video lock up

[camaro1185]

I wasnt to sure where to put this post but i think it may be a problem with either my HD or memory. Here is what happens. I got a computer that i just built probaby 6 months ago, it has been great up to this point. I have a ton of full length movies and tv shows on my computer and recently when i try to play the movie files they will load and play for about a minute but then they lock up the computer and they only way to fix the problem is to do CTRL + ALT + DEL. Once task manager comes up you can hear that the movie starts to play again. then once you get out of task manager it locks up again.

Any ideas? i tried system restore but the computer said that "no changes were made."
I have tried different media players.

thanks

 

[OvenMaster]

My first thought is that possibly your GPU is overheating.
Tom

 

[camaro1185]

My first thought is that possibly your GPU is overheating.
Tom

Did you mean CPU. It seems to be running a little hotter than before but i dont think its enough to lock up the computer.

Is there anything else that could be doing this?

 

[OvenMaster]

No, I meant the Graphics Processor Unit on your graphics card, not the computer's main CPU. Has the heatsink fallen off? Is there a fan that's missing or not working? How's your airflow through your case? High ambient room temps don't help, either.

Whenever I've had video freezes on my PC it's usually been due to overheating or, more rarely, a software glitch that a reboot fixed and it never happened again.