Computer Freezing up

Occassionally my screen has a flash of light (like a blink) and my entire system freezes up. I have to reboot. Any ideas on why this is happening? (Not sure what other info I need to provide so here goes: HP Pavillion 8650C, Windows 98, let me know if you need more info).

Thanks,
Lisa

 

Hey Lasparks, have you tried to defrag her? If not don't use window's defragmenter,it's slower than mollasses. Instead go to voptxp.com download v7.22 for windows. Oh, when you run it, if the program says something keeps writing to the disk, go to tools/close all apps. and try again. This is a very cool program and fast. this is only a trial but it works gooooooooooood!

 

sounds like a hardware problem, probably overheating

do you know how to get into the bios setup before windows loads, you can find system temperatures there and post them here. Do this after you have run the pc for at least an hour.

If your comp is overheating, you will probably need to open it and clear all the dust out.

 

I'll give both of those a try this afternoon and let you guys know how it goes.
Thanks for all the help!

Lisa

 

Sounds like a power surge to me,have you got a quality surge protector?,check see if you have anything that uses a high power consumption in your house flicking on or off around the time of the lockup,also double check the connections for your computer to make aure they are all secure most importantly the AC connections and make sure your cables dont run near your feet as constantly kicking them works them loose,on the same note with your computer turned on shake your AC adapter and computer connections to "try" and lock the computer up,if theres a loose connection a pretty obvious flikering will be apparent on your monitor and\or spluttering from your speakers