PC Freezing

[overthehill]

My PC freezes randomly and requires a hard boot. I thought that perhaps the PC needed cleaning so yesterday I cleaned it very well, (compressed air) even cleaned and changed thermal paste. CPU typically runs at approx. 50°C - 60°C. I didn't think that this was too hot but decided to clean the PC anyway.

Today the PC ran for 4-5 hrs. and no problem then it froze. After reboot it ran for approx. 10 mins. and then froze again. Rebooted and approx.10 min. once more. The next time I decided to see how long it would run if I put it under load. I played FLUX and Zuma until I got tired of playing and no problem. I'm probably online more than not, but it always freezes when I'm online?

So if the problem is not heat, could it be the PSU ?, or what else could cause this?  Appreciate some input. overthehill


PC- Intel Pentium D 2.80 GHz -  3.0GB Ram -  32-bit

[patio]

If this is the XP machine you mentioned the other day and it's the original HDD then it may just be old age...
You could run the HDD manuf. diagnostics on it to see....

[DaveLembke]

I agree with Patio to check HDD as for if there is an issue with HDD and paging it will cause issues. Additionally given the age of this system, I'd check the capacitors around the CPU as well as others on the motherboard and look for any that are leaking or swollen. I had a Pentium D 3Ghz that was like yours with stability issues and come to find out I had 3 capacitors near the CPU that had dry browning yellow electrolytic leaking out their tops. Voltages for PSU might be able to be verified in the BIOS depending on what board you have and BIOS features an outlet with dirty wall power can cause issues. If a light is connected to same outlet and you notice dimming or flickering with a standard filament based lightbulb then you have dirty power. Quick fix would be to find an outlet that doesnt have power issues of voltage drops or add a battery backup to keep the voltage levels up during operation.

[overthehill]

Well it is the old PC and I ran the Seagate tests -- Smart Check -Short Drive Self Test- Short Generic - Long Generic, all Passed. I did not run the FIX test. PC ran for hours, no problem. I checked the motherboard and CPU for leaks. See none. No flickering of light from same socket.

Maybe I'm really reaching here but is there any possible chance that it could be the optical mouse that freezes?? Is that possible?  Anyway I changed to another mouse. If I still have the problem my next move will be to change the HDD. I have Vista loaded on a newer drive that's in the PC but not presently connected.
Thks. overthehill

[patio]

If the HDD passed all those tests no need to replace it...
Check Device Manager for any Yellow !!'s which indicate missing/corrupt drivers...

[overthehill]

Nothing yellow in Device Manager. overthehill

[DaveLembke]

What do your voltages look like if the BIOS supports displaying this info?

[overthehill]

Will check. overthehill

[overthehill]

Is this what we're looking for? overthehill

V12.0    11.687 V
V5.0        4.954 V
V3.3        3.268 V
V1.5        1.516 V
VccP        1.218 V




BTW  Process temp.  60°C
         Internal temp.  47°C
         Remote temp. 42°C

Fan Speed   1200
Aux                0
Front              0
Rear            2160