Please Please Help. Computer Crashing... seemingly random intervals.

[Ethired]

My girlfriends computer has been dead for about a week now and Ive tried almost everything I can think of. I will start off by explaining the problem.

The computer runs fine from anywhere from 30 seconds to 48 hours without crashing. When it does it is a total hardlock. No response from keyboard or mouse. Sometimes it freezes with no auditory or visual components. Sometimes it will loop music, other times it will fill the screen with vertical lines of a random color. Once it has crashed once, turning off and turning back on the computer is no help. It usually freezes within 30 seconds.

I tried several things to try and get the beast moving again. I reinstalled windows, updated to SP2, reinstalled all video/sound/directx drivers to no avail. I switched out pieces from my system to hers, including memory, and videocard. I reset the BIOS to defaults and it still is crashing. The only pieces that I havnt switched out are her motherboard and CPU. When I switched in my videocard and memory her system, and reset the BIOS her system ran fine the duration of the test (at least it seemed, like i said the error can happen at any time and it didnt happen when I had my hardware in her PC) So I had thought that I had fixed the problem with reseting the BIOS (I was also running her video/memory on my system with no errors or crashes). I put her hardware back in and it crashed again(possible hardware confliction but why didnt it show up 6 months ago instead of now). And this is the reason im smashing my head into my keyboard every night trying to figure this out.

There are 2 fans in the system so I dont "think" its an over heating problem but I might be wrong.

I came to this forum because alot of you had quite alot to say about others problems and you were very insightful. I hope that this is the case with my dillema o_O

Is it time for me to just break down and scrap the whole PC? Or is there a specific part(s) that can be replaced to fix the horrible error.

I apreciate any advice that you kind folks may offer to my situation and I thank any of you in advance for any insight into the problem that might put me a step closer to fixing it. It easier to ask for help then spend 2 weeks of pay on a new computer o_O

[Xpenetrator]

You did the right think by swapping hardware. The problem persists after a reboot and this is typical for an overheating problem. On the other hand, it sometimes freezes way too fast to be related to temperature...or does it? Is it really crashing 30 seconds after a real "cold" start? Have you checked the temps ? Even when the sensors show normal temperatures, weak RAM can go nuts when it's warm enough. Fans don't guarantee an optimal airflow only by their quantity. If it really crashes 30 seconds after a cold start, I would still bet on RAM or Northbridge from the symptoms you described.

it didnt happen when I had my hardware in her PC

Sounds like you found the problem already. Why don't you leave your stuff in there for a while (at least >48 hrs) to get sure? I would swap the memory again and leave it for a while. If the problem shows up again, same procedure with the video card.

It could help if you tell us what hardware is involved: Maybe she's got a ampere-eating video card and a weak power supply and you have a big PSU and a modest video card. (That would explain why swapping helps, too) The PSU is another item that comes into mind on random crashes...

[Ethired]

Well I dont know how but I managed to screw her computer up even further than I had before. I went to a local computer shop and the "tech" told me to upgrade the bios from the manufacturor website and I did. While it was updating I went AFK to grab a bite to eat and I came back and the PC was off. I was like o...k... mustve shut its self off when the bios was done. I turned on t he power button and I get nothing. No keyboard/video/HDD response at all. No POST data. So Im at the end of my rope. Im going to buy a new CPU/MoBo and new videocard. I dont think there is anything else I can do at this point.

I apreciate the response but alas I think there is no other solution.

My thanks.

-Jon

[Xpenetrator]

Sad to hear this. It's no good idea to flash a new BIOS file on a machine that's prone to crash due to hardware trouble, but now you know that, too...:sad: Buying a new CPU shouldn't be necessary at the moment (unless the CPU is too old to get it on a new Mobo) and maybe the new motherboard alone solves the problem already... Good luck!