I've been having problems with ME locking up out of the blue... Sometimes a Close Task window will come up on Ctrl+Alt+Del and sometimes it won't... The machine also reboots on its own occasionally... So I've been trying to find out what is going on with my computer... I tried to boot to Safe Mode and run Scan Disk to make sure the hard drive is ok... Well, Scan Disk froze up each time... I'm guessing my hard drive is going out, but does anyone have any other suggestions as possible culprits of the random freezing and rebooting of the machine?

I am not sure, someone else will be able to help you with more specific info for sure. It might be power supply issue, or a virus. Machines will reboot if the system is too hot to I think, or some of them will...or this is what I heard at least. Good luck, Red.

From what I have read..... random freezing and rebooting can be bad memory or an overheating processor?? If it's always on scan disk, you can scan the disk in DOS. Use a start up (boot) disk and start the PC. At the a:\ prompt, type... a:\c:\ then press enter. Then type...... c:\scandisk A block type graph screen will show. It will fill with coloured squares as each part of the HD is checked. I think bad sectors are coloured red and the PC learns to avoid these areas when running normally. The scan can take 2 or 3 hours depending on the HD size etc. If the HD shows bad sectors, I would be thinking of backing up data, and drivers etc with a view to fitting a new HD sometime in the future. Someone else can tell you how long it takes for a HD to show bad sectors before it will start to fail in a big way. See what others on this site say before you scan the HD. If it is an overheating processor, you may burn it out running the machine when a new fan may have been all that was needed. Good luck

Another option before scanning your disk will be to wait until windows is fully loaded when you switch on your computer. Then press ctrl + Alt + Del and select all the programs shown on the small window...one by one and select end task. Repeat this for all the programs in that small window until only Explorer is the only program remaining. Then try do your normal Scan disk. One open program among the closed ones might be responsible for the lock-up. Good Luck.

Hi, Spoonz, Red & Bryan. CTRL ALT & DELETE does not show all the programs that are running, though you may have the answer. To see all the progs, go to START - RUN - and type MSCONFIG and press ENTER - START UP. Pacs Portal will show what these programs are, and may reveal if you have a rogue in there.

Thanks for the suggestions guys... I'm pretty sure it's not my fan, b/c I took the side panel off and can see that the fan is still working... As far as the RAM goes, I'm pretty sure it's not that, as I've just recently upgraded the RAM and the problem's still occurring... I may try running ScanDisk in DOS mode tonight when I get home... If anyone else has any suggestions, they are more than welcome.. :)