Why is my pc so unstable?

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Farquaon

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Okay, my pc is unstable. I just cant find the fault. I have formatted, installed fans, and this and that, but i just can't get it right. It crashes and it also reboots. 99.9% of the time its when im doing cpu intensive tasks like converting from ogg to mp3, playing games like NFSU2 and the likes.

Here is my rig:

P4 3.2Ghz Prescott
512MB RAM
MSI 865G Neo2-LS MB
Coolermaster CM Stacker
500W PSU
Winfast A340 Gfx Card
2 additional fans at the rear bottom of the case
Coolermaster Cross Flow Fan for the case
Gigabyte 3D CPU Cooler fan
200GB SATA HDD
160GB SATA HDD
60GB IDE HDD
LG DVD-Writer
1 Blue Cathode Light (Cold)
Windows XP MCE 2005 with the latest patches
Drivers for all hardware are up to date, and bios is patched with latest version.

3D Cooler CPU
MSI Motherboard
Coolermaster Cross Flow Fan
Winfast A340 Card
Coolermaster CMStacker

Could anybody help me please, im going nuts. Im using arctic silver premium as the thermal paste, and i did apply it according to the requirements.
The coolermaster case has 3 default fans, and i have the window panel on mine.
 
Download Memtest86, boot up from it and give your box's memory chips a good workout. Sounds like you have a flaky chip somewhere, but this tool will help confirm it.

Also, what error message does it give when it bluescreens? If it reboots before you can read it, change it in Control Panel - System so that it will halt, not reboot, on a BSOD.
 
K, i will run memtest and ill also see what it says if it gives a BSOD
 
Well i had a very similar problem... So a few min as soon as the CPU got into gear it would blue screen.

Long story short after i got all the components replaced it turned out the not one but two components in the PC were faulty ie the RAM and the motherboard...

Hope that helps...

Oh and microsoft have a nice little dos based memory tester for testing ur ram...

It also helps to have a second PC to test each individual component in another PC is u got a friend thats willing to put up with ur experiments.
 
Have you tried switching off the dynamic overclocking on the MSI board from the bios?
 
I had lots of blue screens and my problem was caused by my ram speed settings in the bios being set too high. Check your bios ram speed settings if it has any and make sure it's set to regular speed and not 'super turbo' or whatever... ;)
 
Check your processor with a diagnostics program.

If your CPU overheat once, you will have problems later on. The CPU is also
very sensitive when mounting the big fans, so the die could have been damaged.
 
Okay, i have run memtest68, when i left home this morning it had been running for almost 12 hours, and it passed 68 tests and failed 0.

So, is it safe to say the RAM is fine?

I will disable the restart automatically toninght, i left memtest to run thus not being able to use my pc. The i will make it crash, and report back.
 
Scooby_Doo said:
Well i had a very similar problem... So a few min as soon as the CPU got into gear it would blue screen.

Long story short after i got all the components replaced it turned out the not one but two components in the PC were faulty ie the RAM and the motherboard...

Hope that helps...

Oh and microsoft have a nice little dos based memory tester for testing ur ram...

It also helps to have a second PC to test each individual component in another PC is u got a friend thats willing to put up with ur experiments.
Click to expand...

The problem is that my friend has a motherboard, which i also had the same one until the other day, which did not support the prescott 3.2GHz, but everything else. Just luck of the draw, so i could not have tested it. I dont wanna buy a new mb, cause i wanna go 775 and not 478 when i do change.
 
gkm said:
Have you tried switching off the dynamic overclocking on the MSI board from the bios?
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, but i have not seen this function in the bios, i shall try that tonight too.
 
infoseeker said:
Check for dust buildup in your CPU heatsink!
Click to expand...

I did clean it a while ago, took a paintbrush and took everything apart and cleaned the crap out of everything, the dishwasher gave the motherboard a nice sparkly Mr. Min look. :D (j/k)

But it has been cleaned.
 
Depending on the bios, you can sometimes press CTRL+F1 to get more advanced options.
 
im running a 2ghz(celeron) on a Asus p4v533 mboard. 512+256=768mb ram (400mhz) 4x agp with gf fx5500(8x agp) waht would be the best setting for optimal performance on this pC
 
Farquaon said:
Believe it or not, but i have not seen this function in the bios, i shall try that tonight too.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the menu items on the right hand side of the bios menu? From the web site, it looks like your motherboard has D.O.T., so it should be there and it is enabled by default on my MSI 875, so will probably be enabled on your motherboard as well. If one of you components cannot take the overclocking that happens when the CPU hits full load, the system will go splat.

The fact that it only happens when the CPU is at full load makes me suspect D.O.T.
 
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