Big problem with system freezes (W2K)

[cyberserious]

Ever since I installed memory upgrades, I have been having a terrible problem with system freezes that occur for no reason, and force me to warm or cold re-boot. This problem occurs with any memory in either DIMM slot. I don't know if I have a bad motherboard, processor, AGP video card or what. I tested the new WD hardrive and proved that that's not bad. It's a brand new drive with Windows 2000 Pro servicepack 2 installed on it just 6 weeks ago.

I have an AMD Afalon 1GHz system with a AGP video card, SDRAM (256MB - single module)

I tried the registry tweak recommended at http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/798but I can't get the 0xffffffff value to stick, because it won't let me change it

[dys2]

It only started happening after the memory upgrade? If so, have you tried running with just the memory chip(s) you had before the upgrade?

This is more than likely not the case, but be sure everyting is plugged into their respective slots accordingly, including vid card, sound card or any others. Maybe something was knocked loose while the RAM chips were being put in.

Also, take a can of compressed air and try to clean off all the cards, fans, etc. I had a problem with freezing until I noticed how filthy my video card was. Once i cleaned it (two fans), i didn't freeze again. Sounds crazy, but it's true.

[cyberserious]

The inside of my computer is very clean, but using a "canned air" product wouldn't be a bad idea. So far, I have not had another freeze-up but I won't know for sure until another few days have passed without one.