low level format?

[Deerpark]

PSU = power supply.
The power supply isn't too hard to change, just a bit time consuming.
Disconnect all cables coming from the PSU and then unscrew the screws holding it in place. Then screw in the donor PSU and connect everything as before.
Just remember to replace the PSU with one of equal or greater wattage. And remember to connect everything you disconnected.
The PSU is definitely the easiest thing to replace and the part you're most likely to have a compatible spare of, so I would try that first before anything else.

[stevejohnson1985]

Hi, ive tried swapping over the PSU's and the system is still freezing. It was fine for about 4 hours, and it has just froze 3 times in the last 10 minutes (as soon as windows loads pretty much).....

Anything else I can check?

[Deerpark]

Since you've tried basically everything else it almost have to be the CPU or the motherboard.
Now, I know the BIOS is reporting normal temperatures for the CPU but the symptoms you describe still fits very well with overheating. So could you after one of the freezes, power off (and unplug just to be safe) the computer and carefully touch the CPU heatsink?
Does it feel very hot?

[stevejohnson1985]

The funny thing is...Ive just ran a different version of the seatools harddrive tester thing (DOS version) and before I started the test it said the:

'Drive has been overtemp --253'

Does this mean the harddrive is getting too hot? I thought the BIOS temps were OK?

What is the cpu heatsink?

[Deerpark]

'Drive has been overtemp --253'

This means the hard drive have at some point been hotter than recommended. This doesn't necessarily mean it's failing but that added cooling for the hard drive might be needed. As you can see the drive can still pass the SeaTools test even with this warning. Btw. You have done the long test in SeaTools, right?
The BIOS doesn't monitor hard drive temperatures, only CPU and ambient case temperature.

The CPU heatsink is the metal radiator sitting on top of the CPU. Like this one:

[stevejohnson1985]

yep I did the long test and it passed, bit annoying - im just waiting for something to fail now so I can replace it! I will wait for another freeze and check the heatsink then....

[stevejohnson1985]

I checked the heatsink after it froze and it only feels a bit warm. the hard drive though feels hot. Isn't that bad?

[stevejohnson1985]

Ive changed the RAM the harddrive and the PSU now and it is still freezing, - and the heatsink doesnt feel hot....Anything else it could be?

[Deerpark]

We're pretty much down to a faulty motherboard or CPU then.
Do you happen to have a spare compatible CPU lying around?

[stevejohnson1985]

yeah i think i have a compatible CPU - the computer it is from has the same harddrive as mine so it should be alright? How would I swap it over?

Also, I have just installed windows media player and as soon as I started using it, (after rebooting the computer) it froze. Could the freezing be something to do with the computer not being able to handle whats going on sometimes?

[Deerpark]

yeah i think i have a compatible CPU - the computer it is from has the same harddrive as mine so it should be alright? How would I swap it over?

You can't judge it on the hard drive. Hard drives are widely compatible CPUs are not.
The other CPU will have to be an AMD Athlon and be around the same clock speed as the one you have installed now.

[stevejohnson1985]

The spare CPU is an Athlon 1.5ghz, and the one on the faulty computer is also an athlon at 1.25ghz

Is that OK?

[Deerpark]

It probably is alright, but it would be nice to check what Athlon processors that motherboard was compatible with. Do you happen to have the manual for the Matsonic motherboard because I'm not having much luck finding one online.

[stevejohnson1985]

I dont have the manual - I bought the computer ready made from a computer fair, pre-made from individual parts. If it is the CPU does that mean the whole computer would have to be replaced because buying a new one would mean a new motherboard, ram etc?

[Deerpark]

Yeah pretty much unless you're able to dig up a compatible replacement somewhere.