Constant laptop Freezes

[DreamSpyre]

I have an HP DV5-2077 Laptop. This problem began roughly a month ago, and I've tried all I can think of personally to fix it. What happens, is the computer will either completely freeze up and require a restart, or hiccup and look like it will freeze for about 1-5 seconds before coming back, but that's usually an indication that a freeze will be coming up really soon.

I've noticed the freezing occurring mostly while watching anything on youtube, or other online video sites. The higher resolution the video is, the more likely it is to occur. However, watching a video off of my Hard Drive or DVD Drive will have no issues whatsoever. This freezing will also occur during downloads. I had formatted to try and fix the issue, and when downloading WoW, It froze consistently, I could get 1Gig of the game downloaded before it would freeze on me. Has also happened while playing WoW on me twice, but that's over that entire months span.

Speedfan really doesn't show much in the way of overheating, temps are at best, 1-2 celcius higher than when I first got the computer. I also open it up about every 2 months to clean out any built up dust in the case, fan or cooler. This is an image of my current temps. Under load it doesn't really get any higher than about 56 Celcius. I did notice it peak one time around 60-61 but that stopped once it had gotten cleaned out again.

I am completely lost, I am looking to build a new computer when I get back from college, but until then, I need this to last me at least 6 more months if at all possible.

[OhpUldum]

Download HDDScan and perform a surface read test on your hard drive. It is quite possible you have bad sectors on the drive causing the system to freeze or stutter when the reader inside the HDD reaches a bad sector.

[DreamSpyre]

The HDDScan just completed, but I'm not sure what information it is that I need to be looking at.

[Invictus9001]

I've noticed the freezing occurring mostly while watching anything on youtube, or other online video sites. The higher resolution the video is, the more likely it is to occur. However, watching a video off of my Hard Drive or DVD Drive will have no issues whatsoever. This freezing will also occur during downloads. I had formatted to try and fix the issue, and when downloading WoW, It froze consistently, I could get 1Gig of the game downloaded before it would freeze on me. Has also happened while playing WoW on me twice, but that's over that entire months span.

The HDD itself may have bad sectors, and as the other poster suggested, running the HDDScan program might help uncover that. It's also worth noting that, given you mention the video detail leading to this stuff happening, that it MIGHT be an issue with the video card and/or the graphics drivers. If by chance you've not looked for an update to those drivers, do so as soon as you can. Since you've mentioned you're comfortable opening the case to clean out the inside, crack it back open and check the physical connections for the card itself. It's not likely, but something MIGHT have jarred loose and not be making a full connection inside.

Also, you may want to check into:
Malwarebytes anti-malware (free program)

I recommend that program because it can check for bits a traditional virus scanner might be missing, and even help with their removal, including registry keys and the like.

[DreamSpyre]

Drivers are the most up to date, and I've tried rolling back to older versions and still have the issue. There's no loose connections inside the laptop at all.

---------- Post added 2011-12-12 at 12:43 AM ----------

So the HDDScan is saying 0 bad sectors, with 29 over 500 kbs. Any thoughts?