Strange Problem

[Darken]

I'm having this problem in Planetside, it happens every time I play. My framerate which usually resides between 25-60 goes down to about .2 FPS, then it will run fine for a random period usually between 10s and 1 minute and freeze up again. The problem is especially bad when I respawn, often I cannot even get more then 3 steps because the fps is so bad.

My system specs are:
Athlon 2000+
Geforece Ti4200 128
512 pc2300 ram

I have also noticed lately I cant even get into CS, like it wont even reach the starting menu, I will double click the icon and it will go hourglass for a sec then cease to exist.

thx in advance.

[1024]

What kinda connection?

[Darken]

I have cable, but the connection isn't the problem.
This weird pausing problem is happening in all my games, even ones that shouldn't even begin to tax my system like Falcon 4.0.
The pausing is completely random.

[WickedDeus]

Whats your OS?