Trouble rebooting and freeze ups in XP

[flapflap]

I've been having trouble rebooting my system after a shutdown. My system also freezes up alot when I'm online. I have a Sony Vaio computer which is about 7 years old,and I'm running XP pro ,and it has a Pentium 2 processor,with 128 mb of Ram. I've been using the XP for about a year with no problems,then all of a sudden it won't reboot without alot of tries,and it freezes after only minutes after the reboot.I have Symantec virus protection,and Mcafee anti-spy,and they show no problems there. I also delete the temp files after every use,and I defrag on a regular basis,and I've removed some programs I don't use much anymore to free up space but nothing seems to work. I've read here that my system,with only 128mb of ram isn't really enough for XP,but I've had no problem till now. Some of my friends say that maybe my hard drive may be wearing out since it's so old ,but I don't know about that. If there's any help out there for me,I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[ski]

Congrats. Your system has apparently given you a lot of troublefree miles.

However, after 7 years some basic stuff should be checked(if not already done).
Check the MB's capacitors for any signs of bulging, leaking, or rupturing, make sure all connections are secure, reseat all cards and the RAM making sure they're firmly seated, make sure all fans are running, clean out any dust built up inside the case and on the fans and heatsinks, and make sure all heatsinks are secure.

If those are ok or do not help, then make sure your AV program is updated before checking for viruses.

If ok, then run Ad-aware, Spybot, CWShredder, and Hijack This to remove any spyware.

If that does not help, then run Memtest86 to check the RAM.

If the RAM is ok, then go into BIOS, and make sure nothing is overclocked and only Default settings are being used.
Also, sometimes disabling 'Quick Boot', 'Quick Power-On Self Test', or similar in BIOS can prevent cold boot failures.

If no luck, then remove the computer's cover, and run an external fan.
If that works, then it's possible that the CPU's thermal compound has oozed out, and needs replacing.

If replacing the CPU's compound does not help, then you may have to swap out the power supply, MB, CPU, and video card to find the cause of the freezing.

And finally FWIW, I accidently stumbled onto a solution for a freezing problem on my system by installing a different mouse recently.
I replaced the old wired mouse with a wireless unit strictly for the convenience factor, and discovered that the persistent lockups had disappeared.