[RESOLVED] My computer keeps freezing!

[Jinnseng]

As my subject states, My computer keeps FREEZING! It seems very random, it happens out of nowhere. The only thing i could think of that might cause it is i installed some more memory on my system a couple weeks ago, everything was fine until about a week later these freeze mishaps started going. I took out the memory and the problems continued. Just tonite i decided to try and put the memory back in, and it seemed to happen faster, the computer kept freezing. My computer is:
Pentium 2 350 mhz w/MMX
Currently 64 meg RAM
OS: Win 98

The amount of memory i installed before was a 32, but that currently isn't in my computer. If anyone could offer me any leads, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Bogeyman]

First, rule out a virus. Second, if you have installed any new programs lately, that may be the problem. Delete the last one, and see if that works. Lastly, replace or update your graphics device driver. A bad or outdated graphics driver is a common cause of freeze-ups.

[jinnseng]

I deleted all my new programs, i installed a new video driver, and re-installed Win 98, the same problem is happening. Now what?

[Bogeyman]

Heat is also a major source of lockups. Is your CPU fan working OK? Sometimes the video card needs to be cooled also. What kind of video card are you running, and do you have a CD-R/RW?

[jinnseng]

My fan seems to be fine, i have a Rage Pro Turbo AGP, something like that, but i also have a Voodoo 2 running on my system.

[Bogeyman]

Assuming no virus, and no conflicts in Device Manager, I stongly suspect excess heat is the culprit. You might try one of those fans that mounts in an empty slot and directly cools the video card. Try removing one of the cards, and it's driver.

[murphy1]

an easy way to tell if it is excessive heat is to remove the cover from your computer and have a small fan blowing into it( large on would do too.)_ then use the system for a period of time that it ussually would have taken for it to lock up. if it don't lock up, heat is the culprit. if it does, your vid card could still be overheating...are you o'clocking your cpu?? if so, go into you bios and set your memory and cache wait states slower and try it.

good luck..

[jinnseng]

How do you know if you're overclocking your comp? And what exactly does that mean? Also, could it be something with the 3D-card that i have thats overheating inside?

[murphy1]

I have found that it is wise to diagnose problems one step at a time. if you suspect heat,which I do, then find out if that is the problem. if it is, then we will find out what is causing the overheating. If it is not, we will continue on to the next most likly thing, according to the symptoms.
first find out if it is heat. do as i reccomended in the last post, and we will go from there. i will check back at least once a day to see how you are doing, and help if i can.
You are not alone, and the people here will help as best as we can, but don,t jump from one thing to the next, as you might miss something critical, and all your work will be for naught. Be patient, sometimes these things can take a while to nab.