[Lydokane]

Specs:
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
CPU: AMD Socket A Barton 3200+ (2.2 GHz @ 400MHz FSB)
RAM: 1Gb PC3200 (Kingston)
HDD: 500Gb SATA (Seagate)
OS: WinXP/SP2
No Overclocking


Symptoms:

Several months back I started getting bluescreens and random shutdowns. I have a ghost image of my HDD from when I first installed WinXP/SP2 (i.e. fresh install of WinXP with now other apps). I ghosted back to a fresh WinXP install and was still getting random BSOD and/or shutdown. I opened the case and found a LOT of dust. I blasted dust with canned air. I paid special attention to heatsink/fan as well as video card, RAM and PSU. Computer worked great for about four weeks.

One day I was surfing the net and the computer hung up. I couldn't do a proper shutdown so I just flipped the switch on the PSU. I waited a few minutes then tried to restart. It would boot up to the windows logo with the blue "knight rider" bar and stop there. I shut it down again and restarted. When I restarted I was given the option to go to safe mode. I went into safe mode and the PC booted. I didn't make any changes. I shut down properly then restarted and got into normal windows. All this happened a couple times over the course of a couple weeks. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing; surfing the net, watching a video, or playing MP3.

I am now at the point where I am having great difficulty getting into normal windows. At my next opportunity I am going to re-load the ghost image and see if that fixes the problem. I am hoping a windows file got corrupted sometime AFTER the last time I went back to a fresh windows install.

If going back to a fresh windows install doesn't correct the problem the next obvious step is a hardware issue. Do these symptoms sound more like a motherboard issue or a CPU issue? I am also aware that it could be the HDD and will run scandisk if necessary. Is there any way to test either the motherboard and/or CPU without actually buying a new one of each?

Thanks,

Lydokane

 

[twajetmech]

Hello, you didn't memtion what psu you have. Definitely run scandisk to eliminate the HD as the issue....use the HD mfg's diagnostic tools (find them on their repective websites) Otherwise, I would suspect three things, overheating, bad memory, or bad psu. If the computer is overheating, try runing ther computer with the side off and a fan blowing into it....if you no longer get the bsod then you know that's it. Then blow out everything really well, and consider a better heatsink, redo the thermal compound using AS-5 and higher cfm case fans to improve airflow. If the case has a filter, make sure that is clean as well. For bad memory, take out one module and run the computer, see how it works, then swap with the other module and see what happens. For a bad psu, monitor the temps and voltages using Asus PC Probe or the bios and see if they are stable and within limits. Post back what you find.

 

[Done_Fishin]

I didn't note that he has run a disk check, the problem could just as easily be corrupted disk space or even memory failure.

Try right clicking on your drive label, select properties , tools, then error checking. Select the two boxes before clicking OK. you'll be asked if yoy want to scedule a check when you next boot. Click OK.
SAve or close all applications that you are running, then shut down & restart in order to run the test.
also grab a copy of the floppy or CD version of memtest86 found at www.memtest86.com. create a Floppy or a CD and boot (by selecting the device from the start up menu, next time you power on) from whatever you created. leave the rest a few hours to run unless you see immediate errors.

 

[bgh378888]

Specs:
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
CPU: AMD Socket A Barton 3200+ (2.2 GHz @ 400MHz FSB)
RAM: 1Gb PC3200 (Kingston)
HDD: 500Gb SATA (Seagate)
OS: WinXP/SP2
No Overclocking


Symptoms:

Several months back I started getting bluescreens and random shutdowns. I have a ghost image of my HDD from when I first installed WinXP/SP2 (i.e. fresh install of WinXP with now other apps). I ghosted back to a fresh WinXP install and was still getting random BSOD and/or shutdown. I opened the case and found a LOT of dust. I blasted dust with canned air. I paid special attention to heatsink/fan as well as video card, RAM and PSU. Computer worked great for about four weeks.

One day I was surfing the net and the computer hung up. I couldn't do a proper shutdown so I just flipped the switch on the PSU. I waited a few minutes then tried to restart. It would boot up to the windows logo with the blue "knight rider" bar and stop there. I shut it down again and restarted. When I restarted I was given the option to go to safe mode. I went into safe mode and the PC booted. I didn't make any changes. I shut down properly then restarted and got into normal windows. All this happened a couple times over the course of a couple weeks. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing; surfing the net, watching a video, or playing MP3.

I am now at the point where I am having great difficulty getting into normal windows. At my next opportunity I am going to re-load the ghost image and see if that fixes the problem. I am hoping a windows file got corrupted sometime AFTER the last time I went back to a fresh windows install.

If going back to a fresh windows install doesn't correct the problem the next obvious step is a hardware issue. Do these symptoms sound more like a motherboard issue or a CPU issue? I am also aware that it could be the HDD and will run scandisk if necessary. Is there any way to test either the motherboard and/or CPU without actually buying a new one of each?

Thanks,

Lydokane

 

[bgh378888]

It not your mother board,nor harddrive. Windows XP will not support your raid drivers any more. I had the same proble ansd switch to an ide. Morsoft has companies who pay for driver that MSN will accept on their OS. Companies who do not pay runs into the OS rejecting drivers as windows proforms it"s updates. This right from Microsoft.

 

[Done_Fishin]

Thanks for that extra info .. unfortunately it would seem that the original poster never came back after his question in September 2006 to tell us what happened with this problem .. It's highly unlikely that it's an active problem now and I will close this thread to stop it being resurrected sometime in the future ..

if someone wants it reopened then just give us a shout ..