Computer losing power, freezing, etc..

[arcc4]

Specs:
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2394 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
2GB Ram

Temps:
GPU = 55 Idle - 65 in game
CPU = 40 Idel - 50 in game

Voltages (Cool Master ATX 12V 650w):
Vcore - 1.35
3.3v - 3.38
5v - 5.13
12v - 11.79
5v SB - 5.15

Just recently I moved my computer and for the past few weeks it has been losing power, freezing, and though rare it will also sometimes blue screen. Its not over heating, the voltages look normal, I've cleaned the inside of dust including underneath the CPU fan and the fan itself, I've checked connections, and everything appears to be seated correctly. Still I'm 90% certain this is a hardware problem because it only started after my move. Now this is where it gets confusing. It has almost no problem when its under a load playing a game. Starting programs can sometimes cause problem, but once its running its fine. The worst are pictures and images. If I'm on the internet and I view a site with lots of pictures 1-15mins in it will do one of the above. The same with browsing thumbnails in a file or opening the pictures. Even idling when I'm not even there it will lose power and restart and as far as I can figure this occurs because it was pulling up the screen saver. After a power loss or freeze it can sometimes hang when rebooting as well.

I'm thinking it might have to be the HD because it also freezes when I try and update to SP3. I had reformatted a month before I moved and just to make sure it wasn't windows I repaired it and tried updating fully and each time it would freeze on the install. The PSU, CPU, GPU, and RAM hold out fine during games so I can't see them being the problem. Just when that HD starts spinning does anything bad tend to happen. Yet, I don't think it went bad in the 6 hours it took me to move.

Any suggestion would be helpful.

 

[Tmagic650]

Are you using the OEM Intel socket 775 CPU Heatsink fan assembly? This assembly has plastic pins that insert through holes in the motherboard? Are you plugging the computer into a surge protector or straight into a wall outlet?

Check the hard drive for errors by going into My Computer and right clicking on the C drive. Select Properties, Tools and set the computer to do a disk check/repair on the next restart... Why are you using a quad core 64 bit CPU with old XP? Just curious...

 

[arcc4]

Are you using the OEM Intel socket 775 CPU Heatsink fan assembly? This assembly has plastic pins that insert through holes in the motherboard? Are you plugging the computer into a surge protector or straight into a wall outlet?

Check the hard drive for errors by going into My Computer and right clicking on the C drive. Select Properties, Tools and set the computer to do a disk check/repair on the next restart... Why are you using a quad core 64 bit CPU with old XP? Just curious...

Yes, and it was a pain to get back on after I cleaned it out. Several times I thought I had it right only to watch my CPU shoot up to 90 degrees, but once I finally got it on there correctly it was actually running 5 degrees cooler then my average idle before.

Yes, the computer is plugged into a surge protector, but it is like 7 years old. Still this only started happening after I moved so I doubt its the cause.

I've run chkdsk a few times with no errors. Does the windows utility do something different?

When I bought my computer I owned several licensed copies of XP, quad core was fairly new, and nothing I really used utilitized the technology so I didn't buy an upgraded version of windows when I got my comp. I don't want to buy 2 gigs of ram just to run vista and I don't want to buy XP 64-bit when windows 7 will be out soon.

 

[bwchato]

i've found it's better to plug a battery backup into the wall outlet and plug a surge into the battery backup.that way the battery backup regulates the power going through to your pc.a friend of mine had a similar problem and that's how i fixed his.if you have all the connectors in and a good amount of thermal paste on that should be fine.i just looked at your post again and decided that you might have a HD problem.when it freezes have you felt the drive to see if there is any movement?

 

[arcc4]

I don't think it has anything to do with getting power to my computer. I have already switched out surge protectors, plugged directly in an outlet, changed outlets, etc... nothing worked.

Like I said this problem only started the day I moved. I had used my computer the night before without ever having a problem. The next day after the move I set it up and the problem started right away.

I'm with you though in that I think it is a HD problem. I wanted to see if the problems only occured after my PSU started heating up, but in fact the opposite happens. If I leave my comp off for a few hours and try to startup it tends to lose power before windows can finish booting. The longer its on the less likely it is to freeze or lose power when I'm doing something.

I did the chkdsk on restart as instructed and 4 out of 5 times it freezes randomly through the process. Also, it is finding and recovering some bad allocations and corrupt files, but those might be due to all the power loses.

I guess the next question is what could be wrong with my HD that causes my computer to completely lose power? Is power to the HD getting interrupted? Is it simply failing?