freezing problem!

hello /computers/!
basically my computer, running windows xp, has aquired the nasty habit of freezing after about 20 minutes of use. this can be from general web browsing or music playing, to more intensive stuff like watching a video or running a game, to even just being left idle after start up.
it locks up without any error message and nothing upon rebooting.

any idea on how i could go about diagnosing what the problem is? is there a log made somewhere in the computer to show what's happened/caused the lockup? could a virius cause the system to just freeze like this?

Freezes are not generally logged unless accompanied by a BSOD (that's the point - the freeze is entirely unexpected so the computer has no time to log the error). It couldn't hurt to check your Event Log for anything suspect, though. A virus could be responsible, but I would suspect a thermal problem or overstressed/failing power supply first of all.

rightio, i'll put my drive into someone elses computer and see if they find a virus on it. if not i'll borrow a power supply and see how it goes then.
cheers for the advice. (:

Don't do that. Windows pitches a fit when transferred to a different computer without warning, unless the hardware is very similar. Download a trial of NOD32 and scan for viruses, then try borrowing another power supply (make sure it's rated high enough for your PC - you won't learn anything by sticking another underpowered PSU in there).

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>>4
i wasn't planning to run windows from my drive, just boot using their version of windows on their drive then use whatever anti-virus software they have to scan for viruses. i will try NOD32 but running it might be pointless as it will probably take longer than twenty minutes.
i'll definatly give it a go though. (:

and i'm just going to sidestep 5) completely.

>>1

If you have multiple sticks of ram, try running without one stick, if you still freeze then try with the other stick.

And try also replacing it completly

update:
after running speedfan i found my processor runs at around 50 degrees c completely idle. even in the bios it was running around that temp. of course this is pretty damn weird. any idea what's going on? a motherboard problem?
the processor's a pentium 4, by the way.