Hello everyone:

I was wondering if anyone out there had a similar problem to mine. For me it is techinically very challenging. The problem is that my computer freezes after operating for 2 minutes. The freezing happens regardless of what I am doing. For example, I can boot into Windows XP without a problem, then after 2 minutes it freezes. It freezes in MS Dos and in Free Dos. It freezes even if I go into the BIOS setup. Regardless of what I do the freezing is there. The power button does not always respond and the reset button is nonfunctional. The system was assembled by me two years ago. It is an MSI K7T Pro 2 Version 1 motherboard with an AMD K6 1200 MHz CPU and 256 Mb of RAM. the computer was fine until one day it just froze. I managed to rescue it a couple of times and then all of a sudden it never worked again. I have tried the following things:

- Reinstalled Windows XP in two different hard drives.
- I worked really quickly and I updated the BIOS with the latest BIOS release from MSI.
- I changed the motherboard battery.
- I reset the motherboard with the jumper, and reviewed the settings several times.
- I tried a lower level OS, both MS DOS and Free DOS.
- I removed all cards (LAN, 56 K modem) and extraneous drives (CD ROM, extra hard drive, etc.) The bare bones system still behaved the same way.
- I removed and reinstalled the RAM chip, video card, power supply, hard drive, etc.
- I checked the cooling fan to make sure it was working properly.

I tried everything I could think of. I am trying to run Check It diagnostic software from DOS, but the system freezes too quickly to do hardware checks.

I am inclined to believe that either the motherboard or the CPU is ruined. Something in the internal drivers might be wrong too. I intend to take the following steps:

- Try a different video card
- Reinstall all BIOS drivers

Well, if anyone of you has had a similar problem please let me know. I would love to hear some opinions. At first I thought this was a Windows XP problem, but even something as reliable and stable as Free DOS is failing, and I have seen Free DOS make through another computer that was an even bigger mess.

The first thing I would check would be the CPU temperature and then the power supply.

Does the powersupply fan spin? Your problem is almost certainly thermal in origin. Either the CPU is overheating or the powersupply or the graphics card.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

I have the almost the same problem - but mine works longer after a longer shut down(leading me to believe it is a thermal problem ) Check heat sink,thermal grease,and checked CPU temp in Health section in SETUP. All seems ok. I'm going try replacing my power supply and I'll get back to you.

Today I went to visually check everything inside the computer and turned it on it's side - powered it up and it worked fine -
googled around and found it could be a grounding issue with the mobo . He suggested using paper or plastic spacers on all mountiung screws(top and bottom) so mobo is not grounded to case -which mine was -i'm currently installing OS -will put in spacers and try it standing upright after that

took out mobo installed nylon bushings(true value hardware -mom and pop store)and everything is working fine.