Computer crashing several times a day, not sure what to do

Hey guys, this is my first time posting on these forums and really I came here out off desperation, I'm really not computer savvy and I basically only know how to run my computer, I know next to nothing about the hardware

The problem is that my computer keeps crashing, it started only infrequently, maybe once every few days, but it has gotten so bad now that it crashes 3-4 times in a single day, and I don't even know where to begin to remedy the problem

I was about to run a "Disk Cleanup" before posting this but I noticed there are some boxes to check to delete stuff which include things like :"error messages" and "minidumps" which I wasn't sure if I should delete just yet before asking you guys

When it crashes, the computer screen will just completely freeze and any current audio will get stuck in like a millisecond loop, then it goes to a multicolored screen of gibberish, then to black, then to a blue screen with a lot of text that I haven't been able to quite read (there is a counter at the bottom which counts up to 100, and when it reaches 100 the comp will successfully restart)

after the crash the only error message I get from windows is something along the lines of "windows has just recovered from a serious error/crash" or something

im not really sure about the specifics of my computer hardware but if anyone is willing to help and would let me know what other information I need to provide I would be glad to do so very grateful for any help
 
Also I should note that I have had this computer for a couple of years already, it was "built" with all seperate parts by my brother, and this crashing problem has only begun recently maybe within the past few months, and I have not installed any new hardware int it at all

another problem I didn't mention but that has been going on for awhile is that my DVD drive no longer works, im not sure how long ago but it USED to work when I first got the computer, maybe 6-8 months ago it jut stopped reading discs, it still has power, the drive will open and close, but even if a disc is in there, it won't autorun, and if I try to activate it manually it simply says "please insert a disc intro drive D:", even if there is a disc in there
 
Here are my PC specs to the best of y knowledge please anyone let me know if there is something else I need to provide

Windows Vista Home Premium SP2
Intel Pentium Dual CPU @ 2.40 Ghz and 2.40Ghz
4 GB of ram
Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G Motherboard
VisionTek Radeon HD 5570/5550 Series video card

and im not really sure how to list the power supply it has a bunch of different numbers on the side but it's a Rosewill with a listed "Total Power" of 750w
 
Is your brother still available to help you with this? It is common for optical drives (CD/DVD drives) to fail all by themselves with out any particular cause. If you haven't deleted the minidumps, go to C:\windows\minidump. Minidump files have a .dmp extension. Select all the .dmp files and right-click, sending the files to a compressed(zipped)folder. Upload that folder as a file here
 
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