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Mame arcade freezing randomly

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hypernova:
My arcade has been completely freezing randomly.  Don't know why.  It has froze at different stages of startup - during the little sidescrolling 3 blue blocks on the XP loading screen, as well as right after that when the loading screen disappears, before XP actually loads up.  It has also frozen while in the FE, during any game, as well as during the windows screensaver.

I've had it on multiple times lately.  I've been trying to update mame, as well as changed FEs.  It was freezing before that, but I just thought the kids were doing something to cause it.  Apparently not.  Some times I've had it on it's been fine for the multiple hours it has been on.  Other times it doesn't, well, even load XP properly.

So my thoughts are:

CPU - top suspect
RAM - somehow I doubt this one
Mobo - very close 2nd
Something else

What's the likely culprit?

JODY:
Lots of possibilities but I would check the disk first.  Run a chkdsk as the hard drive may be having some issues.  I had one once that would not always boot.  Found the drive was the problem.  Replaced the drive and all was well.

I've also had issues on an old PC where the drive was starting to get some bad sectors.  Backed up the machine, reformatted the drive so the bad sectors were disabled and restored the data.  Has run fine for years since.

Beyond hardware, there is the possibility of viruses or other software issues.  I had one PC that was infected with a root kit.  It started acting real flaky including locking up at time.  After removing the root kit and numerous other viruses, it behaved well.  I don't recall everything I used but can post more details later if needed.

If you aren't that familiar with the above, I would recommend a couple of programs that may find and fix various issues with the OS, disk, etc.  These will not remove most of the advanced root kits and some of the other more complex issues but are a start to help resolve basic problems as well as many viruses and some root kits.  You can get them at download.com.  Try Advanced SystemCare (has some disk, registry, spyware, etc. checks and fixes) and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (very good free non-resident anti-virus).

After that to check some additional hardware issues try http://www.memtest.org/ to check memory (Mem86+).  I've also used a trial version of BurnInTest from download.com to do an overall system check.

fallacy:
I have had PC freeze during game play because CPU was overheating. My cause was because so much dust got stuck in the heat sink the fan was not blowing it properly.

Lilwolf:
I'm guessing heating also.  A good way to check is to take one of those floor square fans (kmart/home depot for 14 bucks) and put it up near the computer and try again.  Sure it will be loud, but the question about air flow will be out.  Also, open the case (keep it open for the test) and make sure the heat sink's aren't clogged with dust for sure like previously mentioned.

Hoopz:
Reseat the heatsink.  Take it off, clean it off, get all the dirt out and put new thermal compound down.  It's the most likely problem and the cheapest to fix.  It takes just a few minutes to get it done properly.

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