes doing simple things such as typing in a word document or opening minesweeper. When it locks up the program freezes, as well as any other program i click on. I have tried reinstalling windows and have put XP, Vista, 7 on there, as well as Ubuntu 10.04 and have experienced the same behavior as before. I am not sure if it is my hard drives, RAM, or CPU, but I am pretty sure its a hardware problem. Does anybody have any tips as to what to try to fix this?

Hello and welcome to Bleepingcomputer.

When a system locks up like you are describing it can be from a number of factors.

Power supply not supply enough power to make system run stable.

CPU Processor over heating. You need to check for dust that could be clogged in the heat sink fins.

Video processor over heating.

I would check the system out for any kind of dust build up.

Add more cooling fans to the computer.

Make sure power supply is putting out enough amps.

Make sure your RAM is properly seated and no problems with it.

Make sure the settings in the BIOS are set correctly for CPU and RAM.

The things listed above are just for starters.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Kind regards.

Bruce.

You should also give us a complete run down on your system including what hardware you have installed in it and PSU specs.

Thanks again.

Bruce.

CPU- Intel i7 920
RAM- 3x 2gb PC12800 DDR3
GPU-BFG GTX 275
HDD- 2x 500gb WD
PSU- 1000w Ultra x3 Modular PSU
MOBO- EVGA X58

Thanks for your specs.

When is the last time you cleaned out the computer for dust?

Today, I currently have my side panel off and I used some air dusters to get what dust there was out, but there wasnt much to begin with and none of the components seem to be excessively warm by any means, as well as the temperature monitoring software also shows normals temps for all of the components

Have you updated all of your systems drivers to their current updated versions?

Yes, i am have updated all of my drivers as well as system updates, I have seen several errors in my event viewer but i dont know much about how to interpret them however most of the errors are saying "The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block."