major Computer freezing

[MarineCorps]

I have been meaning to do this for two weeks now but only now got the incentive to do this. My computer has been freezing up a lot recently. By a lot I mean 4-5 times a day. Yesterday I watched two DVDs without a hitch for 4 hours. After the DVDs were done I went to play civ it froze up. It seems to only happen when I play games (not just civ but two other games also). I just started to play another game when it froze up again, I restarted and tried again and it freeze up again. After hitting the restart button the computer shut off but didn't restart. I tried again this time the bios didn't load. tried again bios loaded and got windows safe. Told computer to boot into safe mode the screen went blank and nothing happened from there. Booted again this time it froze at the windows safe mode message. Rebooted and it forze after the little Windows XP boot logo left the screen. And it has now just frozen at the windows boot logo. I have no idea why this is happening it started a little while after I got a new case. Any idea how to fix it and whats causing it? Thanks

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

These problems occuring right after the switch to a new case lead me to believe it's a connection problems. Intermittent power to say a hard drive, or perhaps even the motherboard could cause symptoms like you described. I would power down the system, ground yourself, and resecure ALL connections.

 

[Zakharov]

It might also be a heat problem. Is there a good airflow in the new case? Did you accidentally knock the cpu heatsink when you transferred everything?

 

[Volum]

These problems occuring right after the switch to a new case lead me to believe it's a connection problems. Intermittent power to say a hard drive, or perhaps even the motherboard could cause symptoms like you described. I would power down the system, ground yourself, and resecure ALL connections.

My brother used to have the same problem but he fixed it doing that

 

[CruddyLeper]

While you are stripping the computer down, checking the power connectors etc, do take a vacuum cleaner to the cooling fans. It's amazing how clogged up with dust they get - and that dust traps heat. Which could explain your problem. Because we're moving into the summer now and the higher temperatures usually cause more problems like this.

 

[MarineCorps]

If it helps my computer will no longer start up. The LED power light comes on and I can hear the fans but the monitor doesn't come on.

@CruddyLeper: Maine is not famous for it's heat. Hell it's been raining most of this week.

@Zakharov: Theres one case fan that runs plus all the Expansion slot panels are riped out, plus the little grate on the back of the case where the PS/2 ports and co. are is has been ripped out plus theres a grate at the top of the case. It is possible I might have done something with the heatsink since I had to remove it in order to get the HD out of the old case(MicorATX case). I suppose I could have replaced it wrongly. but I have enough temputure moniters on my computer that I would hope would alert me to a problem.

 

[CruddyLeper]

You took the heatsink off? You use heatsink compound when you put it back?

EDIT: If it won't even post, major problem with either CPU or RAM - I reckon you've fried your processor.

 

[MarineCorps]

You took the heatsink off? You use heatsink compound when you put it back?

Also, nevermind outside temp... what is it inside your pad?

I didn't exactly have a choice on removing the heatsink, the motherboard was under the HD and I couldn't pull the HD out with out removing the Heatsink. I haven't ever use heatsink compund. The inside tempeture for the CPU was I belive 91F.

 

[CruddyLeper]

Have edited my post - you didn't use compound? Bye bye Mr CPU.

EDIT: Those temperature sensors are rarely calibrated - so it could have been running 20 degrees faster than reported.

 

[MarineCorps]

Have edited my post - you didn't use compound? Bye bye Mr CPU.

EDIT: Those temperature sensors are rarely calibrated - so it could have been running 20 degrees faster than reported.

Well i have been running without the compound since November. If I fired my CPU then it isn't as major of an issue since I am getting a new one next week. I hooked my HD up at school but it didn't load. I got a message saying disk error. Althrough it worked fine when I hooked it up as a slave and was able to acess my drive.