Computer freezing.

[Masherbrum]

Pretty much just internet and email... my games are on XP. However internet is one of the things that is causing freezes in XP.

Also, last time I froze I took notes of temps & CPU use

GPU 50C
CPU 61C
Int. Temp. 30C
Remote Temp. 54C
Temp. 50C
HD0 57C
Core 50C
Ambient 0C

Also 44% CPU use and 632 meg of RAM (out of 2 gigs)

Was running FF and Antivirus IIRC

44%?   Sounds like a virus. 

[TheZohan]

not really with 632 megs of ram i bet hes doing alot of swapping and stuff

[Masherbrum]

But I'm talking about the CPU.    Either the virus or he has a ton of processes running in the background.

[Motherland]

How many's a lot? I usually run about 50 in the background. Again I think I had an antivirus scan going at the point where I froze as well.

[Fulmar]

the 61C on the cpu i would be a little concerned about ..  i run about 39C on my cpu. you using a stock cooler? maybe a small investiment in a aftermarket one will knock about 15c-20c off your temps. provided the heat hasnt cause and lasting affects.

He's running a Pentium D processor.  When you're trying to compare temps to your AMD dual core system (or whatever you have, we're talking apples to oranges.  The stock cooler if working properly (good fan RPM and proper thermal grease/paste application) should cool adequately at stock speeds.

I think there's several issues with this computer that could be causing these symptoms.

50 processes is fairly high, especially for a Pentium D.  I'd try and trim it down to 40-45 or so.  Some people will comment on how they run there systems at 25-30 processes, but in my opinion for every day needs PC I couldn't do that.  I run about 43 processes and the stuff in my startup is stuff I use frequently.  There are several freeware programs out there that can help you trim your startup processes down, but I much prefer to do it manually.

Go into Start -> Run -> type in msconfig -> click on startup tab -> uncheck mark obvious programs you do not want in the start up.  If you do not recognize the the processes name, Google it.  Stuff to look for to uncheck that I find common place on PC's:  Reader_sl and Adobe_sl (Adobe Reader), anything Ipod or Quicktime related, Nero/Roxio, jusched (for Java),

[BaldEagl]

44%?   Sounds like a virus. 

Once an older machine like that locks up the processor and thus the fan often run hard, I would guess trying to fix whatever error occured, so I'm not surprised he's seeing that type of CPU usage when locked up.  The question is what's the CPU usage at idle?  it should remain under 2% max.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Some people will comment on how they run there systems at 25-30 processes, but in my opinion for every day needs PC I couldn't do that.  I run about 43 processes and the stuff in my startup is stuff I use frequently. 

I don't know any application that should run on startup in normal home use. I trimmed my fathers jurassic celeron box down to 17 processes and I can still browse internet and play games on it as fine as the celery lets me. Add in an antivirus + punkbuster that's 3 processes more if playing online.

[Skuzzy]

43 processes?  Whoa, that is a ton.

On my home computer I do video and audio editing, 3D artwork, design WEB pages, and applications and my computer runs 19 processes.

Hard to imagine what you could be doing with a computer than needs 43 processes to accomplish.

[Fulmar]

And I do all my GD/photography work on this PC as well.  The majority of the 'trimmable' processes include Steam, AV, Gmail notifier, Trillian, Logitech G15 software (each app on the LCD, unfortunately, is a process - clock, system resources etc - I leave 2 on + screen manager for macros), Logitech G9 profiles (use it a lot of changing profiles on the go depending on application/game used), Creative Audio services (can I disable these?), and Extensis Suitcase (font management).

And a recount actually, its at 39 on boot.  I found that after installing Seagate DiscWizard on my machine to make a bootable ISO of the same program for use on another machine, it had put 4 stupid processes in the start up.