What make a computer hang or freeze?

Basically, your computer hangs because of bloat in the system files and registry.

From the sounds of your problem, I recommend that you wipe (format) the hard drive, and reload Windows.

Start by backing up all critical files and settings.
If you don't have 1, create a Startup disk.
Create a hardware inventory, and download all of the drivers for your hardware.
2 free tools to help with this are
Belarc Advisor www.belarc.com
Sandra www.sisoft.com

After you have everything ready;
Boot from the startup disk.
Run fdisk, and delete all partitions on the drive.
Reboot, and re-run fdisk. Create partitions as desired. See www.fdisk.com/fdisk and www.aumha.org for more information.
reboot, and format the c drive.
With the W98 CD in the drive, run setup, and install Windows.
I recommend selecting Custom, and going through the options, select only those items that you want.

Install the drivers for your motherboard / chipset.
Install DirectX (8.1 is the latest)
Installthe driver for your video card.
Install the drivers for your other hardware.
Install IE 5.5 or 6
Run Windows update.
Install your other programs.
Recover your data files from the backups.
Shut down all background programs, and run defrag.

Your system should now be more stable, and run faster then it has for a while.

Chas

Hi

1 - Overheating. use a monitoring software such as Motherboard Monitor 5
Motherboard Monitor is a tool that will display information from the sensor chip on your motherboard in your Windows system tray. MBM supports a wide range of Chipsets &Sensor Chip combinations.
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download5.htm
Heating could be cause by malfunction fan check both CPU and power supply fans and make sure that CPU fan is fitted right and the holes for vantlation is not coverd by dust or blocked by any object.

2 -PC BIOS setting and update.may needs new update. Flash your BIOS.
Set "Memory hole at 15-16mb - enabled in BIOS.

3 - Unstable motherboard.

4 - Memory and cache problems and conflict.Some bad RAM chips could cause the hang up.

5 - Hardware conflect.IRQ conflicts causes system to hang which could be caused by PCI and ISA cards sharing interrupt request signals (IRQs) with other devices. Use system informatiom utility to check it.Set "PCI Delay Transitions" to"Disable" under Advanced Chipset in the BIOS.

6 - CPU problems and CPU Overclocking or underclocking.

7 - Unstable power or bad power supply.

8 - Hard disk with bad sectors or heavy defragged hard disk.

9 - Video card needs new driver update.

10- Registry problems.

11- Antivirus programs with compatibility issue.

12- Hardware drivers with compatibility issue or broblems.Some BIOS clash with SB Live.

13- Application programs with compatibility issue.Do a CTRL-ALT-Delete then check all the programs that is running.Start up the system clean.
You can stop most of them and simplify your configuration by using msconfig.exe or use software such as startup cop a free software form zdnet.

14-There are many placeswhere the sftoware starts such autoexec.bat, config.sys, win.ini, system.ini, startbat.bat, registry about seven places.

15- Power managment compatibility issue.set BIOS settin

Those first two answers are all well and good, if you know how to do these things; hoever, it sounds to me like you do not have the know how to do these processes. And if that is true, youprobably have notdone your disk maintenance, ever! You start by clicking "start" then programs, accessories, system tools, disk clean up. Answer yes to: Are you sure you want to delete these files? Then do the same path to scan disk, then the same path to disk defragmenter. and if you feel up to it, system information, tools, system file checker, to update file versions. This is called "Maintenance", it is necessary for your computer to operate, and less drastic than Fdisk, Format. This process will take quite a while, if you haven't done it before, so get a book on how to maintain your computer to read during the process. Have fun!

Check that your CPU fan is working properly. I have often seen systems hang after a while when the fan is slow or has seized up altogether (CPU gets too hot and cuts out)

JP

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