oh yay!(PDBusa @ Oct. 17 2006,12:53) look into a new hard drive. My ME was doing that until the screen of death appeared and said "backup files immediately, imminent failure about to occur"
PC... I've been told before it sounds like the HD is going bad... Typical HD, only runs for a little while, then turns to crap! (get it, It was a Harley joke too! I slay me sometimes with my wit! )(PDBusa @ Oct. 17 2006,12:57) back it up as much as you can. I got lucky and was able to save everything just in time. You have a PC or laptop? hard drives can be had for fairly cheap at the big box stores. I got mine from Best Buy
the power supply can cause lockups? I've never heard of that before...(hayabusa626 @ Oct. 17 2006,13:03) Windows ME
I would at least backup any data you have on it to a USB drive. Sounds like the drive may be on its last leg.
The Compaq's usually came with a diagnostics disc that you could run to test the system for bad components. Do you have that?
This will at least let you know if the RAM or hard drive are going bad. The power supply is another thing that can cause lockups if it is going bad.