# Solved: Total Computer Freeze Every Time A Video Is Played



## Svaras (Jul 22, 2011)

Every time I try to play game or watch a video, either from the internet or downloaded, it freezes my entire computer and I have to do a hard restart. This also happens when any kind of flash plays on a website for more than like 10 seconds. It's been going on for near 6 months now and it's driving me absolutely mad! I have updated everything that I can think of including flash player, chipset driver, video driver, firefox, and even reinstalled windows and nothing works. I've tried disabling hardware acceleration to no avail. I've run virus and malware scans and they came up with nothing. Any help with this would be enormously appreciated.

Windows Xp Home Edition
Service Pack 3
RAdeon Igp 320m
Mobile Amd Athlon XP 2000+
512 MB Ram


----------



## neil21stirling (Sep 12, 2007)

more often than not the graphics card is to blame for this.
Don't get me wrong, for the system your running, your graphics card should be more than capable of handling your video or gaming needs.

Unfortunately there's not really a way of testing this without replacing the graphics card and seeing what happens.
Great if you have spares, but not so great if you have to go out and buy one.

There can be other causes such as CPU and Mobo issues which can cause the same symptoms, but just from my own experience a replacement graphics card has resolved issue's like this in the past.


----------



## Firebreather (Jul 8, 2011)

Agreed with neil21stirling.... but try disk cleanup too, might help...


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Svaras said:


> *Every time I try to play game or watch a video*, either from the internet or downloaded, *it freezes my entire computer* and I have to do a hard restart. This also happens when any kind of flash plays on a website for more than like 10 seconds. It's been going on for near 6 months now and it's driving me absolutely mad! I have updated everything that I can think of including flash player, chipset driver, video driver, firefox, and even reinstalled windows and nothing works. I've tried disabling hardware acceleration to no avail. I've run virus and malware scans and they came up with nothing. Any help with this would be enormously appreciated.
> 
> Windows Xp Home Edition
> Service Pack 3
> ...


What's the brand name, model name, and model number of your computer so we can determine what its upgrade options are?

You cannot expect to watch videos and play games with quality results when you computer has integrated graphics and only 512 MB of RAM.

------------------------------------------------------------


----------



## S-9 (Jul 20, 2011)

I was having the same problem on my last computer.

''Try playing games and watching videos in a low-quality''


----------



## Svaras (Jul 22, 2011)

flavallee said:


> What's the brand name, model name, and model number of your computer so we can determine what its upgrade options are?
> 
> You cannot expect to watch videos and play games with quality results when you computer has integrated graphics and only 512 MB of RAM.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------


 Sorry, I forget to put that. I have an emachine m5305. I used to be able to watch videos and play games just fine and now I can't. Even when I try to play old games like Oregon Trail II it freezes. I've tried to watch videos using a player that only uses at most 60 cpu and even that freezes. I don't have any idea how to replace a video card and even if I did I can't afford to buy a new one.


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

The *eMachines M5305* is a laptop, so your only upgrade option is adding more RAM.
It comes with a non-removable 256 MB module and has an empty slot for adding a 256 MB or 512 MB module.
Since it currently has 512 MB, a 256 MB must've been added to the empty slot after it was purchased.
The 256 MB module can be replaced with a 512 MB module to increase the RAM to its maximum supported amount of 768 MB.

---------------------------------------------------------------

What's the capacity of the hard drive and how much free space does it have?

Go to Start - Run - MSCONFIG - OK - "Startup" tab. 
How many entries in the "Startup Item" column are checked?

---------------------------------------------------------------

Click Start - Run, then type in *%temp%* and then click OK.

Click Start - Run, then type in *c:\windows\temp* and then click OK.

Once those 2 temp folders appear and you can view their contents, select and delete EVERYTHING that's inside them.

If a few files resist being deleted, that's normal behavior. Leave them alone and delete EVERYTHING else.

After you're done, restart the computer.

----------------------------------------------------------------


----------



## Svaras (Jul 22, 2011)

So I think I might have found the problem. I tried to play a video after doing what flavallee suggested to see if that worked and it still froze. Right after I shut it down however I noticed the area right behind the monitor was extremely hot. The rest of my laptop was cool, just that area where I would never think to check was too hot to even touch. So I'm pretty sure that was the problem and I just need to find a way to keep it cool back there. Thanks for all the reply's and advice, my computer runs a bit faster for it.


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

If the interior is overheating, that will make the laptop freeze up or turn completely off.

Make sure the cooling vents aren't clogged with dust, and make sure the cooling fan cycles on and off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Why don't you continue here instead of starting a new thread?

----------------------------------------------------------------


----------

