Computer lockup problems

Hey everyone. Just a couple days ago we got a new Dell computer (2.5Ghz 256, GF4, XP Home...etc). Anyways, got it all set up, but its having a few problems. Once it just totally locked up, and didnt respond to mouse/keyboard or anything. It wasnt doing much at the time, just running Quicken. Then after leaving it for a few, the screen saver went on, and a while later we came back and it froze up again (screensaver froze). Anyways, I adjusted the monitor poweroff to 1 hour, and told it not to go to standby, and also disabled hibernation mode, in the hopes that one of them was causing the problem. Went out for a while, came back, and same problem (although the monitor never shut off after an hour). The screensaver can come on and wake up if its only been a few miniutes, but if you wait too long (not sure exactly), it will freeze. I'm stumped as to what the problem is, and dont really want to have to bring the computer in (the desk it is in takes forever to hookup/unkook everything...), so if anyone has any ideas I could try out I'd be very happy. Thanks!

Have you checked Dell's website for updates for hardware or maybe a flash update for the mobo?

We've already got all the "Windows Updates", but I'll check out ones from Dell, thanks.

I had ages of pain with my system locking up, eventually I upgraded the mobo bios, and all was OK.

Check driver updates for your video and sound cards. Having said that, I've found that the default MS ones work well with my gforce card vid card, rather than using the nvidia supplied versions.

If you don't get anywhere still, you might consider a RAM tester program.

Also, check the temperature of the CPU. Are the fans running etc?

Hey, just updated all the drivers and whatnot, still having the problem, I'll try out that RAM program though, thanks.

disable the turn off hard disks after x minutes, i've always ran into problems with that

Hey Waldo. I disabled that already, didn't seem to make a difference though.