Hey, well my problem is, about 2 days ago my USB ports started playing up and not recognizing anything, then I READ somewhere to disconnect power for a few MINS then turn on the comp, and that made them work again, but then today my comp decided to freeze completely for no reason at all (I'm not sure if they are linked or anything though). I wasn't doing anything at the time (I had things open but I wasn't like clicking on stuff or anything), so I restarted it and it got stuck on one of the start up screens. I can get into windows, but then most of the time it freezes again after a few mins, and some times when I restart it again its fine, other times it freezes starting up. I had done a lot of scans with anti-virus etc programs yesterday and they found nothing, It's never done this before and it just did it out of the blue which is confusing. But one thing I have noticed is on the very first start up screen (where you press delete to go to the BIOS settings) it says my CPU is 1.8ghz, it's also said it was 2.8ghz and 3.2ghz (3.2ghz is what it should be) and when I go to properties on my computer it says 2.6ghz, and the program CPU-Z says 2.6ghz as well. Thankfully its given me enough time to write this, I'm thinking (but hoping not) that the CPU may be on its way out (its like 4? years roughly old), everything else seems fine from what I've noticed apart from it reading it wrong and freezing randomly which is making me unsure.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated

It's a Pentium 4 505 3.2ghz CPUwhat are your CPU temps? is your heatsink clean and is the fan running?I'm not sure what its temperature is (or how to tell), but yeah i re applyed a layer of thermal paste on the CPU and the heatsink (which is the Thermalright ultra-120 eXtreme heatsink) after it started playing up (i was cleaning out the case and decided to do that to), and yeah the fan is working.download and run core temp.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

this will give you your CPU temp.it says this when i go to install it "this is not an intel "core" architecture based processor. the program will not continue" :/ got another program i could use?hmmm...you might have to view your core temperature in your BIOS, however, it will not give you the core temperature while under load.

you could try speedfan

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

however i have no EXPERIENCE with the program.yeah i found that out and was watching it for a bit yesterday, it was staying between 36 degrees and 39 degrees, then as usual everything froze, ive never had a problem with it over heating before though :/Does the case have several fans or anything???If it froze at 39 degrees I don't think it is heat related. yeah it has 2 at the back and 1 at the front, and one on the heat sink on the cpu, and sometimes when i try starting it up it makes noises like its trying hard to start up, and i found out the nosies were coming from the dvd drive, so i took that out and decided to see if the ram was ok as well, so i took one stick of ram out each time i started the comp up (the dvd drive is removied at this time), and each time i started it the very first screen to come up once i turn it on said my CPU was 3.2ghz so i thought that was really good, but it froze again each time after just logging into windows, but then it gave me the blue error screen, it said "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT STOP: 0X0000001A (0X00041785, 0XC0E00000, 0X0000E824, 0X00000000)". and i looked around a bit and it seems whoever has got that message has windows 200, but i have XP, it also started giving the wrong readings of my CPU once all 3 sticks of RAM where back in, i dunno if thats coincedence or what though :/, i feel like im getting closer to FIXING it Smiley thx everyone for your help so farhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/929338

try these solutions. report back if they dont work.ok, i tryed both the methods that site had, and i also updated my catalyst software suite to the latest one, while i was downloading the updates it didnt freeze or anything which i thought was good , but its still having problems starting up (like trying to turn on and trying a few times to start) and reading the CPU differently, ive tryed another power supply in the comp and it does the same thing :/ its still freezing as well, and also this time once i logged in it gave a message saying "microsoft (or windows) has recovered from a serious error" something like that, and i copied the 2 files it mentioned on the report (like sysdata.xml and something with minidump in the name), i took a screen shot of the error and like some random numbers/letters on it but then the comp froze be4 i could save it Sad

at the moment, when ever i try turn it on, its sorta just sits idle, like nothing will show up on the screen and it doesnt make any of the noises/beeps it makes when its starting up properly, like it TURNS on, everything lights up and stuff, it makes some noises (might be fans starting) but just sits there idle :/im starting to think that your motherboard or CPU is dying/dead.

try reseating the CPU. if possible, try your CPU on another computer that supports it. also try physically examining your motherboard. look for any burnt components or impregnated/leaking capacitors.hmmm well i took my otherboard out and cleaned as much of the dust off as i could, and i took the CPU out and got all the dust away from there to, then i put it back in and plugged all the cords in and made sure they were in right and not loose or anything. Then i started it up and it seems fine, like it read the CPU as 3.2ghz, and so i used it for a bit then decided to try download a game ive wanted to download for a while, i did that and it was on for a few hours, but then i got up to do something and accidently nocked the bottom front corner of the case, and it restarted Sad. From that point on it read the CPU lower then what it should be, and i tested to see if it did anything if i nocked it in the same spot again, and each time i nocked it, it just froze Sad. maybe a loose cable? I dunno but i'm gonna take it to a computer shop now and hope they can fix it Smiley but thanks homer for all your help has been really good Smileyyour very welcome san mateo. it does sound like there is a loose wire in there somewhere.