old computer randomly freezes up

[mikee]

I have an old computer out in the office in our kennel and it will randomly freeze to the point where you can't do anything with the mouse and keyboard then it needs to be reset. it will do this randomly every so often.

The computer is an Athlon 1800, 1.5GB ram, 10gb hdd, 180gb hdd secondary storage, geforce4 mx440 video.

 

[Joel~]

What operating system is it running and have you tried carrying out any maintenance with the built-in programs?

 

[mikee]

it's running xp pro sp2. It usually happens when ie is open. The first drive is kind of old so I am running a defrag to get data moved off bad areas in the drive to see if that helps

 

[Atomic Rooster]

You might want to check the temperatures of that comp. Open it up to see if all the fans are clear of any dust and are operating properly.

Maybe run a drive diagnostic that you can download from the drive manufacturer's website and even a memory test such as Memtest86+ .

 

[mikee]

they are ~ 40-50c checked em a while ago just to be sure. I know that computer had heat issues in the past but this temp range shouldn't be an issue should it?

 

[Atomic Rooster]

50° is a bit high if that's at idle. Most any program you open up at that point could easily ramp the temp up.

 

[TedtheTech]

Hmm lock ups are pretty general and can be caused by a lot of things ranging from heat to corrupt system files.

Airdust the inside of the computer to make sure fans and coolers are not being clogged with dust leading to over heating.

Clear out your temporary files on the PC. (Right click on your drive > select properties > disk cleanup.)

Make sure you have Windows updates and that IE is up to date.

Check for bad memory in the system. Here's a good Memory Diagnostic Guide.

If the memory is fine, you may want to consider trying to do a Windows repair incase you have any corrupt system files on the system

 

[mikee]

It might have been the 10gb drive. I just took it out and reinstalled windows on the 180gb drive so far no lockups. This morning I went out it was frozen then I restarted and it would get to the desktop but no icons or taskbar would appear. Also it turns out the computer was home to many spiders since it has been sitting there unused since late last year. I am thinking of getting something like this to help cool it off since I can't find a socket A heatsink anywhere.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=39598&CatId=804

 

[dude_56013]

That fan moves hardly any air. It only moves 16 CFM...granted it's a slot cooler...but therein lies the problem...it's a slot cooler.

 

[mikee]

It's just that the only extra fan slots are smaller than 80mm fans. I can't find anything smaller that looks any good.