Computer locking issue, NEED HELP

iyf

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hello. i built a computer for my friend a few years back, and now she is having issues with it just locking up. It will just freeze, all input (mouse and keyboard) is halted and the screen is just frozen. For the most part, it only does this in microsoft office, so i thought it was a software problem so i reformated, only it gives the same problem so now i know its hardware. Ive changed the RAM with no luck. Ive disconnected any unessary devices (floppy, USB devices, DVD ROM, ETC) yet its the same thing. MEMTEST86 says its ok, and the seagate hard drive tester says that its ok.

so now im confused on what it could be. Since it is freezing in office when typing, im guessing it could be a motherboard issue with the southbridge chipset? or it could possible be hard drive (if the tests were wrong), or PSU, or vid card? i have no idea but i dont want her to spend unessesary money. wat do you all think? Just a note, it does lock up sometimes out of office, but it does not freeze because of a heavy load on cpu or memory. Ive tryed stress tests on memory, hard drive, cpu, and the onboard cache and it never locks up.

specs are:
Celeron 2.2GHz
Asrock P4VT8+ motherboard (socket 478)
512 generic RAM
80 gig maxtor HD
nvidia MX4000 vid card
generic 480watt power supply

i am completely baffled.....
 
Here's what you need to try... When it is starting up... Start hitting f12 untill a black screen pops up. Go down to Diagnostics. And hit enter. it will do some tests. Make sure they all pass. But if they don't, continue the test. After it is done, it will take you to annother screen and ask you to pick one. There will be options of "express test", "Extended Test", "Custom Test", And "Sypmtom Test". Hit the "Symptom Test". Then scroll down the list of symptoms, and you will see system locks up. Clcik it and run the tests.
 
It could be a few things, graphics card, faulty PSU and a heat issue, when was the last time you cleaned the inside of the tower?, is it clogged with dust?. one of the common reasons this happens is when the Heatsinc gets cluttered with dust ans to rectify it just a simple hoover or wipe with a fine paint brush between the panels.(the heatsinc is found behind the CPU FAN which is held on by four screws) hoover all the dust out from around the MB being careful not to scratch any components, clean the PSU unit in there as well. take out you video card as that might have a heatsinc as well and clean the slot, Remember to turn the PC off at the mains before you start meddling inside the case, once its cleaned switch it on and see if it has settled down, if it
continues then you may have a faulty PSU or video card and they may need replacing.
 
Hey blackjack, do you think he should still do the test though?

It is up to them, I would check the inside the case first as the PC is a few years old so probably hasn't had a good clean for a while, I had the exact same problem, I changed my ram. grahics card, hdd, and that never fixed it, in the end I stripped all the above out and gave the PC a thorough clean, never had it since:)
 
ok, ill give that diagnostic test a try. yeah, the first thing i did was giv it a good cleaning, so its pretty much spotless. as for the heat, it never exceeds 30 degrees celcius at the CPU so i doubt its a heating problem. i kept Everest running to try and see what the conditions were when a lock up would occur, and memory and CPU temps were low. i have no idea which part to replace....i dont have any spare parts i can test with since none of my comp parts would be compatible with this system. ive updated the bios to the latest version hoping it would do something, but no luck :(
 
As this is only happening in Microsoft office try removing that program and see if you have any more problems, if not then its definatley a clash of drivers somewhere on your computer.
 
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