At restart, my PC "hangs" for about 3 minutes, then reboots. Any ideas? It's XP Media Center.?

Answer 1

There a several reasons why your computer is hanging/freezing. Also a bit more information would help to narrow down the problem. But, I will try to cover all the most common reason for computer lockups.

First question is when was the last time you cleaned your registry. Having a corrupted registry can cause a whole host of errors and problems. Hangs and Freezing up is one of them. If you have a lot of unnecessary registry keys that are hogging up your computer resources. Your computer is bound to choke.

2. Depending on your RAM specs and your computer usage. This could also be a the issue. Having an insufficient amount of free space does not allow your RAM to function properly. If you are using a lot of RAM by net surfing or other activities without enough empty space your will get freezes and hangs. You don't need to buy new RAM but you should increase your free space by removing unnecessary data and perhaps increasing your virtual memory. The below link will show you how.

3. You have spyware could be the culprit, so do a scan and see if your computer is infected.

Hope this helps.

http://www.delete-computer-history.com/fix-computer-freezes.html

Answer 2

Spyware, malware, two antivirus products at the same time. Start in safe mode. Then clean it up, then reboot.

Answer 3

Virus

Answer 4

You might have installed something. remove the recent software that you installed, that might be the reason.