built my own pc, big problem

[ngagnon]

I built a brand new machine recently and I have windows xp pro installed and everything, but now I am having a big problem. The computer just restarts when I try to do some things. I haven't really noticed a pattern in which operations cause the shut down, but it happens so frequently that I haven't even been able to install the drivers for the motherboard yet. If anyone could give me any ideas as to what could be causing this problem, I'd appreciate it. By the way, I've tried two different XP Pro's so I don't think it's a problem with Windows, however, everytime it reboots, there is a Windows error message saying "The system has recovered from a serious error." Also, it's not just when I try to do anything. For instance, I can usually listen to a song in media player but I can hardly navigate the C: drive in Windows Explorer without a problem.

On a side note, I was able to install drivers for the All-In-Wonder card fine off of the CD. However, since I don't have the disc that comes with the mobo, I downloaded the files online with my laptop and put them on a flash disk. I was unable to install from the flash disk, so I copied the files to the hard drive. That still didn't work. I can't figure out what is causing all these problems. Please give me any ideas, I'm new to this and I'm sick of having a $2000 paperweight on my desk. Thanks.

 

[diabloII]

specs would help...

and you don't "copy" the gfx card drivers, you install it

and try running memtest86+

 

[jolancer]

when you turn on the computer, do it with the side pannel off. so you can see if all the fans are working. perhaps 1 of the important ones doent turn on.

also go into bios, and check and see what your CPU temperature is at. if that overheats, it would shut down your computer.

you prolly also wont to do this... incase its realy just windows shutting it down automatically, you can disable this feature at....
- /start/settings/control pannel/system/advanced/startup and recover/settings/system failure (turn off "auto restart" and set "Write Debuggin Info" to "NONE")

if you dont know how to use memtest86, just go to www.memtest.org

-download the "Compilation for Floppy", extract it to a floppy. reboot with the floppy in, and if your Floppy is the first boot Device in bios, Memtest will auto run.

let it run for a few Hrs so it can make multiple pass's. If it doesnt find any errors just take out the disk and hits "excape" to restart.

EDIT: o yea, your cpu temp will be 50c or bellow, unless you live ina desert. 50 is at most usually at idel startup. the average is prolly 40c

 

[ngagnon]

diablo- i didn't just copy them, i implied that i attempted the same thing as before (installing) but that didn't work. Anyways, i can give you some specs.

mobo - Asus P5AD2 Deluxe
processor - Pentium P4 3.2 GHz
video card - ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro
memory - Corsair (2 X 512 MB)
hard drive - 120GB Western Digital SATA Hard Disk
drives - Plextor CD-RW, Pioneer DVD-RW, Floppy
i guess thats all you should need and then some

jolancer- all fans are working, i did turn off the auto restart function and now it gives me the blue screen. The error message is *** STOP: 0x0000007F (0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000)

i figured out that thats a vague error denoting a failure in hardware or software. that doesn't help me much.

i also ran memtest86 for about 2.5 hours allowing 8 passes, but no errors were reported.

then i went to the bios to check the cpu temp. its around the low 30's celsius. It hovers between 32 and 35. so, I'm guessing thats no the problem, but i'd assume that it gets hotter when windows is running applications. still, i'm doubting thats my problem.

anyways, im at a loss here. if you think of anything else to try, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[VIII]

Thats the same problem i've been having.. I'm thinkin its my ram as its only generic crud... I have more or less same sys as u....
p4 3.2
asus p4p800edeluxe
1gig crap...

Whats your PSU called ????

 

[diabloII]

ok, from my own screw-up experiences (and believe me, i've had a lot with many of my computers), you should just replace each one of these with something else:

1.) change ram (use only one stick of different ram)
2.) change power supply (get any cruddy PSU that isn't too weak and test it with this system)
3.) get another graphics card and test it (should be ati, if not, then unistall the ati drivers before put in a nvidia card) - don't have an xtra gfx card? then borrow one from a friend. but if all your friends (like many of mine) use whatever their computer came with (usually crap), then go to a local store and pick up an ATi card and make sure to ask them if you can return it if it doesn't work
4.) if all else fails, get a new hard drive from a local store and make sure that you can return that as well if it doesn't work

 

[jolancer]

Remove any component that isnt nesseccary. such as any external usb device, or an internal audio card.

remove all but one stick of ram, and run memtest again. unless thats how you ran it the first time.

I take it you already installed the SATA controller drivers? i havnt used SATA yet, but im assuming you did otherwise windows wouldnt detect the HDD? maybe?

What is the Wattage of the powersupply? and what kind is it?

If there is another computer around that you could use to swap the HDD and the PSU, one at a time to test. (That is if the ram checked out OK). Then you could easily eliminat everything except the Mobo and ATI card. Witch the cause must be from one of them.

if you didnt already run across the this link, here it is -->
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q137/5/39.asp&NoWebContent=1

EDIT: o yea, couldnt hurt to reset the Cmos if you havnt already.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Well that kinda looks like a ram error

As everyone said, take out a stick of ram and test, than swap the sticks of ram.

Also what power supply do you have?

 

[DragoonKongol]

Yea i have that problem all the time at work. its either the memory or psu. thats the problem most of the time . get newer better mem and psu and it should be fine. what psu do you have now?

 

[vagnozzi]

Go into the BIOS settings, make sure the AGP aperture is turned down to 64MB. If you're using a high-end video card with a lot of RAM, it does not have to be greater than this.

This could be causing your problem if all else fails