I'm hoping the folks on this forum can help.

 

I am having a problem with my Dell locking up randomly. It does it with various programs, so I can't pinpoint the culprit.

 

The system: I have a dimension 4700, 3 GHz, 512 mb, 140 GB hard drive. It is stock from the factory, except that I put in a Belkin FireWire PCI card. At one point, I did install a PNY 64mb video card, but have since removed it as I thought it was causing problems with one of the games I was playing. After removing the card, I unistalled the software for this card using add/remove programs.

 

I first noticed the problem a few months back. The computer seemed to be lagging a bit and would occasionally lock up. But, back then, it was only once every couple of weeks. So I thought no big deal. No computer is problem free. But the lock-ups got more and more frequent. Then I noticed that it seems like my hard drive was constantly starting and stopping. The light is constantly flashing even when I'm just working in a spread sheet or word processing program.

 

The system locks on various programs: Word, Excel, AutoCad, games, video editing software, Norton scan.

 

Once the lock-ups got to be as frequent as at least once, I decided to install Norton System Doctor to see if that could diagnose the problem. At first, I couldn't even get Norton to do a full system scan without locking. Then I ran through the windoctor check and cleaned up a few hundred errors. At some poini, I was able to detecet and remove an adware program. Finally I got Norton to do a full system scan. No virus found.

 

I ran Dell Diagnostics (F12 at bootup) and the only errors found were something to do with sound error codes 1B22:0f13 and 1B22:101B. I don't think this is the cause. I've tried the Windows memory testor and it found no problems. I ran the Window crash diagnistic program and no problems found.

 

I don't know what else to check to find the problem.

 

I have some ideas of possible causes, but not sure if any could be it:

 

1) Do I need more memory to run Norton plus all the other junk in the background, plus the main programs?

2) I have an HP all-in one connected via USB. I've heard that these can cause problems.

3) I recently installed Quickbooks SImple Start (I saw this software pop up on other posts to the forum).

4) There's just too much stuff running in the background (around 50 processes running).

5) I am running MS Office 97, but Word and Works 2000 came with the computer and are still installed.

 

Any ideas on what to check next? Or who the culprit could be?

 

Your help is greatly appreciated!!