A few weeks ago my laptop froze on me.  I tried turning it back on and only a click and the green power light.  I thought maybe the hard drive was the problem, replaced it and it seems to be fine.  Computer still freezes on me.  Do I need to replace my CPU, heat sink thermal pad, or something else altogether?
Help!!before you spend more cash ....info on system...laptops dont have heat sink...a fan that blows ACROSS the cpu..the biggest cause of hangs/freezing ..no enough ram.../junk thats not needed/video driver corupt reg the list is endless from a point or this forum ...if you can give more info...is always means that one of us on the forum can help you help....and as they say have a nice day Please supply make and model of Laptop.  Is it still under warranty?Laptop is a Compaq Series PP2140.  It does have a heat sink thermal pad around the CPU that has somewhat melted away.It has 256MB ram and worked fine until just RECENTLY.  I removed most of the software programs and reinstalled windows XP.  I was lucky it didn't freeze during the installation.  I got it running again and it seemed fine but then just froze up.Unfortunately it is not under warranty.  When the laptop was given to me from school, it was obsolete at the time.  Very disappointed but need to find the least money route to having a laptop.One other thing.  This laptop has an AMD Athlon XP.  I've been told they have been known to burn out very easily.before getting out the CHEQUE book/credit card ...has this laptop any life...like safe mode. the  magic f8 key on boot up...it may have suffered from over HEATING ...put some kind of thermal pad underneath it..or place wood ...to increase the airflow..

I am the same person who asked the original question.  Just registered.

Sometimes it boots up just fine.  Sometimes I get a check disk and it might get through the check disk before freezing again.  It takes several power on and power off tries to get it to go that far.I have also been able to do a virus scan as well as defragmenting.  I was surprised that it didn't freeze during these processes.  Is there any equipment that can be used to test if the CPU is bad? Quote

Laptop is a Compaq Series PP2140.  It does have a heat sink thermal pad around the CPU that has somewhat melted away.

I have also been able to do a virus scan as well as defragmenting.  I was surprised that it didn't freeze during these processes.  Is there any equipment that can be used to test if the CPU is bad?

The fan turns on if the system manages to boot up.  I will try the site you posted.  Thanks.