Computer Psuedo-lock up and BSOD

I just got a new computer with the parts in my sig. It ran fine for about 2 weeks or so. Then I recently invested in Guildwars and Battlefield 2, when it started happening. When I would exit Guildwars or Battlefield, after a long session of play I would sometimes experience a quick BSOD that I wasnt able to read. But i assumed that could have been a driver issue.

The real issue is comes up when im using my computer, not doing anything in particular, and the keyboard and mouse locks up for about 5-10 seconds then resumes where it left off.

I was thinking if this could be a temperature or power supply issue. When i start up my computer my bios tells me my cpu runs at 56C or so, but I have a huge heat pipe on it and plently of airflow. Is it possible that my bios reading is incorrect? Motherboard Monitor isnt compatible with my mobo, yet.

Anyone have any ideas?

Woah. 56C is really high for an idle temp and I think you need to reseat your heatsink or reapply your thermal paste.
And if you want to check you can always check your power supply's 12V line with a multimeter to see if it's stable and within spec. (atleast 11.7)

I'm not sure what else to recommend right now. You might want to try the newest WHQL certified drivers for your video card and run whatever virus scan you have, AdAware, and "HijackThis" to see if the lag and game crashing are related to any of those.

Yea i was considering resetting my heatsink. Is there any chance that, the bios reading is wrong? since sisoftware tells me cpu reads around 34C.

It could, but the software could also be misreporting it as well. Especially if not configured correctly for your specific chipset or motherboard.

I havent yet reseat my heatsink, but i did look at my powersupply reading. Im getting a stable 11.58. Is that the problem?

Yes yes yes. That is really low. Id replace the psu ASAP.

yea, i was thinking about that. How about this.... i just found that my computer doesnt shutdown by itself, but it has been known to start up independently.

ok yea so im really suspecting the power supply now. My motherboard takes both 20 and 24 pin from the power supply, although my power supply only has a 20 pin connector. Does that usually mean insufficient power?

No, thats not really a problem, as long as its a decent quality psu and you aren't using sli, putting a 20 pin connector in a 24pin mobo shouldn't be a problem.

Make sure that you have any other additional power connectors hooked up the mobo. I just got a DFI Nf4 and had to hook up the 4 pin molex and also the 4 pin additional 5v or whatever, the square one. I also ahve a 20 pin in a 24, works great even on my cheap cheesey psu.

Hmm i should check that mindaugas. As far as i know i only have 2 connections to my mobo right now. Are there other things that could cause my computer to lock-up for 5-10 seconds? I am planning to reseat my heatsink. Since my bios reads 54C for idling temperature and motherboard monitor has yet to provide support for this mobo. Anyone know of any other reliable temperature sensors?

This is a new load right, Windows? I would look at the hard drive too, I've see bad drives cause problems like that. i.e. power cutting off and back on real quick. Look in your event manager for delayed write failures, etc.

As for Windows run the ususal defrag, spyware scan, virus scan, and a registry scanner.

May want to try drivers also, get the newest chipset, video, etc if you haven't already.

Just going down the list, u may have done this already.

Yea, my computer is pretty well maintained for the most part. Probably gonna need to get the newest chipset, to see if that fixes anything and definatly gonna reseat that heatsink, with a huge tower sink like mine I definatly dont expect 51C idleing temps.

How would i go aobut checking evet manager?

right click my computer --> manage