Hello. Not sure if this is a hardware or software problem but here goes. This is an eMachines D4362, P4 3.0 GHz, 1 Ghz RAM, Windows XP Home SP2. A week or so ago I noticed that after the computer runs for an hour or so it starts locking up, and the hard drive light stays on continuously. Also after this occurs, it will not shut down (locks on "Windows is shutting down"). A manual restart corrects the problem, but it reoccurs after a period of time. What I have done so far: Ran malware removal as per MajorGeeks Malware Forum. Found and removed a few items. All scans now come up clean. A Seagate diagnostics program indicated that the hard drive was bad, so I replaced it with a new one, the problem seems better (computer runs faster and doesn't lock up as much) but eventually the hard drive light stays on continuously, it slows down, and begins to lock up. I opened up the case, blew out some dust, removed the HS and CPU and reinstalled with thermal gel as per Arctic Silver instructions. Added a pci slot fan, ensured that all fans (have 3 now) are running ok. Monitored temperatures with Speedfan. CPU temperature normally runs in the mid 40's, occasionally may reach low to mid 50's. When the hard drive light is on continuously I have looked at Task Manager. CPU usage is very low (0 to 2%). I have terminated all of the processes that I could, makes no difference. The only thing I can do is manually shut down (Using the power button). At this point I am at a loss, other than to possibly reformat and reinstall the OS. I guess that would definitely rule out software issues. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Could be scheduled tasks running or updates. Take the computer off line and see if the same symptoms appear.

Had something similar happen a few weeks ago. I didn't have the problem with it freezing up , but my hdd light was always on. While inside the computer installing a new hdd, I accidentally loosened my secondary ide cable(at mobo)which my dvd burners are connected to. It wasn't completely off, but enough to confuse the system. Once I pressed it back into place, everything was fine. XP Pro SP2 P4 2.4G/1024 DDR333 Nanya ASUS P4S8X-X ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Toolman

"I noticed that after the computer runs for an hour or so it starts locking up" run this for "an hour or so", and see if it still locks up. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ run it as a live cd. larry

Try a different IDE/SATA Cable. You may ought to change IDE channels/SATA ports if that doesn't work. WinSimple Software