PC hags when idle

Point value changed by question poster.

Cool an interesting problem, first go into control panel and look at power options. Make sure it is set up as a desktop and look around you can specify when and how things do what you want.
But you should not get a reboot from them, the memory may have checked out but that dose not mean that may not mean any thing.
I know most people do not have extra parts lying around but can you replace the memory to see if that fixes your problem.
Have you checked the event viewer to see if there is anything there?
Has this just started happening or has it done it from the start? Do you have an antivirus and do you use any type of spy ware/malware checker?
When was the last time you cleaned, defragged and ran scan disk?
It sounds like some thing is using all your resources or is just stopped on your computer.
Try start up cop to see what starts when your computer runs and try promon from MS to see what programs run when you boot up.
Let me know what you find!

This is going to be tedious and long to find the cause.

1. Screen saver - If screen saver is enabled try a different one or disable it. Also, set System standby to Never.

2. Service or startup program - Disable all non-Microsoft Services and Startup programs from MSCONFIG. If freezing disappears, one of the Services or Startup programs was the cause. Disable/enable half of them at a time to identify the culprit. Event Viewer is a good source that might give you a clue.

3. Video driver - Uninstall the video driver and reinstall with the latest one.

4. System restore ? Try to go back to a date when there was no freezing.

5. Windows File System ? Do CHKDSK

6. HD ? Do a HD diagnostic test and replace it if failed.

7. Video card ? Try a different video card.

8. Windows ? Clean install Windows in a different HD.

9. CPU ? Try a known good comparable CPU.

10. Motherboard ? If the problem is still there, it?s go to be the Motherboard.

If you do not have a known good CPU or motherboard, take your system to a service place.

If you need more help or info, please add a comment.

Disable any screen savers that you may have running some adversely affect the operation of the system.

Knowing the OS involved wouldn't hurt at this stage either so if you would like to click on the [b]Add Comment[/b] button and list the OS and it's patch level as well as any running programs when this happens that will be a start.

Col

thanks for the ideas.
first off im running xp pro sp2 all updates up to date,its a clean install within the last week to try and solve the issue, but didnt help. got etrust EZ anti virus running with adawatch as well, ive ran spybot and reg cleanerso all invalid refs are either blocked or deleted.

have done a checkdisk, defrag and defraged the memory. my video card is updated with the latest nvidia drivers. got the power settings to always on, with no screens saver, done most checks mentioned but cant try swapping components as i dont have any spares

Do you have hibernate turned on? Sounds strange but I have seen it do this. Have you tried pressing the power button on the computer briefly to see if that helps?

just in from work and the pc had restarted, sigh!!
i was trying to convert to dvd so it wasnt idle this time, i checked the event log and it reported this event:-
TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

then on start up it logged this event:-
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x1000007f (0x00000008, 0x80042000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini081506-01.dmp.

any ideas what the bug check was or how i can open the dmp file?

Ok it is a new install, back up your stuff. Do a fresh install, boot to the XP, CD delete partitions format with ntfs. Do a clean install and if the problem still happens check the hard drive and main board.