system freezes when sitting idle for an extended length of time

[MAP]

>-----Original Message-----
>My system freezes everytime I walk away from it for 20
minutes or longer. Ctrl/alt/del has no affect. Doesn't
appear to be screen saver related because the screen
saver does activate before the 20 minute time and it does
go away when moving the mouse or type a key. Any
suggestions? Thanks
>.
>

Troubleshooting Computer Lockups (Freezes)
Many readers write each week with a similar problem:
their computers periodically lock up or "freeze," so that
the mouse and keyboard won't function and nothing can be
done for a period of time (sometimes the system unlocks
after a while; in other cases you have to reboot). This
is a common problem but not an easy one to diagnose
because it has so many causes. It's like a person going
to the doctor with the complaint of a cough; the problem
could be a cold, an allergy, a substance stuck in the
throat, cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. Here are
some common causes of lockups:
Software incompatibility
Hardware incompatibility or incorrect device driver
Bad RAM
Video card problems
Dying power supply
Processor getting too hot
The first step in diagnosing the problem is to keep a
journal showing exactly what you were doing each time the
system froze. This can help you spot patterns - for
example, if the lockup occurs when you try to print, or
whenever you play a sound, that suggests a problem with
the specific hardware device or its software driver.
Heat, bad RAM or a power supply that's about to give out
are more likely if the lockups are random.

[Pam]

what about lockups when getting on line? No matter how I choose to access
the internet, it will hang after connecting for a minute to 2 min until
whatever it is doing is completed...then I can access any other program or
whatever...but until then...I'm out of luck - any ideas??

--
Blessings,
Pam



"MAP" > wrote in message
...
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >My system freezes everytime I walk away from it for 20
> minutes or longer. Ctrl/alt/del has no affect. Doesn't
> appear to be screen saver related because the screen
> saver does activate before the 20 minute time and it does
> go away when moving the mouse or type a key. Any
> suggestions? Thanks
> >.
> >
>
> Troubleshooting Computer Lockups (Freezes)
> Many readers write each week with a similar problem:
> their computers periodically lock up or "freeze," so that
> the mouse and keyboard won't function and nothing can be
> done for a period of time (sometimes the system unlocks
> after a while; in other cases you have to reboot). This
> is a common problem but not an easy one to diagnose
> because it has so many causes. It's like a person going
> to the doctor with the complaint of a cough; the problem
> could be a cold, an allergy, a substance stuck in the
> throat, cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. Here are
> some common causes of lockups:
> Software incompatibility
> Hardware incompatibility or incorrect device driver
> Bad RAM
> Video card problems
> Dying power supply
> Processor getting too hot
> The first step in diagnosing the problem is to keep a
> journal showing exactly what you were doing each time the
> system froze. This can help you spot patterns - for
> example, if the lockup occurs when you try to print, or
> whenever you play a sound, that suggests a problem with
> the specific hardware device or its software driver.
> Heat, bad RAM or a power supply that's about to give out
> are more likely if the lockups are random.