Computer Freezes

vileguy · Posted: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:46:04 Post Subject:

I've had similar problems but have been completely unaware of how to go about fixing them. I was playing a game and the video froze and sound looped, power cycled the machine and the same thing happened some time later. I thought a program I was using was locking it up but then it started freezing in Windows or during the boot sequence. I've tried going into Safe Mode (not that I have any clue if that will change anything) but it freezes at the boot-method selection. I found a lot of heat coming from the video/sound cards so I pulled them and the fan on the VPU doesn't seem to turn well (squeeks with friction) so I opened it up and cleaned it but it seems to just be the design. I can't put my HD, Vid or Sound cards in my dad's comp cuz he's very insecure about his case being opened.

How can I pinpoint the motherboard as the problem or update the BIOS if it freeze. Also I want to avoid running it as much as possible because it seems to make an odor that's almost like burning (no smoke or visible melting/burning).