Vista - Random Freezes

Hi, this is my first time posting here and it is basically a last resort.

I bought this computer about 2 months ago, installed a few games and anti-virus etc.
I can play the games fine (Warhammer, WoW) on max graphics with no problems at all however the whole computer will just randomly freeze while playing.

The freeze only lasts for about 10-30 seconds, during the freeze the sound loops in the background and the computer acts as if it is working really hard, occasionally it ends in a blue screen although this has only happened twice out of about 60 freezes.

I have updated all drivers, checked my network and hardware etc.
I thought it may have been a problem with DirectX as when i installed one of my games it froze on the install, i have since reinstalled DirectX off a clean download with no problems.


Spec -
AMD Phenom 8450 Triple Core 2.1 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Integrated
3 GB Ram
Vista Home Premium
Realtek High Def Audio Integrated

I know it's not the best gaming machine but the games themselves run fine apart from these freezes.

P.S I have tried reducing graphics etc to minimum and it still occurs, also tried with sound off.

Update -

Two different memory tests came up clean.
Temperatures are fine.
Installed the complete DX package and am testing to see if that has helped.

The freeze can happen at any time aswell, sometimes it occurs two hours after i start playing, once it occured while i was logging into the game.

can be network lag, since you are connecting to an online service, i would try and play it at a friends house with maybe a cable connection, and see if that improves.

I did read somewhere that Vista refreshes wireless network connections to try and get a better signal however i was unsure if this was true.

Would this not happen at set times? This morning i had 4 nearly consecutive freezes while sat at the login screen of WoW and then nothing for the next 3 hours.

If it is a wireless problem is there a way to turn it off?
Moving to cable is not an option i have at the moment.

huh, ive never heard about vista refreshing connections, my friend plays xbox 360 though his computer which is connected by a linksys wirelessG USB adaptor and he doesnt have any issues with lag online. i suspect that maybe you have a background service running that uses your internet connection.

Thanks for the advice, i have checked services and they are all fine.
After checking error logs i seem to be getting a lot of RaidPort0 hard drive errors.

Doing some research has indicated it may be a glitch with the DVD drive and a corrupt vista, i am going to test this tonight although it seems unlikely as my problem is not the same one as with other people. My freezes only occur while gaming whereas theirs occur doing anything.

I have a similar problem, when playing fallout 3 the game runs smooth (with high definitions), but suddenly it becomes very slow, the computer remains slow even if I switch tasks to explorer or task manager (CPU 100%). 20~30 seconds later everything back to normal but one minute later it becomes slow again. This keeps happening over and over again.

I've tried about 4 different drivers and the problem remains.

My machine is
CPU: T9400
GC: 9600m GT
Ram: 4 Gbs

Windows Vista Business x64

Hey Guys,

Do you both use SATA HardDrives?

Steven

In my case the answer is positive. Why?

I do not have a SATA hardrive although my problem seems to be fixed now, i've done a restore to factory on Vista and am running a barebones system with just one game installed.
I am going to slowly install one program a day to try and pinpoint the problem although i still think it may have been a Direct X or Networking issue.

In regards to Direct X, i installed the complete package once on request and that is the only time i have attempted to install it.

In regards to a wireless network i have found a program called WLAN Optimizer which i am going to try if the problem does come back, this supposedly counteracts vista scanning for a better connection and stops lag spikes and random freezes.

Thankyou for all of the advice and good luck with your problem merlin.