I just cannot figure this out (Computer freezes) HELP!!

[nx02nx02]

My friends computer was freezing on him while he was playing Red Alert 2. It would freeze to where you just had to push the reset button and start a new game. Well it would freeze every 1-5 hours or so of playing so we knew something must be wrong with the computer.
I agreed to take his computer home with me so that I could try to diagnose the problem and fix it. I get the computer home, set it up, and start to play red alert 2 to get it to freeze, WELL what do you know that DAMN thing will not freeze I have played and played and played and left Red Alert 2 running for nights in a row and it has not froze once yet. How could this problem just go away on its own? I have probably played Red Alert 2 for a total of 30-40 hours so far and not one freeze but when he plays it at his house it sure does freeze.
I just dont want to give the computer back until I know for sure it's fixed.
I have also ran 3D Mark 2001SE for about 15 hours looping benchmark and it didn't crash and played another couple games for a few hours and they ran fine, no crashes.
Does anyone have any ideas, suggestions for me?

System specs of the problem computer:

Windows 1998 with all updates dual booted with Win2k pro SP2 (tried everything in both operating systems)
Duron 1Ghz
256MB Micron PC 133 Sdram
Maxtor 60 GIG 7200 RPM hard drive
Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 200 (23.12 drivers)
56k modem
Shuttle AK12A Motherboard

Now remember I dont even know what problem I am looking for as I cannot reproduce the freezing.

 

[MOgeeks]

Is the CPU fan working?
Is the temperature in your house cooler than your friend?

PC freeze every 1-2hr is likely due to overheat. Check the heatsink and fans and make sure they are good enough.

Hope this helps.

 

[Buz2b]

Sounds pretty simple really. Most likely the ambient temps where he locates his system are higher than the temps where you currently have it. The thing just overheats at his house. You can do a couple of things; one, make him relocate his system for better air circulation. Two, get a better HSF and/or video card cooler. Three, add some additional (one or two) case fans to increase the circulation in his case. The first option might not be practical for him. The second is the most expensive and the third idea is the simplest. Actually you could try just replacing the case fans that he has with some more powerful ones. That would be the absolute simplest method.

 

[Psy7th]

Besides the cooling problem, I would investigate the power thread. Power might be unstable at his house and I would try a backup power protection device like APC's UPS. Unstable power usually leads to unexpected resets (no freeze), but you won't know if you don't try.

 

[KF]

Moving things around can fix problems as well as cause them. Poor or intermitant contact. Heat sink mounted touching the socket step up. A screw dropped between the mobo and case. A pinched wire.

I just had a problem with a splitter cable that powers the HD. If you wiggle the cable, the HD goes clunk. Sometimes it does it on its own. Sometimes you can't get it to do it. I found this own accidentally while reaching in to touch the HS to see how hot it was. At first I thought it was the data cable I brushed against.

Make sure the problem is still there while at your friends house before you get too deep into obscure possibilities.