XP-Pro crashing

I just built this puter and installed XP-Pro (XPP) with some of your help. Immediately I started having random crashes, i.e. completely freezes up. Most, if not all, have been when connected to the internet. In fact I can only remeber one or two when not on the internet. Both times I was clicking on an icon in the trask bar and got the fading problem described below. Yesterday had only one in 6 hours or so on the internet. Today had two several hours apart only on the internet. No mouse, no C-A-D, only thing that works is the reboot button. Powering off switch doesn't even work. Being on the internet may or may not be pertinent to the problem because the last few days I have been on the internet at least 90% of the time. After posting this I have had 2 freezes, both off the internet and when click something on the task bar, including Start.

One other thing I thought of is that my mouse is MS Intellipoint which is USB, and MS Internet Keyboard which is either PS2 or USB and I am running it off USB.Both of these were used on the old computer without any problem with them.

Running Outlook Express when first started but have installed and switched to Outlook 2000. Running IE 6. Works most of the time AOK but just suddenly freezes with no blue screen of death or any other error message. May only happen after 30 minutes but other times (most) it is after more than 1 hour or much more. Did a 2 hr. 45 min download Sat. and worked like a charm.

Have no other programs running at the same time except Norton and the regular XPP routines. Several times I was right clicking a task bar icon when it happened and it was like the pop up message was fading off the screen and froze about half way through disappearing and actually became transparent so that I could see things on the task bar behind it.

Been using 2 different ISP's so don't think it is anything they send me.

I did get a worm when I first started the machine and connected to get the recent MS security updates and Norton's newest virus definition database. I had missed the setting of the firewall in XPP when I set up the accounts so I guess someone penetrated me then. As soon as norton got the new definitions it immediately notified me of the worm. I deleted it using their removal tool. The worm had obvioully been working when I was doing the Big downloads from MS because I noticed in the net link status window that I had sent over 3 mb when I had only received a little over 1/2 mb and things were slow. It didn't dawn on my why I was sending so much out until Norton window popped up. Have ran several scans since removing it and everything seems to be OK. Been watching the network status bar very close and haven't seen anything but not outgoing traffic.

No, I didn't reinstall XPP clean after the worm. Had done that the day before. Have spent so much non-quality time doing the MS, Norton and miscellaneous program and driver updates it is something I really would like to avoid.

Now if anyone has figured out how to save the MS downloads vs letting them install I would be game to do the downloads and save them to CD so I would not have to spend so many hours downloading and installing again everytime I need to do a clean install. Seems like I vaguely remember being able to force them to save to disk for later install but that was several versions of windows ago and I don't know if it is possible now.

Don't think it is a heat related problem because the temps are all well within norms and when I reboot it always comes back on and doesn't crash for some time. Been watching the temps a lot with the new machine.

Have tried two different 56K win modems and have crashes no matter which one is in. XP recognises both modems and finds specific drivers for them. One is a Lucent and the other USR. One thing I did notice was it will install itself on COM 3, both of them unless I don't delete the other before rebooting. If I don't delete the one I am removing it will assign the real modem on reboot to COM 4. I do have one background program running called PowerChute that monitors the APC UPS 500. It connects to the onboard COM plug, COM ! is assigned to that port. I have run the System health or what ever it is called and looked into the device manager and I see nothing that XPP or Norton identifies as a conflict and everything says it is running OK.

I have a scanner that XPP recognises but can't find drivers for. Visioneer says they will not update it and offers an upgrade. The software refuses to load so that shouldn't be a cause factor. I disconnected the USB connector from the puter so don't see anything there related to this problem.

I have defragged a couple of times in the last few days and that doesn't seem to make any difference. Have checked all cables and seating of the Agp and Isa boards and memory.

Could this be some video card problem or what? I had been using the same video card in my old Dell computer without this problem but now it is in a new mobo and OS. I also had put ME on one of my old drives, this video card and modem and spent a lot of crashless time (about three days) on the Internet before XP and my new drive was installed. So the video card isn't high on my list as a fault unless XP doesn't like it.

Where would you guys recommend looking? Are there any diagnostics that you would recommend?

P.S. I live in the boonies so a high speed link is not in the offering and I wouldn't be complaining about slow 56K modem downloads. Satellite link is over $800 plus $70/mo. so that is not possible plus I have a bunch of big trees in the way.

Edited on 10-22-03 to add info on off line crashes and mouse and keyboard hardware.

 

Easiest answers first.
Take it apart and clean it, inspect all the slots, no dust allowed. Reassemble with arctic silver on the CPU heatsink. How good is the fit and finish? You may have an overheat that does not show up on your monitoring system.

How much power supply? With modern rigs 350 watt is minimal, do not over clock with 350 watts. 420 watts of Antec will give you some room for overclocking. If you are serious about a big overclock, get the Antec 550. We will probably get some noob posts about power supplies, usually "you do not need 550 watts" , but the Antec 550 is about the only power supply with enough push on the 5V side to be stable with a TEC and water cooling. CPU voltages can be pushed way up with good cooling. Too bad most of the 550's power is in 12 V and is not used.

What MB, BIOS rev, etc. What video card make and model - what drivers?

If things do not get better, and the rest of the hardware looks good. I would download SP1a for XP and burn it to a cd along with all your drivers. Look for the MS network install, not the updaters. Then a clean install with a minimal system, just the basics, no modem.