Any help ... PC Freezing Help that is

[Cloverfield]

As some of you may know from my posts, I have had my PC in a testing phrase lately. This is because it freezes quite often, and more so when it is on the internet.

The place I purchased it from (it is still under warranty, I have only had it 6 months) keep insisting there is nothing wrong with the machine, that they have tested it, etc.

Last time they blamed the software I had on it (which is pretty much the same that I had on my old PC and I never had a problem). So I took everything off and all I have installed is my cable modem software, and Office 2000 Professional.

But it still freezes. So I ring them back today, and they tell me I need to have the latest motherboard drivers (why they didn't tell me that in the first place) before I install anything else.

Basically I have to reformat and reinstall again. But I want some advice if anyone is good at this stuff. I know a lot about the web and installing generally, but I know little about hardware or what causes problems.

Does anyone know what would be causing this... or do you think the computer shop is trying to put blame on other stuff just so they don't have to replace components?

The computer is an AMD Athlon 1000, 512MB Ram, 20GB hard drive. I access the internet through cable modem.

Abe Babe...

[Pilot]

First of all, let me just congratulate you on your purchase of an AMD-power computer. None of that 66MHz FSB Intel crap. Okay anyway, off the top of my head I can think of a few things. Make sure that the CPU fan(s) are spinning freely. CPU overheating causes problems (namely locking up.) What brand is your hard drive? Maxtor Diamondmax series, WD Caviar Series or other? 20gb is an evolution point for the ata/100 bus. Hard drive may be ata/66 running on an ata/100 controller. That's never good. Also be sure that your memory is properly seated. You might try removing the memory and cleaning the gold fingers on the bottom of the chip(s) with a pink pencil eraser. Check for IRQ conflicts- right-click My computer and select properties. Go to the device manager tab and double click "Computer" at the top of the list. Scroll throught the items in the box and make sure that none of the devices' IRQs are the same. If you can't solve the problem I'll send you some diagnostic software.

[LuxoJr]

Wow. I'm buying a new computer this Friday. Don't go anywhere soon, ok?!

[Pilot]

Oh don't worry about that. I'm here every day!