First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.
Second, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com
Note: you should always be well backed up before running an application of
this type.
If your system is clear of viruses, open Control Panel, open System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.
Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem.
Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.
Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. No not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft.
In addition to the above, if you are on a dial-up connection and your system
is using a software based or controllerless modem, that might be the cause
of the issue as it works off the System processor as opposed to using its
own controller thus stealing CPU cycles possibly interfering with an
operation that requires more of the processor. Another possibility is if
you have a graphics card that is sharing memory with the system's main
system memory as opposed to having its own memory. XP by itself is
extremely graphics intensive, a graphics card sharing memory with the main
system memory as opposed to its own on-card memory can cause the system to
lock up depending upon what if being viewed.
When you post a question of this type, it helps if we know a little about
your setup, processor, speed, memory, hard drive (size and free space),
graphics card, whether or not it shares memory and how much it uses or if
the card has its own memory, how much. Nonetheless, I've covered most of
the possibilities above and the instructions above should go a long way
toward ferreting out the potential source of the issue.
