PC Lockup two different ways

My PC (windows XP Home, HP Pavilion) is starting to lockup from time to time in two different ways.

1)It gets to the Login screen and locksup before I can type my PW

2)It gets to the desktop and freezes within a minute or two there.

Any ideas?

 

Here a few things to try that might get you going in the right direction. I would take off the side of the computer case and make sure there is not a lot of dust built up in the computer, and make sure all the fans are spinning when you start the computer. If all that is ok, try hitting F8 when you restart the computer. This will start you in Safe Mode, which might help eliminate some possibilities.

If you have a lot of dust in the 'puter, use some caution when cleaning it out! Always watch out for static electricity! I use a can of compressed air to clean mine. If there is a lot of dust and you are not comfortable poking around in the case, you might want to get someone to clean it out for you.

E

 

Cleaned it out for dust a week or two ago with a can of air. Oh, never blow into the dust with your mouth, it just blows back at you.

I put it in safe mode a few times last week when going through the Malware Board's inital cleaning plans.

Thanks for the suggestions, even though I did them

Any other ideas?

 

Sounds like somthing hogging memory, task manager might shed light on it if you can open it, Run, taskmgr. Run msconfig and uncheck everything not required to run at startup, google it if in doubt, should be able to uncheck most if not all, and still have the option of checking it again if it is required.
Some programs options allow you to not run them at startup, if not they are in the startup folder in Documents and Settings ,user name, start menu, programs, startup folder, or can be removed manually via their registry entries listed in the msconfig utility. Try to back your system up first, to a separate drive if you can, Microsoft's backup utility isn't the greatest, but it is usually good enough. If system runs better create a new backup, if not you have something to fall back on. Backup your primary drive, (C I would imagine, and system state, with a normal or copy type backup (Advanced). It sounds as if it runs well in safe mode... Happy hunting :major