another possible problem is that the drive mechanism is overheating. They don't survive such well. In this case, opening an app would exaccerbate the problem, 'cause opening apps causes the disk to be read repeatedly, a lot, hence faster overheating it, and causing either thermal recalibration or drive failures. Either will fail the read, and that, in Windows, 'causes some UGLY crashes.
If you find it does well in extreme cold, your drive mechanism is likely the culprit, though, as Q says, it *could* be chip related. Just sounds like a drive issue. Oh, I break computer-related stuff for a living, hence the knowledge of such trivia.
Like Q says, get a fan. If the problem persists ONLY when the box gets warmed up, you may just have a bad drive, that doesn't handle the warmer temps.
Do this first, and foremost:
1) Back it up soon (at least get the docs of importance off of it), and look at replacing it NOW.
If your computer supports booting from an external drive, do this:
1) get one, and boot from it
2) copy your data from your internal drive
3) power down your computer
4) disconnect the internal drive.
If you have a PC of some sort
(for Windows, DOS, Unix or Linux)
you may need to set jumpers to allow
it to boot WITHOUT the internal
drive. Read the docs.
5) Try running from your external drive for a while. If that works, it was your internal drive. Replace it, and if it's under warranty, smack 'em, hard and often.
If that didn't work, and it seizes up even with the external-only boot situation, like Q says, you have something overheating on your board. This is as specific as it gets, and you want to look at first getting a fan for the box, and then at having the manufacturer fix your box. If they won't, get a new one, learn to despise that manufacturer, warn us who they are, and buy a better-supported computer.
Macs are in the $1k range these days, new, and PCs are in the $700 range, new (Dell's new catalog). The Macs are, in my experience, more reliable, but PCs are cheaper. I prefer the quality, but can dig where cost is a bitch. Whatever does the job, y'know?
Oh, keep the external drive, 'cause you want a backup drive. Makin' copies of your data is how y'avoid bein' without said data. Hardware will eventually fail. May take years, but who wants to lose their data? If y'don't wanna keep it, or it ain't compatible wit' the computer you get as replacement, DO remember to format it fully before returning it. Wiley fellows like me always do a recovery on new machines, seein' what folk left behind.
Condolensces, any way y'look at it. That ain't fun. Ain't had t'do that in an age, and I *STILL* recall how cranky it made me.
dvnc
