i have this weird problem with my pc, i hope you can help...
whenever i use the computer, it stops responding after a few minutes: mouse, keyboard, ctrl+alt+delete, it responds to nothing. even when i press the power button, which usually would make the computer log off and shut down (i use win xp) it doesn't do anything, its like the computer just freezes. I checked for viruses and spyware/adware and there's nothing out of the ordinary. I also left to cover off the case and tried to work with the pc that way, it worked the first time, but after I shut it down and turned it on again the next day the problem returned.
do you have any idea what might be causing the problem? is it more likely to be a hardware issue or something in the OS?

thanks a lot

Hi bcohen_, welcome to SAF

Sounds like some overheating issue to me... download SpeedFan from http://info.abril.com.br/download/2615.shtml (click on "copie agora" link).

Post back with results.

Chris

Hi Chris, thank you for your time

Here are the temperature measured by SpeedFan:

LABEL (Chip): Temperature BUS

Temp1 (Winbond W83627HF): 29 C ISA
Temp 2 (Winbond W83627HF): 12 C ISA
Temp 3 (Winbond W83627HF): 31 C ISA
Temp (LM75): 11 C Intel SMBus
HD0: 25 C SMART
Temp1 (ACPI): 18 C ISA

For all fans (Fan1,2 and 3) it says: 0 RPM, but I can definitely hear and see them rotating (at least two of them, I don't know where the third one is, if he exists)

If you need any other info, just ask and I'll post it

thanks again,

Ben

You say that the soft-off power button also does not respond. Okay, what happens if you hit the reset button after it freezes? Does the mouse also freeze on the screen and won't respond?

Everything freezes, that's what's strange.
Even when I press the power button or reset button in for a few seconds nothing happens. Normally doing that would shut down the computer "the unsafe way", and I'd think that whatever the problem was (whether hardware or software) it wouldn't affect that. But it does, neither of the buttons work.

I tried holding the power button pressed for a few seconds when the computer was in a normal, functioning state, to check if it was working at all...and it did.

But I guess that if the problem is causing the power and reset switch not to work, it rules out the possibility of the problem being software-related, right? I'm asking because someone advised me to format my HD and start all over again and see if the problem persists, and if it doesn't that would mean it was software.