Computer freezes randomly, sometimes for minutes at a time

[striderjb]

Hey everyone. My computer has been freezing randomly for awhile now. The freezes will last anywhere from 10 seconds to 3 minutes. A lot of the time it will freeze when playing games, but can also freeze while watching videos, or sometimes even when I'm just on the desktop with nothing running. When it freezes while playing games, the sound will loop and I can even still talk in ventrilo.

I have reformatted multiple times, the first time I reformatted to Windows 7 and the freezes stopped for about 5 days and then came back. I reformatted again back to Windows XP and the freezes stopped for about 2 days, and now they are back again. This has lead me to believe that it is a hardware problem.

I ran MemTest and had no errors with the RAM, I stress tested the video card, and it seemed to be fine under high stress. My temperatures are all low, so I doubt that it's an overheating.

I have no clue where to start to troubleshoot the problem.

My specs are as follows:
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
Video Card: NVidia GeForce 9600 GSO
RAM: OCZ 4GB Dual Channel DDR2
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD2500KS-00MJB0
Disk Drive: Lite-On DVDRW SHM-165H6S

Onboard sound and network cards.

Not sure what my power supply is but I'm pretty sure it's a cheap 500W

If you need any more information, let me know. Thanks.

 

[Route44]

I suggest doing the following...

1. Download Driver Sweeper free version to your desktop screen and install.

2. Download the latest diver(s) for your video card but don't install them.

3. Uninstall your video card drivers and reboot your PC into Safe Mode. Run Driver Sweeper but ONLY for the video card drivers. I had someone use it on their chipset drivers! If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay; just leave all other drivers alone.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

* By the way, what did you use to stress your video card; always looking for this kind of diagnostic suggestions/information.

 

[striderjb]

Thing is, I've tried multiple video card drivers and they all do it. I will try this suggestion though, and update this post with info.

Also, it seems more like a hardware problem because it doesn't only freeze when doing video intensive things. When I am freezing it also has trouble booting Windows and Windows Explorer will freeze up also, even with nothing running.