Toshiba x205-S7483 Temp Freeze Problem

Okay so obviously I have a Toshiba X205-S7483 laptop, year and a half old. The problem I am having is that from time to time, sometimes much more frequent than others Windows 7 will temporarily freeze. The freezes vary from single programs to the entire computer hard locking. I have tried and cannot narrow down what might be causing this problem as I have had lockups range from Firefox, to IRC, all the way to random games that I am playing.

When my computer freezes, the hard drive light will come on Solid for the entire duration of the freeze, and the freezes range from 30 seconds all the way up to 2-3 minutes.

What I've tried:

I have updated my Audio, video, Chipset, and Wireless drivers. I have checked Event viewer and saw an ATAPI error so i disabled my DVD drive only to find out that seemingly the ATAPI error happen at completely separate times. I know it's not faulty hardware because I have had this problem with EVERY single build I've tried EXCEPT for the original 7000 build. Any time I down grade back to 7000 I have no problems.

Any suggestions? Oh and PS, I have the same problem on a friend's laptop that is the same make and model as mine.

Heyah. I was searching the web quite a bit to find a topic about this problem, as I have it to on my Toshiba a200. It's exactly as you described, the system just freezes for a short period, during which I can move my pointer, the win7 visual effects are working, but can't start or quit any applications and depending on the scale of the lockup, can use some currently running apps, or in the worst case scenario can't do anything. I checked the system log, but I found no trace of any kind of recorded error causing the problem. I don't recall it happening at all during the first few days of using the OS, but then suddenly it just started. I can't think of anything I might've installed/updated that could've caused it.

Would deeply appreciate any help as my exams are drawing near and all my study aids are on my laptop XD