hard-drive locks up on steam install

Well, my hard drive locks up when im installing steam games... or at least trying to... Also, it locks up when i use firefox to download a large file. I have formatted and replaced the motherboard. I also ahve logged the psu voltages and temps with th ASUS probe. Nothing seems out of order. The problem started after i moved my computer to a new case. Is the processor damaged? If so, why does it work perfectly when i rum BF2? The temps are all under 60 degrees Celcius under load, and i am running a pentuim 4 prescott HT clocked at 3ghz. It is not my hard drive to my knowledge (i swapped hard drives and nothing happened. all the rest of the info is in the everest log attatched, as i cant be sure of the accuracy of metelling you.

 

You have a 256 meg stick in dimm 2,have you installed this yourself from an older computer or bought new?If so as a quick fix try removing it and just run the gig you wont miss it

 

this is bought new, along with the corsair, but i'll rmeove it and see how it works, thanks ofr the quick reply

 

Steam = junk.... but i use it anyways ... Your HDD may be going on you.... Does it make the scratching noise?

 

nope, but it . Also, i ran the WD hard drive diagnostics and no problems appeared. So I htink that it could either be a)the power source b)the processor (i really hope not, it takes forever to actually get the replacement back...) or c) the ram, but for that i'll run a test with memtest. As for the power source, its an antec 350watt... I could test it with my other computer, but it would go down to a generic 280 watt, and i dont know how my computer owuld handle that...

 

ook well i got steam to install, but now, the computer randomly freezes, sometimes more than others, quite the annoyance...

 

what have you changed?

 

nothing, i just reinstalled steam and took out the 256 mb ram

 

well just did mentest, about 10 passes, its not the ram, doing a HDD full diagnostics now

 

no errors there, so i guess it has to be the processor or the psu

 

If it only does it with Steam then it wouldn't be the processor or psu, or your hard drive for that matter.

 

it's not only steam, it does it randomly too, it just happens every time with steam.

 

Yea... thing about that... We installed Steam-Down on my brothers computer (gives you all of them free... illigal may i remind you) well we installed it for a LAN party and it never started up all the way or kept freezing his pc... So we went out and bought the HL-1 Anthlogy for $5.. And installed the real steam from www.steampowered.com worked like a charm.. Of course if your installing the real steam... Try checking the Steam forums.

 

yeah, it's a legal copy, but i believe that the problem was that my psu couldnt provide enough power. I unplugged my video card (it automatically clocks down if theres no aux power, so it doesnt damage anything, and my computer doesnt freeze up. I suppose its up to 450 watts now, should be sufficient from 350 watts, and if its not the psu, then hey, its the video card, and i found my problem, for christmas im getting a 7800 anyhow...