Windows 7: Computer locking up, but self-recovers after 20-30 seconds

Laptop/notebook is a Thinkpad T400 running Windows 7 64 bit.

This happens occasionally while playing MP3s from an external HD via USB hub using various software (Winamp, Sonique, Virtual DJ).

Recent changes include 120GB SSD, upgraded RAM from 1 stick of 1GB to 2 sticks (1GB+2GB), new usb hub.



I also followed some online tips for speeding up Windows 7 (google: how to speed up windows 7) and don't recall what all the changes that were made. No issues prior to this tho.

The program "sticks", sometimes the audio continues uninterrupted, sometimes it drops out. When it sticks, I can ALT+Tab and switch to different programs running and they still seem to be functioning and unaffected.

Suggestions?

Could be somthing is corrupted within windows,I would start by checking task manger which you can bring up by right clicking the windows bar and selecting task manger and seeing if anything is spiking the cpu usage while playing the music. Also you say it's when playing from a external hard drive. Does the same thing happen if you play the music directly from the main drive were windows is installed?Anyways I would scan windows for errors,start off by holding the windows key and pressing R at the same time.This should bring up the run window,in the run window type cmd to bring up command prompt. In cmd prompt type sfc /scannow , this should check windows for any broken files in the system and fix them.Then reboot after it finished fixing the files. Anyways like I said earlier I would start off by seeing what's happening in task manger and seeing you get the same problem when playing them off the main drive that windows is installed on.

Thanks for the tips!

In cmd after typing sfc /scannow I receive a message that states, "You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility. Went to Control Panel-->User Accounts and confirmed that I'm already running as admin. Any work around for this? *EDIT* Found better instructions here and ran scan successfully, "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them".

In task manager and resource manager it shows the CPU spiking and memory faults at 34 Hard Faults/Sec on Resource manager on something associated with AVG Free. Disabled AVG and no more fault there at least.

Ran some music from the OS HD and no issues that I could produce. Annoyingly, it's an intermittent fault, making it harder to trace. Now to troubleshoot the external HD and USB hub...

Hmm well at least we got somthing going here and since avg is causing problems I would suggest replacing it with mse or avast. They are both really good but i suggest trying mse as a replacement av.
Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

Now if i'm reading it correctly the main drive is playing the files correctly now and sfc found some corrupt files and repaired them now.Now all we need is to find out the issue when playing them off the external hds correct? What I would do is check that external hdd for errors by opening up cmd prompt and typeing chkdsk (insert drive letter here) /f example chkdsk y: /f

Should scan it for any further errors in the drive and attempt to fix them.

Ran chkdsk /f on external HD and found no errors.

Removed AVG and installed MSE.

System still hangs up, usually about 20 seconds or so, then resumes.

Any other ideas?

Update...Swapped out the USB hub for a new one. Thus far I have been unable to replicate the error. More testing in progress but so far so good...

That's good to hear hopefully this issue will be solved soon and find the culprit and see what was causing the issue all along.

Looks like the USB hub was the point of failure. Swapped it out and everything's running as it should now. Thanks for the continued assistance!