My stationary computer (AMD dualcore 3800+) is becoming increasingly unstable after having served me well for about 4 years. I suspect either the motherboard or the graphicscard is dying.
About a month ago I replaced the powersupply. Everything was fine after that, until now, the problems are slowly coming back.
The computer is pretty stable most of the day actually, right now, but my prediction is that it won't last long. It freezes more and more often in WinXP for no good reason and I have to force a cold reboot. Sometimes I can't even get pass POST. This morning when I turned the computer on, I couldn't get pass POST and I had to try 4 times before Windows loaded up completely and I could move the mouse ... right now it works great.
I don't know what's your gut feeling about this, could it be the graphicscard? I rarely push my graphicscard to the limits at all, but there has been a few times recently (last year) when the computer locked up when I tried to play a HD movie. I ascribed that to power problems. I don't have that problem now.
But I'm on a low budget right now. I haven't found any friends yet who will lend me their PCI-express card. If the motherboard is failing ... then I guess I have to replace it and reinstall windows and all my software?
About a month ago I replaced the powersupply. Everything was fine after that, until now, the problems are slowly coming back.
The computer is pretty stable most of the day actually, right now, but my prediction is that it won't last long. It freezes more and more often in WinXP for no good reason and I have to force a cold reboot. Sometimes I can't even get pass POST. This morning when I turned the computer on, I couldn't get pass POST and I had to try 4 times before Windows loaded up completely and I could move the mouse ... right now it works great.
I don't know what's your gut feeling about this, could it be the graphicscard? I rarely push my graphicscard to the limits at all, but there has been a few times recently (last year) when the computer locked up when I tried to play a HD movie. I ascribed that to power problems. I don't have that problem now.
But I'm on a low budget right now. I haven't found any friends yet who will lend me their PCI-express card. If the motherboard is failing ... then I guess I have to replace it and reinstall windows and all my software?
