I know that this problem probably has more to do with the computer being a Compaq 5WV285, but I don't know where else to go. The freakin' Compaq Support e-mail page is not working, and those b---tards don't give you an e-mail address so you can mail them on your own. Here's my problem. The computer has been on a freeze spree for about a year now. I've done reboots, clean installs, deletion and re-creation of partitions, upgrading to WinXP, and nothing seems to help! I even ordered a QuickRestore CD from Compaq with the original Compaq 5WV285 image on it so I could restore it to it's original condition, but that didn't help!! And each time I re-installed, I also re-installed the drivers for everything. Sound, display, System ROM, whatever updates I found at Compaq. I also downloaded all the Windows Critical updates and stuff. And the thing keeps freezing! Even 10 minutes after freakin' re-install/reboot! I've run MSCONFIG, I've turned programs off, it's not a system resources problem. I've done virus scans and cleans, and I have ZoneAlarm up and running! SO WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!! AND I'D LIKE TO E-MAIL COMPAQ AND MAKE USE OF MY WARRANTY, BUT LIKE I SAID THEY'RE FREAKIN' E-MAIL SUPPORT PAGE IS NOT WORKING!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH! HELP ME...................................please??

check the processor fan,get a can of compressed air and blow the dust off of everything,then wait about 5 minutes before booting up ,could also be a flaky power supply, or not enough power for the athlon cpu. something else worth a try is vxd.fix http://freepctech.com/articles/articles.php?ArticleId=49

Believe me, I know your frustration. I have a fujitsu laptop that was doing exactly the same thing. After too many hours of messing with it, I've got it into a fairly stable state. Among the things I've done is to totally wipe PCHealth from my machine. Its evil! I also turned off the auto-run feature of the CD so that the PC no longer autmatically recognizes when a CD is inserted. A minor inconvience but it seemed to help because the machine no longer has to poll every few seconds to see if there is a cd in the drive. I also upgraded the memory from 128 to 256 meg. Finally, I have installed all the updates I could find. Of course, all of this could be so much fluff except that I can now use the machine for more than the 5 minute intervals I had before when the thing would freeze up. See if you can find the book WIndows Me Annoyances. There are some other tips in it that may help you as well. Good luck.

I had a laptop that kept freezing. ended up being the harddrive.

If you've done clean installs and you are still freezing... you have a hardware problem. From your post, it sounds like this computer is still under Warranty. If it is... Call Compaq at: 1-800-652-6672 (United States) and make use of it before it is too late. Also tell them everything you have done to resolve the problem yourself. This will give them information to work with and cut down on repeat troubleshooting. They will most likely require you to do a clean install from your recovery disk to test for themselves, but it should not be necessary for you to go through everything again. Back up any necessary files before calling them. Freezing can be caused by: Bad Ram Overheating Flaky Power Supply Bad hard drive Bad motherboard etc... etc... etc... If you are under Warranty, call them. Talk directly to someone and do not let them push you around. Request to speak to a supervisor if necessary.

look man!! i had the same problem but with a freakin' desktop!! look, to check your RAm and hard disk go buy systemworks 2002 , it has a diag feature that allows you to check your ram, video card, sound card,motherboard,etc... also you can run sysdoctor to check any VXD stuffups,etc... if you can't buy systemworks then just use dxdiag to check video issues, u can run a simple ram test by load heaps of minesweeper programs see if the computer freezes if it does then it probably your ram,... ANOTHER THING NEVER EVER (THIS IS TO EVERYONE ) GET WINDOWS 98 se WITH ANY PATCH UPDAteS)!!! finally if you want to know if your cpu is running hot get a program that monitor cpu temperature ,yes, its out there or simply if you hear grinding or loud fan niose, change your cpu fan.... its only like $15 for a resonable one.... (australian dollars im saying) good luck @!!!

most likely it would be your video drivers from experience. First install a basic standard drver version fo your video card then apply an upgrade if neccisary. From experience!!!!!!!!!!!