Pc Freezes

[john-the-plotter]

Please bare with me whilst I list my system, the faults, and what I have tried so far.

 

My Pc is built by "Mesh" in 2005 O/S is XP home with sp3 and all updates NTFS.

Mobo is Asus A8V deluxe with AMD Athlon64 3200 cpu fitted

Ram (replaced Oct 2013) is 2 x 1gb sticks Crucial ddr pc3200

PSU is OCZ 500 sxs Sealthxstream 500wattt (replaced) 2009

Hdd is Seagate 500gb Sata 11 drive (replaced 2011)

Graphics card is Asus HD3450 512mb ddr2 agp (replaced 2010)

ps/2 keyboard and usb mouse,wireless, but also tried a wired one as well

 

Now the problem.

 

About 3 to 4 weeks ago the PC started freezing and running slow. Suspecting it could be ram I downloaded memtest86+ and ran it. It showed up some faults so I purchased the new ram.

 

I installed the new ram and after resetting the Bios I got the Pc to work and it seemed normal.

This worked for a couple of days until yesterday when the freezes started again. Some times it will freeze constantly,say for two or three minutes and then work for less than 1/2 minute. Other times it will operate a bit longer before it freezes.

I have used various programs in case there is some nasty in the system. Used the following; Housecall, Hi-jack this, Malaware bytes, and Avira(free) anti virus. All that was found was a couple of BHO's which I have deleted.

I have used Auslogics defrag Tool and TFC which cleared out a few files.

Msconfig and unselected any unwanted programs and services. Disk space is not a problem.

 

So what Next ? Is it some piece of Hardware failing, A software problem or have I got an un detected nasty in my pc.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

I suspect the RAM that you have put in.

 

Do you still have the old RAM ?

If so - try just one module in one of the slots.

 

Swap for the other if no joy with the first one.

 

Failing that - do the above with the new RAM.

You are obviously looking for a stable system ( albeit slower )

If you can achieve this then we can assume that one, or more, of the new RAM modules is at fault.

 

[Your m/board has a 4GB max ]

[john-the-plotter]

I will try that later, but personally I don't think it is that. I have had the pc running fine for three days and then it reverts back.

Old ram did work but the pc still froze.

Supposing I have somehow deleted or messed up one of the windows files would that not cause this problem ?

 

or would a PSU going faulty also cause freezing.

One other thing that has started happening today is that my internet connection keeps disconnecting.

I am hard wired to an asdl modem. I have checked all the setting and it is not set to disconnect.

But as I say this has just started happening today. is this being caused by one or my problems ?

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

I suspect the RAM that you have put in.

 

Do you still have the old RAM ?

If so - try just one module in one of the slots.

 

Swap for the other if no joy with the first one.

 

Failing that - do the above with the new RAM.

You are obviously looking for a stable system ( albeit slower )

If you can achieve this then we can assume that one, or more, of the new RAM modules is at fault.

 

[Your m/board has a 4GB max ]

[KenB]

Hi John

 

I am literally on my way out. I will get back to you when I return.

Please add a post here so that your thread pops up when I look at "New Posts" :)

 

Let me know how the RAM testing goes ......... it is possible that it could be the cause.

( not the internet problem though )

[Armageddon]

Hi John have you tried SFC ( system file checker) ?

[john-the-plotter]

Thanks Ken and Armageddon

Following your advice and started to run sfc, then I realised that I have done something rather silly.

System has been formatted and reloaded a few times over the years due to various problems It is installed with xp home and sp3, but here is the problem, I also have an xp pro disk which I must have installed alongside xp home and when I ran SFC that's when I noticed that it was asking for the xp pro disk.

I do have this disk but it is an old one and doesn't have any sp2 or 3 on it.

The other stupid thing I did yesterday was to remove Xp pro as I thought by just deleting the files folder. quite why I thought that would remove xp pro I don't know.

My drive has two Partitions on it, C; and D: C: 97.68gb with 74.42 free that has the system on it; and D: 368.10gb with 357.46 free

 

I have run sfc but I didn't see what it said when it ended. I used xp home disk.

 

My system appears to be working Ok this evening. but I have now presented you with a further problem (sorry about that).

Maybe you could advise me of the next course of action.

Could I transfer all the files to one partition, reformat the other partition and then re-install xp home.; transfer programs back to the newly installed partition, and then reformat that partition. or do I just leave it alone whilst it is working.

Over to you, and thanks for being patient with me.

[Armageddon]

Hi John quick question when you boot up do you have to choose between xp home and pro or does it just boot to either one ?

[john-the-plotter]

No choices it just boots straight into windows.

The opening screen just says Windows Xp so I guess it is xp home.

[KenB]

I'm confused now http://www.tenaflyguy.com/confused-smiley.jpg

 

Is your system stable now ?

 

You have deleted Windows Files Folder ........ but not sure which one

Is this correct ?

To check .... Start > Right click on MY Computer > Properties

It will tell you there if it is Pro or Home.

 

Could I transfer all the files to one partition, reformat the other partition and then re-install xp home.; transfer programs back to the newly installed partition, and then reformat that partition.

When you say "files" / "programs" ........

You could do this with files - e.g. photos / Word documents etc

You would not be able to do this with installed programs.

 

When you format you remove everything from the disk - including the registry

When you re-install you will have a new registry - and no reference to the old installed programs.

They will not function.

 

do I just leave it alone whilst it is working.

If it isn't broken ...... don't fix it :)