So I have been noticing a strange behavior with my computer lately. Essentially programs can randomly freeze for a couple seconds and then go back to normal. It's not the biggest deal, but it's alarming. This behavior is not specific to any one program but instead can happen with pretty much anything that is in use, say Chrome, VLC or even games. So I googled around a bit and came to the conclusion that i ought to troubleshot my memory, so I ran Windows built-in Memory Diagnostics Tool and after only about 12-13 cycles of the "basic" test it all freezes up and I am forced to press "esc" in order to boot the computer and once I've logged in Windows doesn't give me any feedback on what just happened so obviously not the scenario that the Diagnostics tool was meant to work. So now I'm pretty positive that there is something wrong with my RAM and I plan to buy a couple of new sticks sometime soon, but some confirmation before that time would be satisfying - So what do you guys think? The memory modules, or something else that is acting cray-cray?

Thanks in advance for the help duders!

I think you're going in the right direction but it could possibly be a failing hard drive as well. If possible try running a disk check for the hard drive but make sure you have all data saved and backed up to an external hard drive. If you have access to a known good OS, i would see if the issue persists. Try troubleshooting a little bit more to be sure before throwing any money at it. If any of your friends have a computer similar to yours (laptop?, desktop?) i would try out the machine with some of their RAM.

Best of luck duder! Keep us updated!

I recommend you download a copy of memtest86 and burn it to a CD (I think it may be possible to use it on a bootable USB drive too). It runs indepedently of the OS, so it won't alter or damage any data on your hard drive(s). It'll run a series of memory tests where it writes and reads a series of repeating patterns to the memory that if they don't return as written can track down where (and if) the fault lies. I don't think it'll say which memory stick is faulty though, so if it gives you warnings you should remove all but one stick and test them individually.

It's available at http://www.memtest86.com/

If you want to check if it's your hard drive that's faulty, Seagate has SeaTools, which works on non-Seagate drives as well, and can be run from Windows - http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

I'd take a look at your hard drive.

Grab something like Hiren's Boot CD and do a memory test from the CD. Then take a look at your hard drive's SMART.

Thanks for the response!

I guess I should run memtest. I had heard of it before, but it just hasen't happened yet because I have been too lazy to burn a CD. Reading around some, it seems as though it could also be something faulty with my processor (which I really don't hope is the case). I'll run memtest and we'll see from there.

I'll keep posting

Check your temps and fans. Intermittent freezing can also be due to your CPU or GPU getting too hot. Make sure you got adequate air flow. Something as simple as a little dusting can help tremendously.

It's could be either your RAM or your Hard Drive- as has been said. Both are cheap and easy to replace.

I had similar issues before with RAM and then later with a dieing hard drive. Pin pointing which it is exactly is actually really hard. A sure sign it's your hard drive is if it's making a lot of noise. You can do mem test for RAM but that is difficult but it will tell you what your RAM is doing which can be helpful.

Another thing that you should check is your processor. Specifically make sure to clean the heat sink if it is dirty. If its dirty it will over heat and start to stutter out. I had a problem with this once too, and cleaning the heat sink off solved the problem immediately. It was that easy. I can't say for certain that is your issue but just make sure it's clean. You never know, the fix could potentially be that easy. It happens.