Bad motherboard or RAM?

[Gwen]

My Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Video Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro
Ram: 1 GB, Kingston

I am having major problems with my computer. Something is causing my hard disks to develop bad sectors. I replaced the power supply to an Antec NeoHE 500 watt and I bought a new surge protector. Now I am getting video display problems to point that I cannot do anything on my computer. The display is bad even on the startup screens and in BIOS. My registry started having problems and I received an error in Event Viewer that something was corrupt and to do LODCTR /r:filename.

I tried a different hard disk, video card, and monitor. I put in all new psu and SATA cables. I plugged the SATA cable into the second SATA port. I updated all drivers and the Intel chipset. I updated the BIOS, and reset CMOS and set BIOS to defaults. I swapped the RAM to different slots and I checked all the connections on my motherboard.

My motherboard is still under warranty and ASUS has advised me to run MemTest-86 to Pass 7, which I am doing right now. The display is a mess (black and blue vertical lines with some red boxes as well; the letter V is in the blue lines), but it looks like after Pass 6, it has no errors.

So what do you guys think is wrong with my computer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CrossFire851]

My Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Video Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro
Ram: 1 GB, Kingston

I am having major problems with my computer. Something is causing my hard disks to develop bad sectors. I replaced the power supply to an Antec NeoHE 500 watt and I bought a new surge protector. Now I am getting video display problems to point that I cannot do anything on my computer. The display is bad even on the startup screens and in BIOS. My registry started having problems and I received an error in Event Viewer that something was corrupt and to do LODCTR /r:filename.

I tried a different hard disk, video card, and monitor. I put in all new psu and SATA cables. I plugged the SATA cable into the second SATA port. I updated all drivers and the Intel chipset. I updated the BIOS, and reset CMOS and set BIOS to defaults. I swapped the RAM to different slots and I checked all the connections on my motherboard.

My motherboard is still under warranty and ASUS has advised me to run MemTest-86 to Pass 7, which I am doing right now. The display is a mess (black and blue vertical lines with some red boxes as well; the letter V is in the blue lines), but it looks like after Pass 6, it has no errors.

So what do you guys think is wrong with my computer?

Thanks in advance!

A surge protector will not help in this case

Have you tried to reseat the graphic card?

Have you tried just the minamal things to start the compter/?

Motherboard, Harddrive, one stick of RAM, Graphic Card?

Have you tried removing the motherboard and putting it on a none-condutive material?

 

[Tedster]

it sounds like you have a bad motherboard. RMA it.

 

[Gwen]

Have you tried to reseat the graphic card? Yes, many times.

Have you tried just the minamal things to start the compter? Motherboard, Harddrive, one stick of RAM, Graphic Card? I just tried this with one stick of RAM in the original first blue DIMM slot and I had the same graphics problem. I then removed that stick and moved it to the second DIMM slot that is black. I rebooted and I had no graphics problem, but my computer didn't recognize that I had a hard disk. I hooked up the floppy and rebooted with a boot up disk, but I couldn't get to the C drive. I received an error message that it was a bad drive. I hooked up the DVD drive and tried the SeaTools diagnostics to repair the hard drive (it has over 100 bad sectors). The diagnostic program runs for awhile and then locks up when it tries and resolves the bad sectors. Ugh...I am now giving up and I am going to try and RMA the motherboard.

Thanks for all your help guys!

 

[Gwen]

I installed a new motherboard and reinstalled everything. The computer ran fine until I played World of Warcraft for a couple of hours. I then had the same graphics problem. I already switched out the graphics card and had the same graphics problem on the other card. So it must be either the CPU or the RAM. Which one would cause bad sectors on a hard disk and graphics problems?

 

[Tedster]

sounds like a power supply issue.

 

[Gwen]

I replaced the power supply and motherboard, and I tried a different video card and monitor.

I think that it is weird that both sticks of memory have the same problem when I use them individually. However, I did fill out the RMA form for my memory and I am waiting for a response.

I talked to Intel and they said that they do not think it is my CPU. They said a bad processor usually doesn't cause disply corruption, but I should try another processor from another computer. I haven't done this because it is so difficult to get the heatsink fan off of them and I am afraid I will damage something.

Do you think it could be a bad electrical outlet? It is a 3 prong outlet, but it looks old and the house was built in 1969.

 

[Tedster]

bad outlet is a possibility.
you can get outlet checkers cheaply at any hardware store.
My parent's house was built in 1947 and has flakey outlets.

 

[benken2202001]

cool trick to get the heatsink off the processor, just get a standard 1" 1 sided razorblade and slide it right along the back of the heat sink. breaks the seal and the processor pops right off. don't even push hard at all.

odd thing is that he says it worked for a while after he installed a new mobo.. i'm wondering if there is some connection between the video card and the mobo. is it possible to fry a socket? perhaps he fried the same socket on both mobos?