Troubleshooting Disaster

[chron]

Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to view my problem. I'll keep things as brief as possible.

My system:
P5W DH Deluxe, E6600, G.Skill DDR2-800, X1950XT 512MB, OCZ 700W GamerXStream, 1x80GB SATA, 1x320GB SATA

My problem:
Computer freezes (locks up) after detection of IDE drives then reboots.
If the computer makes it past the IDE detection then the windows load screen freezes (locks up) and reboots.
If I make it into windows, the computer might work fine for a while, then lock up and reboot.
Please keep in mind; I see no pattern to the crashes.

What I have done so far:
I reset CMOS.
I removed all cards I didn't need to boot (sound, TV tuner)
I have disconnected both hard drives in order to boot from CD and reflash bios.
I have tried flashing the bios (system locks up before bios flash can start)
I have replaced the PSU from a 500W to a 700W.
I have downclocked the CPU from 266MHz fsb to 150MHz fsb.
I set RAM timings to SPD, set voltage to 2.2, set speed to 200MHz (50% decrease.)
Put in two sticks of ballistix DDR2-667 but computer did not post (incompatible?)
No noticable difference in symptoms after any of these actions!

What may have caused it:
I recently updated the P5W's bios to 1901. There were no issues at first.
While downloading a call of juarez patch in the background via a torrent, I opened up a large video file (episode of futurama.) The computer automatically rebooted itself the moment I opened the video file. Symptoms started immediately upon restart.

My personal suspicions:
I think the bios may be corrupt or messing up the system, or perhaps the motherboard is just faulty in some way.

The hard drive is making no concernable noise, and has always operated at a safe temperature, but when I connect the hard drives to different SATA connections, it seems to help it get past the "IDE Detection" step (but again, keep in mind that diconnecting both drives resulted in the same sort of lockups.)

I don't suspect CPU or RAM as the same symptoms occur no matter what voltage/speed they are at. (Plus, the cpu is fairly new. About a month.)

PLEASE HELP!

 

[WorldIndustries]

What happens when you have no Hard drive/boot devices connected at all?

Try booting a bootable CD without the hard drive connected...

 

[chron]

With no hard drives connected it gives the same issues (random lockups at IDE detection.) If I do get past POST and boot from a CD (say the norton CD or windows CD) it will randomly lock up. Almost like some operations freeze the system, while others slip by.

Could it be that my first PSU did fail, but when it rebooted it damaged a componant of the motherboard?

Heres the real question; I've heard of "hot flashing" where you take out the bios chip while the computer is on, so is it safe to assume that once the computer gets past post and starts to load windows that it is no longer a major effect on the system? I mean, once it gets to windows boot screen, could the bios chip STILL cause a lockup/reboot?

 

[chron]

oops double post.

I've been thinking its the motherboard at fault, although once it gets past post shouldn't this rule that out?

Can a processor or motherboard partially work? And RAM? If it was a ram problem, once i made it into windows wouldn't I see more BSOD's? Havn't seen a single one....