-----Original Message-----
my computer freezes up after 20 mins or so. Fans work
great, did a full system restore and the problem still
persists. Please help.
Troubleshooting Computer Lockups (Freezes)
Many readers write each week with a similar problem:
their computers periodically lock up or "freeze," so that
the mouse and keyboard won't function and nothing can be
done for a period of time (sometimes the system unlocks
after a while; in other cases you have to reboot). This
is a common problem but not an easy one to diagnose
because it has so many causes. It's like a person going
to the doctor with the complaint of a cough; the problem
could be a cold, an allergy, a substance stuck in the
throat, cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. Here are
some common causes of lockups:
Software incompatibility
Hardware incompatibility or incorrect device driver
Bad RAM
Video card problems
Dying power supply
Processor getting too hot
The first step in diagnosing the problem is to keep a
journal showing exactly what you were doing each time the
system froze. This can help you spot patterns - for
example, if the lockup occurs when you try to print, or
whenever you play a sound, that suggests a problem with
the specific hardware device or its software driver.
Heat, bad RAM or a power supply that's about to give out
are more likely if the lockups are random.
