Hi, about a year and a half ago I upgraded the ram in my laptop. it's a Compaq 1201Z, Athlon 4 900mhz yea, I know it's old but I only use it for word processing and browsing the internet, email and such, it works just fine for my purposes. Anyway, I upgraded the ram from 192MB (64 hard wired and 128 removable) I replaced the 128 with a 256 so now I'm at a total of 320. I also did a clean NTFS install of Win XP Pro. Everyhting worked great for a long time. (about a year) however lately, when running something that is more stress on the computer, like playing a video, or installing a program, etc. sometimes it will just completely freeze up. can't even move the mouse, and Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't even do anything. I thought maybe it was a software issue, so I formatted and did a clean install again. It still does the same thing. It doesn't happen constantly, but when it happens it always seems to be at the wrong time if you know what I mean. Could that memory I put in there have something to do with it? is there a way I can test it to see if it's on it's way out? I've heard of programs that can test the memory in depth but I don't know where to look or what is the best. any input or ideas will be appreciated Thanks, Eric

could it be a heat related crash? Is your pc warmer than usual now that it's summer? Is it in a well ventilated area? Try using a standard house fan on your pc to keep it cool and see if you still experience the problem. Also, if you can find software that can monitor the CPU and system temps., that would help too.

well, I have central air, so the house is usually a constant temp no matter if it's hot out or not, where could I find some software that monitors the temp? any desent freeware out there, or something with a free trial, etc?

I know this thing gets pretty warm, I keep the back of it propped up so air can circualte underneath it.(always have) I do notice that it happens more when the machine has been on for a while and is warmed up.

I have an MSI motherboard and use a program they have called PC Alert. It might work on your system too, not sure. You should be able to find it on their website.

try the original memory only are you getting adware and spyware from the internet? running adaware and spybot? crap could eat resources and slow you down.. uhmmm. does device manager say everything is installed and working fine? shutdown and shoot some canned air in there to clean out dusty heat sinks. does it look dusty in there? when you ctrl alt del...does it say anything not responding. when you say watching a video and installing software...do you mean you watch dvd's with this machine. maybe your cdrom/dvdrom is the problem. this was usefull to disable unwanted xp services http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm