Custom comp. freezes up after a few minutes of use

[Xcellere]

I built a Vista system back in July that up until now has been fine. Specs:

Gigabyte mobo
Core2
2x2 Corsair XMS8505
Raptor 80GB
Gigabyte vid card

After about five minutes of letting the comp. sit idly after startup, the whole thing just freezes up. The cooler (Thermalright Xtreme) sits very secure on the CPU. Any ideas of what could be the problem? No overclocking whatsoever.

 

[bovinda]

Is any program running in the background that might contribute to a freeze-up? Did you update any drivers/software? Have you changed any hardware/downloaded any Windows updates? Scanned for all viruses and other badness? Have you tried loading it in Safe Mode and seeing if it still freezes up?

You could also load up Task Manager and leave it open. See if when it freezes if there is any process running using CPU, that sort of thing.

 

[Xcellere]

Nothing in the background that might cause a freeze-up. I have auto updates on in Vista. Constantly updated Ad-Aware/Kaspersky/SpywareBlaster. No hardware changes either. I can't load it in safe mode as when I get to the prompt to select to go into Safe Mode, my keyboard won't work for whatever reason and I just let the system take 30 seconds to boot into Windows.

 

[bovinda]

Hmm...weird. Have you tried posting in the Computer Help forum? I've gotten good responses in the past there. I don't have a whole lot more for ideas. I mean, it's either a software or a hardware problem, obviously...the first thing you could try doing is reinstalling Vista, and see if that corrects it. If not, that seems like it would lean towards a hardware problem. Either way, there may be steps you can take to evaluate the problem before that--I would post in the Computer Help forum or at the Virtual Doctor forums, where I've also gotten a lot of help in the past. Sorry I can't help more--good luck, and if you find a solution, post back and let the rest of us know what it is.

 

[Roguestar]

Check your CPU temperatures using the Intel TAT:
http://www.overclock.net/downl.../138139-intel-tat.html