Hardware or software causing this?

I have XP Pro, no devices that are in conflicts, and this random problem.

I will be moving the mouse cursor over a page of info, various programs and
it hangs, and then the screen goes completely
black for 30 seconds. Then it all comes back and goes on working..
This is so annoying! Does anyone have any ideas. Since I surf the web a lot
it seems to happen on explorer, but it has happened in Word, Excel and MS
Outlook or any other program..

TIA !!

First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

Second, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

If your system is clear of viruses, open Control Panel, open System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...ing/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. No not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft.

Also, if your graphics card shares memory with main system memory as opposed
to having its own memory, that might be the source of the issue.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Mepol" <edterry oh one oh one at hotmail dot com> wrote in message
news:#1ZKHXcwDHA.3140@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I have XP Pro, no devices that are in conflicts, and this random problem.
>
> I will be moving the mouse cursor over a page of info, various programs
and
> it hangs, and then the screen goes completely
> black for 30 seconds. Then it all comes back and goes on working..
> This is so annoying! Does anyone have any ideas. Since I surf the web a
lot
> it seems to happen on explorer, but it has happened in Word, Excel and MS
> Outlook or any other program..
>
> TIA !!
>
>

have you check for a virus if not there's a good online virus checker... http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ ........just click on this when you get the page up (Scan Now. It's Free!) take a little time but it does a good job...