Something not right with my PC...

[Topha]

... but I dont know what it is. It has been running perfectly for about half a year, and the last few weeks I hardly turned it off at all. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, it started crashing whenever I turned it on after it had been shut down for a while. But that wasnt so bad, because it would just restart as if I had hit the reset button, and then it would work again until the next time i turned it off.

I put this down to the power supply and was just waiting for the end of the month to get a new one (money reasons ), when the computer just started reseting itself every few minutes, so I couldnt work with it at all. I called a pc store, and asked them what the problem might be, and they said it was either windows, the Power Supply or the mainboard, maybe somehing else (that information did not help me very much though ).

I decided to just do a clean winXP install, because that would rule out the windows problem and the power supply problem. First try it showed me one of those blue "critical error, windows has been shut down so you computer wont be damaged" windows.

Just to try something else I reset the bios to default and tried again, and after 2 more tries I got windows up and running again, and for about an hour after the installation was complete, things seemed fine, until it started crashing again.

So I know it wasnt a windows error, it probably isnt my video or audio card, and if the CPU would be broken, it probably would work at all. my guess is that its either the mainboard or the powersupply, but it might be something else. if anyone has an idea what it might be, please let me know

[ayoub_ibrahim]

just a thought but when was the last time you did a spring cleaning in your case.
heat build up due to dust accumulation can give you strange symptoms!

[Topha]

checked that, too, its not the heat, it showed me 39 cpu and 34 system temp in the bios.

Here are the system specs btw:

athlonxp 2600+
512 ram
via kt266a mobo (MSI)
radeon 8500DV
audigy 1

[Technoid]

1.check the caps!
2.check the PSU!
3. run memtest

[Topha]

Originally posted by Technoid
1.check the caps!

caps?

[Wulfman]

elkos, elektrolytkondensatoren.

the "barrel"-shaped things.

mfg
wulfman

[Rigel]

Clean out the dust from the PS with canned air or a vacumcleaner.

[Topha]

Ill try that and check the caps once I get home.

[K6-III]

Yup, also sounds like a case of bad capacitors to me...

[Topha]

so if the caps are bad I need a new mobo, right?

I would probably go with a Sis chipset because of the price. should i go with elitgroup or with gigabyte?

[The PIT]

Doesn't this sound familar. You haven't stolen my other pc have you I'll just look. Nope still there but awaiting spares. Funny MSI board as well

1) Memtest run that first as it the easiest.

2) Check your voltages 3.3 and 5v line is very important for AMD I believe. Better if you use a meter rather than software. If you beleive try me different software and they'll all give you different values. Of course if theres large voltage swings like in my case this will show on any software as long as the update period is quick enougth. So try any psu.

3) Remove other hardware and try another video card.

If still no go you're left with either a faulty Mboard or a faulty cpu. Which is my case at the moment.

[Kurt]

have you checked for the blaster worm as well (msblast.exe in windows folder)?

[High_Jumbllama]

Check/replace the drive cables.

[TransformX]

Quick reference:

Stage one (software):
Scandisk
Virus/Worm/Hacker scan

Stage 2 (soft-hardware):
memtest
cables (disconnect - reconnect)
memory modules (take them out, clean connectors using soft eraser)

Stage 3 (hardware - sfotware):
Choose between:
1. compeltely disassemling your computer, cleaning up everything and re-assembling it.
2. fresh install of EVERYTHING
3. Both

[Topha]

Thanks to everyone who posted here, it was the mainboard though, had to replace it