Computer freezes

[Elderly Newt]

My computer often freezes completely - ctrl alt del doesnt work, the entire OS is frozen it seems - but this only happens during games. When it freezes, the speakers emit a constant, very high-pitched noise. I've scanned with Norton and Ad-Aware but nothing has come up. Could this be due to overheating?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Specs
MSI K7N2 mobo (or something like that)
Athlon XP 2700+
512 Corsair VS RAM
9700 pro
Audigy 2 ZS

thanks

edit: nothing is overclocked

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sounds like overheating. Check your temps, not sure how you would check the temps on the 9700, make sure that dust buildup is not occuring and that the fan is still spinning at acceptable RPMs.

 

[piddlefoot]

did you put pc together,, if so check you mounted the heat sink on the cpu correctly. And that all fans are working.
Could also be getting conflictions from video card if its got a problem, that causes the high pitch noise too and freezes, or its hot , most likely , just the gpu chip, check its heats sink to gpu connection and get a 9000rpm fan on it for a cheap solution.

 

[Elderly Newt]

I think it may have been the dust buildup. I carefully vaccuumed and brushed the insanely dusty components and it hasn't locked up yet, although it's gone this long without locking up in the past. I'm fairly sure dust was the cause though. Thanks guys :thumbsup: