I'm not sure why my computer freezes

[utbigred]

Ok first off I'm not that knowledgeable towards computers so bear with me please. Whenever I'm on the computer (anywhere from an hour to 12 hours). I don't get any problems. I leave my computer on when I goto work (usually because I'm selling items in game so I have to leave it on) and when I come back my monitor is black and won't come back on when I move my mouse or w/e. So I'm assuming my computer froze. The thing is, this used to be a problem and it has stopped for a while. Just recently it started doing this again. I've done all the ad-aware scan/virus scan/defrag/system restore. None of that work. I've tried cleaning my computer by removing the dust and stuff. None seems to work. Here's my current specs:

1.5 gigs of ram
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 2.4GHz Socket 939 Processor Model DA3800BPBOX
BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Mobo
3D Fuzion 3DFR76256GSE GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
Maxtor 53073h6 (20gigs - I had another one with 100 gigs but that burnt out..been lazy to get another one)
550W power supply

Another thing I like to point out is that I think it's my hard drive (I had it since 2001) but it hasn't caused problems at all so I think it might be it. Also another note is continuing to "run" even though it froze. Another thing is that my Temperatures are at nvidia card: 56^C and GPU is 46^C. All my drivers,I believe, are uptodate. So please any help?

 

[LXIX]

My friend has a 3d FUZION and if he played world of warcraft for to long the screen would turn black and he'd have to restart his computer. The reason was the card was overheating. nering 60c is dangerous to the card so it might be that its on to long and heating up.

 

[utbigred]

Well like I said, I can go for long hours (12-13) w/o having my computer freezing up. BUT when I head off to work,I let my computer idle (for gaming purpose) and goes in to hybernate? (I'm not sure the terminology of it but it's where you move your mouse or press any buttons to bring your monitor back up). Sometimes when I move my mouse to turn on my screen again when I come back home from work, it doesn't come back (nor do pushing buttons bringing it back). So I'm assuming my computer froze. I bought a fan and put it near my video card but it only lowered it by like 3-4 degrees. What can I do to lower my temp for video card?

 

[LXIX]

Try turning off your monitor before you leave. That way is doesn't try to turn itself off or go into screensaver mode.

Cooling options for graphics cards would probably just be better airflow, but if you're able to run that long without problems i don't think its the card. I use the above method when i leave my computer on for long periods of time.

 

[utbigred]

Well I tried turning off my monitor before I left work. Now that I got home, same problem. When I turn on the monitor. It says no output believing that the computer froze...any help?

 

[utbigred]

sorry for the bump..but I'm still having this problem. Please if anyone could help?