Frequent Random BSODs

[graapeaape]

Hi there,

I am new to this site and seeking help in reference to random BSODs I have been receiving for some time now. I am not a "gamer", but someone who works from home to support my family. I use primarily Excel spreadsheets the majority of the time for my job and I do work a lot with photos and videos from my digital camera making DVDs, and I feel that even my little emachine should be up for these simple tasks. I literally have to save my spreadsheets every 30 seconds or so in fear that my machine is going to shut down (and it does). These BSODs are causing me tremenduous stress as they often interrupt my work day. They truly seem to happen at random. Sometimes I step away from my PC only to find upon my return a BSOD on the screen.

I am not new to working with computers, however, I am a complete newbie to addressing it's problems. I have done many searches using the parameters given in each BSOD and everything I find points to RAM, power supply and drivers.

My first question is...where do I start? What do I do first? Any help would be greatly apreciated.

Oh, one more thing...I downloaded SpeedFan and I'm assuming temp1 and temp2 are high since there are flame icons next to them...

Temp1 61C
Temp2 53C
Temp3 fluctuates between -4C and 35C
HD 0 44C

What do I do about this??

I am running Windows XP SP2 on an emachine T3265, AMD Athlon 3200+, 2.21 GHz, 448 MB RAM


Thank you in advance.

 

[WinDoWsMoNoPoLy]

Umm get a new computer would be a start. I hate Emachines with a passion. But really if you want to fix it.... the power supply should be fine unless you've added stuff to the machine. Drivers should be also if they are what came with it. Temp1 is CPU temp which is a little high, Temp2 is Motherboard temp which is also high. I Would suggest applying new Artic Silver5 thermal paste to the CPU which will drop the temperature some and possibly adding a fan or two or insuring that all fans are working properly. Also, find a air hose or some canned air to blow the dust out of your case with.

 

[graapeaape]

Thanks for the advice. I have done as you suggested with the canned air. I have not had another BSOD yet, but sometimes a week does go by with no occurrences. On other days it happens up to ten times repeatedly.

However, I do have one other question. Since I've blown the dust out of the case, my temps 1 and 2 on SpeedFan have gone down 6-7C. However, temp 3 is now fluctuating even more dramatically. Sometimes it will jump from -12c to 61c. Is this a problem? If so, what should I do?

Thanks again.