Hi all,

My PC has been giving me problems for a while now ever since the PSU blew up and took the mobo with it a couple of months ago. Replaced them both and ever since the PC has crashed during many programs (especially mpeg encoding)and thrown up BSODs agogo.

Just replaced the graphics card, mobo (again) and memory and done a clean install of xp pro and although those problems seem to have disappeared, now the PC will restart for seemingly no reason (no BSOD i can see, just restarts randomly). Since my most recent upgrades, games (GTA:SA and Far Cry) will freeze (no sound, graphics stop and no response from mouse or k/b) for a few seconds and then continue normally. They also sometimes just crash back to desktop or throw up a "critical exception" error box. Doom3 displays similar crashes often during level loading but doesn't seem to suffer from the freezing. As I say, the problems seem completely random. A friend came to visit me for a couple of days (1st-3rd) and we played games, watched films etc with not a single problem, then I've had loads in the last couple of days and today only a couple.

I've tried changing the graphics drivers (tried 71.89, 76.45 and 77.72), tried a different HD, retried my old graphics card and moved the new memory to different slots and the problems persist.

I've built a system for a friend using the same mobo, RAM and OS and he has no probs. Can someone please help me out with this problem as it's VERY annoying.

Many thanks
El Bubsio

System specs -
ASUS A7V8X-X mobo (replacing ASRock K7VT4A+) (VIA 4in1 4.56 drivers)
Athlon XP 3000+ (barton)
512MB RAM (new) and 2x256MB (old, not sure if damaged or not)
160GB Seagate HD (new IDE cable and VIA IDE accelerator drivers installed)
ASUS N6600GT TOP graphics card (drivers tried as above)
Onboard SoundMAx Sound
Conexant ADSL PCI modem (currently in PCI slot 6)
NEC 3520A DVD writer
JeanTech Phong case (2x120mm fans)
520W Super Flower PSU (20a on 12v+ rail)
Windows XP pro with SP1 and all updates)

I can find error files in event viewer but which ones should i post here (there's a lot - about 50 in the last 3 days)

Update!!

Hmmm, Last night I left memtest running and it found 27 errors in a single pass. I'm guessing it's time to RMA the RAM.

Ho-hum

In regards to the random restarts, they may be BSODs and you just dont know it. XP by default is set to automatically restart on crashes so many times a BSOD will be missed due to this. If it keeps happening i would suggest turning off the auto restart feature so that you can see what the BSOD says and hopefully that will shed some light on your problem. To disable that feature right click on My Computer and click on the advanced tab. Then in the startup and recovery box click the settings button. Then in the System Failure box, uncheck Automatically Restart. Now you should be able to see BSODs if/when they occur.
-Lalaji

Exxxccellent!!

Cheers for the advice mate. I thought I'd already done that setting, but on checking you were right, i still had auto restart turned on

Hopefully now I've taken the dodgy RAM (got 27 errors in memtest and a whopping 2200 errors with ram tester ) the problems should be over. I'll be back if they're not :bounce:

Glad to help. I hope the Ram was the culprit so that now you should be fine. I hope everything works out!
-Lalaji