My computer keeps freezing up for no reason. It isn't the usual slow down which you then have to use ctrl+alt+delete to fix, it's actually a complete freeze up. I.E. You can't do anything, and you have to press the restart button on your computer. I recently upgraded my keyboard and mouse to a wireless one from labtec but I'm not sure whether that's causing compatability problems. It usually happens inside windows media player. You start some music or tv show and it just stops. I have just formatted the computer to eliviate the problem but to no avail. I also have two partitions on my hdd which may be of interest to you. I always only format c: while leaving d:. Do you think there is the possibility that d: contains a virus? I have Norton IS 2005 so I doubt I have any viruses. P.s. I also have just changed my wireless NIC to one made by a company called XDImax. Is there the possibility that all of these hardware changes are causing the lock ups? There are lots of issues to think about there, hopefully someone has some ideas. Nib

Well, assuming you have done full scans of your D drive with your Updated Nortons (PLUS a few other bug tools mentioned in the forum) and it is clean..... Start trying to eliminate the items you suspect systemactically. Since mysterious lockup are often very difficult to diagnose off-cuff, this is usually the best thing to do. Start with your wireless NIC. Are you close enough to the router to connect by wire? If so, uninstall the wireless nic completely, connect by wire, and see what happens. If you are still getting the lockups, leave the wireless nic OFF, uninstall the wireless KB and Mouse, use the old wired ones, and see what happens. Etc. BTW....if you are pretty sure is related to Media Player, you may want to try use RealPlayer and see if it locks up before checking the wireless items, but since you mentioned that you recently replaced those...and this recently started....those are, of course, suspect. Just start eliminatin' and go from there. HTH > PLEASE CONTRIBUTE to Computing.net - Report back what did/didn't work for Others' Reference.<

It's okay I'm way ahead of you. I've worked out that the problem is overheating. My CPU temp can reach 53 degrees just when it's ticking over. I've tried removing the fan and the heatsink and hoovering them (yes I used a vacuum cleaner!) It doesn't crash as much, but I think if it was on long enough it would still do so. Does anyone know how to cool it down? My case is an ATX, i.e. it has no case fan, just a cpu one. Other than getting rid of the dust I'm not sure what to do. Also, what is a typical healthy CPU temperature? Nib

P.s. The speed of the cpu fan is said to be 2900 rpm, is this good/bad or should I get a new fan? I've just looked on dabs.com and found a good heatsink and fan. Here: http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=303M&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=cpu+fan&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0&v=2 This one is said to be capable of 4500rpm. P.s. I have an athlon xp 2400. Critical temperature for this cpu is 85 degrees, according to one website I looked at.

I don't know why I bother posting in these forums because you hardly ever get any help.

Nibinaear. I am getting the same exact problem as you. I would be working on my computer just fine then all of a sudden when I try to click, it all freezes up where I cannot click on my current browser nor any of the window on the bar area below that. I can't click start, nor the tools in my sys tray, but as soon as I press CTRL + ALT + DELETE, then everything works fine till I run into the issue again. I can easily have this problem 20 times a day. Can anyone lend a hand and help us.