Computer Freezing

[ccrawford]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. If not, please forgive.

I recieved a Gateway 1000 from a buddy at work. He said it wasn't working, and I really just wanted it for a couple of spare parts. For kicks and grins, I tried to start it up...it loaded fine, then suddenly locked. Completely froze. I figured it must be an error in WinXP, so I wiped the drive and reinstalled.

I tried Win98...just as a start and got it installed fine. Booted it and it froze. I began thinking maybe it was a hardware problem. I've checked the memory and the hard drive. Both work fine in other systems. So my question is, could it be the power supply, or is the motherboard probably shot. Or is it some other annoying thing that I've managed to overlook.

I've got absolutely no friends around where I live that no anything about computers (cept where the power button is). So you are my only hope.

 

[senseless]

sounds like the powersupply to me, or maybe the cheap dell ram went bad?

What kind of processor is in there? the dell p2-p3-p4 chips have a tendency to go bad due to heat problems from lack of cooling.

 

[ccrawford]

Processor is an AMD 1.0 gig, stock cooling.

Ram was a thought, but I've transfered that ram chip into my main computer and it's run fine for almost two weeks solid.

Might have to play around with the power supply and see if that might clear things up...I've got another one laying around here somewhere.

Any other ideas are always welcome...I'll let ya'll know if I manage to get that thing running.

 

[senseless]

most likely your problem is going to be your PSU or your MB