The problems do NOT stop coming. Please help

Let me give a recall to anyone trying to help.

First - About a month ago computer started freezing every once in awhile, nothing major, but somewhat constant.
Next- Was getting more and more frequent till it was every half hour or so.
Next- Came to some sites including this but there was no problem really pinpointed, and no one knew for sure what could be causing it other then a stab in the dark
Next- Reinstall windows...could be a good old windows error
Next- Freezing continues, but not as bad, at first. Within a week its back to its constant freezing
Next- Wake up to a dead computer. Will not boot at all. Look up the beep code and it is DRAM. Move the ram around, and make sure clips are COMPLETLY closed.
Next- ITS BOOTS! but freezes after loading an account and BEFORE it gets to safemode (rules out windows, no?)

And now here we are. I have a booting computer now, but not a usable one. Im stuck.... honestly i am, i have no idea what the problem could be. I dont want to just start replacing partsobviously because thats alot of wasted money. I dont know what to buy first, because its obviously a hardware problem.

If anyone could help me either rule certain things out, or figure out what the problem is, it would be MUCH apreciated. Im really out ideas..

-Steve

 

Probably Hardware issue. It could be RAM, PSU, MB, CPU, HDD, heat, or combination of things.
How old is your PC? if you do not have any problem going into POST screen, you should first check RAM and HDD. Thing is, only way to check this is to use other working parts. Do you have spare parts that are working for sure?
I've came across this problem many times with my customers' PCs, and it is always different reasons.

 

I'm with TimW on this one steve_f. If the ram was bad, it'd be extremely difficult to pass the POST. I'd favour swapping out the power supply because it seems to be failing just as your video GPU is given a little work to do.

 

only problem with swapping things is this-

The computer is a custom build, pretty top of the line stuff a year and a half ago. However, all my other computers are 5+ years old, and would have no useable parts. There powersupplys are 200w were the problem computer is 480W. Im going to check the wattage through BIOS, what is the normal?

Hard drive- my computer is set up for SATA and when i try to replace it with an IDE i have it wont boot, and i believe i would have to set up RAIDarray to do so.

So if you could pick one thing to replace, with best odds of it being the problem, what would it be?

 

You said when posting your system beep code's suggest RAM.
I know this may sound weird, Butt I would test the memory!

I'd try two three things first
#1 reset CMOS, this will return your system BIOS to it default settings.
#2 if your system will boot after CMOS reset then run memory test.
#3 try to boot using one stick of memory, if you have more than one stick of memory it's unlikely all went to pot at the same time.

You can test your PSU with a multimeter, ah, what brand/model is it?

You might post all your system specs, this can usually help diagnose problems

Custom Build 1 1/2yr ago?, I custom built the system I'm using & most all of my hardware has between 3 to 5 yr Warranty

 

"LOL"
At least now we have the problem narrowed down to something within the case

 

I did i moved the sticks around and relized that one clip seemed to be farther out then the others by a hair, which i think was the problem. It boots now, and recognizes all the ram, but that was all prior to this thread, and it still freezes like crazy. If it boots and shows all my ram working how else can i "test" is to make sure its 100% good to go.

Whats a multimeter?

Specs

Antec Trueblue 480W PSU
ATI Radion 9800 Pro 256mb Video card
AMD 64bit 3000+ processor
Gigabyte K8NS pro Motherboard
80 Gig Maxtor SATA harddrive

haha

 

Whats a multimeter:
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/p...a-multimeter-how-to-use-it-to-test-75111.html

How to test PSU voltages with a Multimeter, includes Pics:
http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt.html
another:
http://www.driverheaven.net/guides/testingPSU/

Have you run any memory testing utilities?

Freeze up's can also be heat related, what's your temps?
Is the interior of your case clean? Dust can cause problems.

 

Is it possible for us to see your CMOS voltages? Here are my voltages found under the Hardware Monitor tab.

Hardware Monitor
------------------
CPU Temperature [44ºC/111ºF]
MB Temperature [26ºC/78.5ºF]
Power Temperature N/A

Q-Fan Control [Enabled]
Fan Speed Ratio [11/16]

CPU Fan Speed [2020RPM]
Chassis Fan Speed N/A
Power Fan Speed [1467RPM]

VCORE Voltage [1.536V]
3.3V Voltage [3.264V]
5V Voltage [4.999V]
12V Voltage 12.038V]

As you can see, I'm running a very tame, cool running Intel P4-2.6 Mhz. CPU.

 

Puhahah!
guess you're gonna suggest to test the HDD and CPU next?