Computer keeps freezing or going to BSOD

[WMA]

Recently, as in the past few weeks, maybe even month or two, my computer has began crashing. Sometimes it gets a BSOD, but the majority of the time it just completely freezes, as in the image that was on the screen stays there, but the keyboard and mouse don't respond e.g. the capslock key doesnt turn on etc.

Usually when this happens, and I attempt to restart, it boots up to the bit where it says "Checking RAM" then pauses for a long time after it checks the RAM and doesn't really detect any of my HDD's or CD drives, e.g. it says SATA_None for the first bit [I forget what it says exactly] and SATA_none for the second one, whereas usually it has SATA_bunch of information etc.

I thought it was a problem with the IDE Cable, so I bought a new one, and replaced the one for the CD drive, but it just froze again last night. It didn't restart this morning, and when I unplugged the CD Drive IDE it detected the HDD's, even though, as far as I can tell, they run independantly of each other.

In eventvwr.msc I find I have a lot of these errors all around the time of the crashes:

Date: 21/1/06 Source: System Error
Time: 9:56:13 AM Category: (102)
Type: Error Event ID: 1003
User: N/A
Computer: ROBERT

Description:
Error code 000000d1, parameter1 00000404, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 f7687573.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Could this be cauesd by a faulty CD Drive? IDE slot/port/whatever on the Mobo? Would any of these problems fit the symptoms I've described? Thanks

 

[WMA]

Ok, sorry for not posting it before, as the thought didn't occur to me at the time:

Comp stats:
NVidia 6600GT 256MB Graphics Card
Onboard Sound [Soundblaster. Not sure of the exact make?]
2 * 1 Gig DDRRam PC-3200
Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz [Not sure of the "brand", sorry]
One IDE HDD, and one SATA HDD [I think that's what I have anyway]
a DVD/CD Burner
450W PSU

There have been a few changes recently. The computer was overheating, and getting crashes, but the fan was just clogged with dust, but I took it to the comp store to get it checked out anyway, they went over it again, said it was fine, and I also got another 2 512 sticks of ram [at the time I had 2 512 sticks of ram, so now I had a total of 4 *512]

Upon getting it home, the computer locked on a "fuzzy" black and white screen on boot up. I took the side off and took the Video card out and put it back in. It worked.

Over the next few days I got various errors, such as the RAM playing up, the Video Card buggering up, and the HDD and CD Drives not being detected [The CD Drives and HDD error occured at the same time. I.e. it never just didnt detect one. It was both or nothing, even though all three are connected seperately]

I took it back to the shop, they claimed the Vid card was overheating, and that the hdd wasnt plugged in properly. They replaced the Video card with the 6600GT.

Got it home, and soon it started crashing again, but this time it was just the HDD and CD not being detected, and each time it seemed the cable from the CD Drive to the port on the computer had to be unplugged and replugged.

Then I got an error about the Nvidia Display driver. I updated the video drivers, and to the best of my knowledge, the card is now working.

A few days ago I got a new IDE cable for the CD Drive. I plugged it in, and from the 17 until the 21st [Last night] It worked fine. Then it froze. No BSOD. Upon restart it detected neither of the HDD's nor the CD Drive. The next morning [I decided to leave it for the night] I unplugged the CD Drive, and didnt touch anything else, it started ok. I plugged in the CD drive again, it started.

Then this afternoon it froze again. No warning/error message at all. Just locked up, keyboard wouldn't respond [couldnt turn on capslock etc] and the mouse wouldnt move. Totally frozen and again no BSOD. I restarted
Almost immediately after it froze again. I replugged the CD Drive and now its working ok, but I have a feeling its only a matter of time.

My question now I guess is, is it reasonable to assum the CD Drive is buggered, based on the error message above? Or is it the mobo? Or something totally unrelated? Thanks.

Btw, I just noticed that the earliest minidump file is dated 29th December. It appears the later errors have not got minidump files created?

 

[xero]

your minidump analysis

I have had a quick check on your minidump files and came to the following;

You have had multiple, but different crashes with different causes.

vax347b.sys caused a trap error EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at "0x%08lx" referenced memory at "0x%08lx". The memory could not be "%s".

Other trap errors, all related to drivers (possibly memory related, did you test memory?).

Remove audio card (when onboard, disable it in the bios), swap in an old videocard (or boot into vga safe mode). Try if errors still occur in this vid/audio less mode.

If yes:
Set bios options regarding to memory to default settings.
Disable video bios and system bios caching.

When the fault reoccurs, i will examine the rest of the dump files and help you out. Let me know.

Good Luck,

Best regards Xero