sixtimes

So, a few months ago, my desktop running Vista SP1 started giving me this message asking me to INSERT SYSTEM DISK or telling me about a HARD DISK FAILURE. Now, I pulled the HD out of the chassis and plugged it into an external case, and it still worked, but I figured it was a bum HD on its last legs and I might as well buy a new one just to be safe, to avoid massive data loss. I replace it, install Vista again, and all is fine.

A few weeks later, I start to get the same problems again on the new HD, and I guess it's something I'm doing with software. The PC starts crashing more and more frequently. I try to reinstall Vista, only to have it crash in the middle of install and totally screw up the file system, making my data inaccessible. I format the drive and decide this time I'll try running Ubuntu 8.04 (and then later, 8.10) to see if that solves any of my problems. For a while, it does. I install Vista on another partition, just in case, but I rarely ever use it (preferring to stick to my laptop for my MS needs). Soon enough, I start getting graphical glitches on my system, applications start crashing at the drop of a pin, the system freezes up after being on for no more than an hour, and the sound output starts giving me grief. Somehow, I get it into my head that the PC could be overheating - so I try pulling out the graphics card and using the onboard graphics chip. This stops it from freezing hourly, but it still freezes after a day or so of usage. My logic is that because the graphics card is out and less heat is being produced, so I'm getting less crashes, it must be an overheating issue.

Because I really would rather have my graphics card (GeForce 7600GT) inside the computer rather than outside it, I purchase an extra fan to go inside it. It works perfectly for a week or so - and then, shortly thereafter, I start having the same problems again - graphical glitches, intermittent (though less frequent) crashes, applications cutting out, and sound problems.

This is a weird problem in that everything I try fixes the problem temporarily until it eventually deteriorates again. Is this power supply related, or would it fall under some other category?

grimx133

Check your temperatures and voltages in your bios. It will be in a PC health section, or similar wording. You can also use speedfan, though windows based monitoring utilities are not as accurate and can be misleading. The bios is considered the most accurate measurement. Write down all the voltages and temperatures you can get, and while you're at it, what are your other specs, motherboard make and model, cpu, etc., but most importantly, what power supply. Take a look at the label on the side and get the manufacturer, model, wattage and the output in amps for the +3.3, +5, and +12 voltages.

dai

what are you running
video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
wattage

check the listings in the bios for voltages and tempretures and post them

try a new data cable on the drive