Computer lags then freeze OR blackscreen at start-up

My computer has been acting up. Here are the symptoms:

It often lags; mouse won't move smoothly, audio and sound broken up, then after a minute or so, it either goes back to normal or totally freezes up.

OR it won't start up completely. Sometime, it just a blackscreen, no pics, no sounds; Fans and stuff seem to works just fine, hard drive LED is on for about 10 sec then off. After then it's just the fan is working, Numlock and capslock light on keyboard is not reponsive, screen stay black.

OR it displays the BIOS, get into a few start up step then freezes. There're not a prticular place that it freeze. Meaning: it freeze when it likes and where it likes.

And here are what I've tried:

I strip the PC down to monitor, old style wired mouse and keyboard, unplug all devices, including USB hub and internal DVD-drive; Still no improvement. I figured the video card is broken, swap out with a brand new card; doesn't help. Then i thought of high temperature. Take a reading, everything seem fine, no abnormal signs. Voltage and current is in the green zone too. RAM works fine. Updated the BIOS and drivers, still no help.

Restart, unplug and replug usually lead to black screen at start up. There is but rare occation it start up normally, go in to Windows then lags and freezes after 20-30 mins. On those occations i ran anti-virus with through-scans; Scaned it with McAffee, AVG, and Avast Antivirus and Spybot Search and Destroy (all with latest updates). None found anything.

I'm running WIN XP pro SP2 on a DuoCore 2.7ghz. Intel 965 board, 2gb Ram, 2 HDD at 160gb and 300gb, geforce 7300GT video card, Creative Extreme music Sound card with a 500W Ultra V-series UPS, and plenty of fans and cooling devices. CPU is equipped with a Zalman CNPS9700 heatsink.

 

Can you get into the BIOS setup at all? If so, does it freeze within the setup menu?

You may be looking at a bad MOBO if it is freezing even when Windows isn't booting up.

 

There're a 2 out of 5 times I turn on the PC and it at least boots into Windows.
So on those time I CAN get into the BIOS. And I did update the BIOS as i'm trying to fix the pC. The Mobo is a Intel 965GY i bought about 4-5 months ago. It ran great until now.

 

To me it sounds like an OS or hard drive related issue. Have you troubleshooted these areas?

And if so, what have you done to troubleshoot them?

But it also sounds like there could be Motherboard issues.

Well, let's look at the OS and Hard Drive areas first.

 

.. i think its a hard drive issue.
corruption in the boot sector... which hard drive do you boot from?
in which way is it connected?(ide sata.. etc)
also have you tried to boot from the other one and install windows?

these are multiple problems with multiple causes..

.. for the windows problem i may guess.. corrupted windows files..
your psu seems underpowered for your system and you may want to get a hard drive fan for your boot drive because its heat may be causing the problems..

whats the longest time you've have it running for without it shutting down?

 

OK

I have 2 Sata Hdd. Both are partitioned into 2 so there're 4 "drives" total. Windows is on one of them.

I don't have a heatsink for the hdds but my hard-drives-bay has a 120 mm fan, so heat shouldn't be too much of a problem.

If it does boot up, it usually stay pretty normal for 20-45 mins. But the longest was about 4 hours before it get quirky and freeze.
It DOES NOT shutdown, just lags, gets quirky, then freezes.

I thought it is a heat problem, but then, why does it still freezes after it has been off for a long time?

 

Hmmm, I had a PC that did similar things once. It was the motherboard that went out. In the process of troubleshooting it, I damaged three keyboards trying to figure out what went wrong.

But I would still try to eliminate the Hard Drive and OS issue by installing a different Hard Drive with new OS set up. Just to totally eliminate those issues.

 

is there anyway to test for MOBO or CPU w/o jamming them into another computer or buying a new one?

 

Sorry, I can't help you there. I always have extra parts and supplies.

You may want to check and see if you have a warranty on the motherboard, etc. I'm sorry if you have to replace your motherboard, etc. I've had to do it many times.

But I would definitely try reformatting the Hard Drive and reinstalling the OS before I do anything with the motherboard. Too much work involved with troubleshooting motherboard/cpu, etc. for me. When you work for a company where time is money, sometimes it's just best to get a new one and swap it out. And that's just what I'm used too. Sorry.