Hi, My computer keeps freezing and won't restart (without lots of time and many tries). Then sometimes I have to reinstall win98 all over again. It seems to have started after I had my 350 upgraded to 450 processor. How can I tell if my computer can actually handle a 450? I think there is a place I can find that information on my computer but I don't know how to go there. Also, a used 450 was put in it. Could there have been something done to this processor by the previous owner that makes it not work correctly in my machine? Thanks in advance for any advice, Bonnie

Hi,Going from a 350to a 450 should not be a problem.Take the cover off your case and make sure that the fan on the CPU is working as this sounds like it could be why it is slowing down, I had the same prob on my P3 500,the fan died and slowed to a crawl. Post back Diloi

Hi, Thank you for your advice. It does have a fan. Might it not be fast enough? But, the computer doesn't slow down, it completely freezes. No mouse, no ctrl-alt-del function, and it won't even shut down with the button on front of the machine. I have to use the switch on back to get it to even shut off. Then often it won't start back up, even with the startup disk. Then later I will try and it will start with the startup disk and I have to reinstall windows. If I did want to get a bigger or different processor I was wondering where it would display my computer's limits as to how big it could go. Or where on the computer does it say anything about the processor? Thanks again! :-) Bonnie

When does it freeze? In desktop use or internet? How much memory do you have? # of units and size? Just got a handle on my own freeze up situation.....on the net...three banks of 128meg.....after nearly having a stroke these last four or five days, I decided to follow proper TS procedure....start simple....I was getting error messages also...at very similar memory addresses....so I pulled two sticks and now I don't freeze at all! Now....when my blood pressure drops to an acceptable range I'll swap the sticks to try and find the culprit....you might also check your power supply....if you're only running a 450-550 system its probably an older one....probably a smaller PS.....and also probably getting to the worn out stage.....power drops can cause lockups too.......I'm not an expert but, believe me.....I've been doing a WHOLE LOT of studying trying to get my reliability problem in hand.......good luck.....let us know how it works. Mike

Hi, My computer is a 2 year old Pentium II, 128ram, 13g hard drive with 9 free, and it freezes at all different situations. On the net as well as when the computer is sitting idle all by itself with no programs running. I didn't understand a lot of what you were saying I'm sorry to say. Does three banks of 128 ram mean you have 384 megs of ram? And pulling 2 sticks means you only have 128 ram now? If this is corrent then I feel so incredibly geeky. LOL (If only I were a geek!) :-) But, what is a smaller PS? In power drops do you mean the power company doing it or my computer is somehow losing power? At least the last 5 times it froze up today it started back up ok. Before that I would have to go the startup disk route and then sometimes that didn't even work until(for some reason) the next day or so it would decide to cooperate and start with the disk. As you can see this is a very intermittant sort of problem that is probably going to take a long time to find the root of. How can I check out my processor and make sure that is not the culprit? Is there any way? Thanks again for all and any advice, Bonnie

TA DA! I pronounce you "Geek" that is exactly what I meant.....about the memory. The power supply refers to the physical power supply inside the computer. Not the electricity from your wall outlet. My "other" computer is a Compaq....package type computer.....mid-tower case (sort of small) 475mhz.....you know....the popular, compact size desktop.......it has a lower end power supply....145 watts.....for comparison, this computer is a 950 duron with a 300 watt PS....anyway, small power supplies obviously don't pack a whole lot of reserve power....these smaller computers are built to be compact and inexpensive (as computers go) so when you upgrade with components that require more oomph! such as a faster cpu then you are naturally taxing the PS just that much more. As an electical component they are prone to arbitrarily short life if some sub-component is faulty, or over-taxed. This can lead to a power problem. Power supplies need to provide a relatively smooth, steady supply of various voltages ie. 2.5v, 5v, 12v, etc for various computer components. If one or more of these voltages varies out of norm then there is a conflict in the system which can lead to seizures. If you're tech inclined or know someone who knows electrical systems, the power supply can be tested at the different connectors to see if there is a problem. As for the memory, it too can cause system lockups. I have yet to finish testing mine (since taking out the 256mb of RAM/two sticks has solved my problem) but when I do, I suspect that I'll find at least one of them is defective. I'll simply take out the one "good" one and substitute the others, one at a time, to figure out which one is bad. This is not to say that the lockups might not be software related, but in troubleshooting you always check out the easiest/most obvious first. Pulling a stick of RAM, or getting a power supply checked out is a lot easier than trying to figure out how all the thousands of files in Windows relate to each other and THEN try to figure out if THAT is the problem. One last suggestion....if you get totally flustered, see if you can get your system back to the configuration it last worked correctly in....cpu, startup files, etc. then start to make your changes, carefully, observing for problems..... OK.....ONE LAST Sug....get a spiral notebook and keep it on your desk next to the computer....you change something.....log it....something screws up...get an error message.....log it.......a log is great for going back and "fixing" things...... Good luck Mike