Help me diagnose this problem pls...

[bulletkid]

My computer occasionally crash badly and have to be shut down.
When restarted using the reset button, the screen goes awry with very distorted pixels and then will crash itself in the middle of the windows logo screen.

When diagnosed, it seems that whenever I rearrange the ram modules between the slots, my computer will work normally again [for some timespan (days, weeks etc)] then crash again with the same results as above.

Repeating the process of rearranging the ram modules again solved the problem, again, only for a while.

So now I would want to know the root of the cause. My instincts tell me its my PSU, but my brain tells me its the ram modules, and half of what's left of that tells me its the mobo!

So I would just like to know the real cause for this and the solution...(the most cost-effective solution of course).

 

[Mr. Switch]

i'd reformat first. if that doesn't fix it, than i'd see what my PSU wattage is. if its below 300W, than its most likely a PSU issue. if its 300W and above, than i'd say its your motherboard, or possibly your videocard. swap out videocards and see if you still get bad pixels. if you do, than I bet its your motherboard.

 

[GX1_Man]

Why don't you download memtest (free at www.memtest86.com) and run it for a couple of hours with each RAM chip by themselves (asuming you have >1). This would either rule this out or confirm it. Then put them all in and run it again.