If you just pulled the hard drive from the other one and put it in, it is likely that it has incorrect drivers unless the two were the same models.

It sounds like something may be chewing up the CPU cycles. If possible, run the task manager and see if the CPU is going to 100% and also take a look at the memory usage.

You'll probably need to start the task manager before it goes haywire and sort by CPU (with biggest at the top). If you wait for the problem to occur, the task manager may not be able to start.

See if you have some specific program that is using all the memory and/or all the CPU.

What model laptop and how old is it?? Is the laptop used on a desk or on a soft surface ie lap, bed etc. If on a soft surface, this will cause overheating problems because the fan vents are blocked on the bottom

ok, last night i went into the virtual memory it has a thing for 1428 and i put 700 on both, it had 14 something on both. i don't know how to figure what the physical memeory is, it is a laptop, i got it last year in september whem they had those student packages. its a hp student. pavillion entertainment pc dv6000. now i had to take my vista hardrive out and put my hubs xp hardrive in. his is..well. i'm not really sure. i know its good. LOL his screen went out. so i was glad that his hard drive was interchangable!! LOL i keep it proped up so the fan will have better air flow. at least in my mind it does! LOL i've gone as far as to open the whole darned thing, and leave all the screws out so it'll get good airflow. i do not like hp. they give me a hard time. errrr..... please help me. ~Medo p.s. no dust inside. checked that tooo. :')

Are your hubby's and your laptop both the same model. When you start your computer now (with hubby's harddrive, are you getting anything??
If you are, right click on My Computer icon and select properties. In the box that opens, at the bottom, it should say what size processor it has in "Ghz" and also how much RAM in MB's.
Another question, do you have the "Recovery disks" that came with your laptop

his is 1.81 gh's and 960 mb of ram. i don't have the recovery disk. it said i did copy them, i just don't remember doing that. he does for his xp somewhere i'm sure, he's very anal (no offense) about things like that. i'm just not an organized person. i'm trying very hard to be. this is my new years resolution!! LOL **big smile**

You still havent said what model your laptops are.

mine is a dv 6000 i don't know what his is. how do i find that out?

Should be stickers on the bottom of the laptops. The reason I ask, if both HP's are not the same model, the recovery disks from one will not work on the other.