Freeze and rebooting itself

[Aramos00]

For five years, I have this HP Pavilion 6350US this has the following specifications:
AMD-K6-2/33 processor with 3D
64MB SDRAM
8GB (But every time that run the physical drive space it only demonstrates the capacity of 2GB and free space of 2GB)

A few months back my PC started to freeze or shutdown by itself. It freeze or shutdown at any moment does matter if I am working or not. Sometimes it can be only on and suddenly shutdowns by it self or only freeze. First, I though that we may had a ghost in the house whom was learning to use the computer. After a long spiritual session we find out that we don’t have a ghost in the house (what a deception). Then, I though, that probably the fan was not working and I keep observing it. It worker until the computer went off. Since, I didn’t believe that was the fan, I open the MSCONGFIG and delete from the start up program those program which I think I don’t need then and still my PC frequently freeze or shutdown by itself. One other trouble is that sometimes the screen of my monitor suddenly changes to a parallel bars from different colors. Sometimes those bars are wide and others time are slim and it freezes everything nothing can be done. I have to reboot it.

Since I did the couple things, which came to my mind, and still my pc reboot itself and freeze constantly, I am asking for your help to figure out what else should I do.

Please help to fix this problem, Thanks
:confused:

[randyrhoads1981]

You said thye system says the drive is 2GB with 2GB free space. Did you replace the original hardrive with that 8GB?..if so you may have to update the bios before it can see the entire drive or its the way its partitioned. Being that HP is 5 years old have you ever blew out the dust bunnies inside the case and PSU?..if not id suggest that. Being you are getting lines in the monitor and frezzing id say the power supply's days are numbered.you could also try a different monitor and see if the lines continue..if not then the monitor is the cause. And if the operating system has been on there the entire 5 years it may be time to do a fresh overhaul. Years of opps..errors..virus..and built up clutter takes it toll.

[Paleo Pete]

AMD-K6-2/33 processor with 3D
No such thing as a 33MHz K6-2, is that a typo? Is that maybe a 333MHz CPU?

Any motherboard that will handle the K6-2 at any speed should handle an 8GB drive, that's the upper limit for chipsets that did have a drive size limitation. I think it's actually 8.3 or 8.6 GB, so the motherboard should handle that drive without a BIOS update. My P-233MMX motherboard will handle up to 8GB, that one should too.

The comment above about a virus makes sense, I was wondering about a virus too, but the video problems could be related to something more mundane, like corrupted video drivers. I would run a full system scan with the latest virus definitions to be sure.

Cleaning the insides is a very good idea too. Built up dust inside the case impedes airflow, and buildup on the CPU heatsink drastically reduces heat dissipation. Air cannot contact the heatsink, therefore cannot cool it. Once it gets hot, it cannot successfully dissipate the heat as fast as the CPU produces it.

You can use canned compressed air to clean out dust, I use a camera brush. Pay close attention to the heatsink and power supply vents.

Sudden reboots can also be related to a weak power supply, and at 5 years old I would not be surprised if it were getting weak.

[Jhorner1]

I used to have this same machine and it developed the same problems after about 3 years. One afternoon I swapped out the motherboard, put in an AMD 1.2GHz processor, 256meg PC133 ram, and a TNT2 video card, and it now works fine (total cost was about $300-much less than buying a new one). I gave it to my wife and she uses it 4-5 hours a day with no problems. As for your system only showing 2gig available on your hard drive, mine did the same thing, I think it may be a problem with win 98, after my free space got below 2gig it showed the correct amount.

[classicsoftware]

I agree with Pete and Randyrhoades.

It 's time for some TLC. After five years, your pc needs a break.

Open the case and remove the dust critters.

Check all of the cables and make sure they are snugly attached to their connectors.

It is definitely time to reinstall your OS. Windows has 5 years of dreck (yiddish for SH??) in there.

Clean it up, reinstall windows and it will run better.