Damned Windows 7!

I purchased a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium a while ago and installed it. I kept Windows XP on the pc and had the option at start up of which operating system I would like at start up. Everything was running fine for quite some time until about 2 weeks ago. The system started to "freeze"....unable to do anything! The hard disk light was now showing as constantly on. The only thing to do was turn it off and restart. It didn't matter whether I was using windows 7 or XP.
Eventually I decided to do a clean re-install of Windows 7. The installation kept "freezing" at various points and eventually installed after about 5 attempts. I have installed NO programs, internet, peripherals or anything, so the systems is just "as is" after a clean reinstall but the system STILL freezes after various amounts of time....sometimes 5 minutes...sometimes as long as 30 minutes.I am only playing the in-build solitaire or Freecell to "test" how long till it freezes! Usually now tho the hard drive light is not constantly on when it freezes! Does anybody have any idea how to resolve this. I (foolishly!) thought that doing a clean install would sort everything as the hard drive is formatted at the beginning of the installation.
I took a print out of the system details and installed programs (eventually!) using Belarc Advisor before reinstalling.
Many thanks in advance
Steve

Do the same problems exist in the XP side of your setup?

If so, it would suggest a hardware issue
If not, it would suggest software

It will help determine the course of action.

edit:
damn your fast fingers Golden

Test your RAM using memtest86 CD for 5-6 passes or overnight.

Next test your HD using maker's diag/repair full CD scan: Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp. followed by Disk Check. Back up your files first.

If your hardware comes up clean try these other troubleshooting steps: Computer lags every couple seconds

I would wipe the HD to clean reinstall following these tips to get a perfect install: re-install windows 7

XP programs can be made to run in Compatibility Mode or use Virtual Box or Virtual Player. Or reinstall XPired on a separate HD booted via BIOS.

Hi Golden (and Gregrocker too!)
Firstly, thank you both for posting back. I have downloaded the crystalmark program and am gonna try that first. Will advise on here the outcome of that. I DO indeed get exacly the same problem(s) when booting into XP too! :-(

Gregrocker - Will download the memtest86 that you mentioned and will advise on results of that too. Am hoping it's NOT gonna end up being either of the Hard Drives. They were BOTH purchased and are not that old.

My hard drives are both ST350063 0AS SCSI drives and are 500gb each (Seagate Barracudas?)##Again many thanks guys and will advise results on here

Steve

Hi again Golden,

Downloaded the Crystal disk software. It scanned bth hard drives and said they were good and temperature ot them was fine. You said to post back the results so you could have a look.
Erm.....how do I do this to you? :-(

Hi Gregrocker,
Re:memtest86 you suggested downloading. The floppy drive I have will format but not write to.....so guess thats broken (not that I ever used it anyways!....until now that is!)
Read the instructions about making an ISO file on to a cd and doing it that way. Got totally confused on that I'm afraid to say :-(

Download memtest86 to desktop. Left click on it to burn to CD with Windows Image Burner. Reboot computer to run it.