I really don't know which section this belongs to since I haven't ISOLATED the problem yet. I'd like to get a proper diagnosis before I decide on what to do. This problem started late December.

My PC is a HP Media Center M7664x with Athlon 64x2 4200+, 300 GB HD, 2 GB RAM.

1. Computer would randomly freeze after (or shortly after) desktop loads.

2. Later, it would freeze whenever it felt like it (playing game, going online, just clicking on a link, or even when I'm not doing anything). Nothing works, but I can move my mouse.

3. Sometimes when it freezes, the harddrive light would light up like it was doing something, but no clicking sounds. The light would turn on maybe a minute later.

4. At first, forcing it to shut down and then restarting usually help, but that too isn't fool proof.

5. As the freezing got worse, restarting also caused issues. The computer would just not get pass the Windows XP loading screen (I assume that's the loading screen. It's black with the logo and a blue bar moving on the bottom). The harddrive light would light up too, but no clicking SOUND. It would even freeze when starting in Safe Mode.

6. I tried to format the harddrive, and it once even froze during that, and I had to go through all the trouble of using the disks to restore everything. Before the destructive restore, I tried a non-destructive, and the computer froze during the backup file process. The funny thing is that the magnifying glass would still rotate like it was doing something.

7. Things would settle down after the destructive restore for about a month, but then it would start up again.

8. I once even got a "Master Boot Error" on start up (without freezing).

9. Many repeated attempts with Hewlett Packard's online tech-support failed to solve the issue. Finally, one guy told me to unhook the SATA cables, then reattach them and perform another destructive restore.

10. I did that, and once I start up my computer, I get a "Code Purple" error that forced me to send the PC in for repairs. The problem was something about the Motherboard Tattoo being incorrect, whatever that means.

11. It's been about a month after the repairs and now the issue is starting again. I also saw another master boot error.

I've done some BASIC testing myself using the Bios (or whatever) scan to scan the harddrive for errors. I even used PC Doctor to do a harddrive scan, but all of them says the harddrive is functioning perfectly. It could be a virus, I mean, destructive restore did fix it for a while, but I've done a virus scan with Avast, and found some minor adware in there, nothing too threatening. Computer froze again today. Then there's the issue with the motherboard from before. Some are suspecting I need that replaced. Some say it might be a CPU overheating, because if the PC freezes upon a restart, it'll correct itself if I leave it off for 10-15minutes. Still, that doesn't explain how I could run some CPU intensive stuff earlier with 0 problems. It's really hard to pinpoint and I don't know what to do. Well, I could pay HP 50 bucks for a checkup, but many people says it's a rip-off. I'd like to get to the bottom of this before I decide on my next move.Do You have more than one Anti-Virus Application running ?
How long have you had this machine ?Does this get to you?
If you like the machine. go buy a replacement. Pay for a good service plan
Then advertise your old computer at a bargain price. Get rid of it.
Put it behind you and you will feel better. It is not your job to diagnose the odd failures. If something would just go up in smoke it would be easy.
The motherboard on the machine is bad, but not the kind of bad like burnt out. It has one of those early production defects that happen whenever there is a change in the design, assembly, testing or something like that.
Yes, I am making a guess. But this happens much more often than you want to know. Every notice how some PCs have FOUR or five minor versions of the same motherboard? Sounds like overheating to me; or perhaps a bad PSU.After the computer freezes and you have to hard RESET, check the BIOS for the CPU temperature (usually F2 or delete during the RAM and drive loading). Alternatively you can use SIW to monitor system temperatures in Windows provided you can start Windows. The temperature shouldn't be over 80 degrees Celsius.

If that checks out try the SeaTools program to make sure that the drive is healthy. Failing that then I agree with BC_Programmer, try a different power supply (PSU).

System Information for Windows (SIW): http://www.gtopala.com/

SeaTools: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools