Windows resets comp (and maybe games CTDing)

[fangs2000]

Hey,

A friend of mine is having problems with his comp. I'm trying to help him sort it out VIA msn atm, but he might have to bring it to me for a more personal look. I've looked at it before and thought i fixed it, and now i'm running out of ideas.

So i need your help.

Windows will randomly reset the computer. I told him to turn off "automatic reset" in windows properties with no luck.

Specs:
AMD Athlon 2400
MSI KT4V Motherboard (VIA KT400 Chipset)
1 GB DDR 400 Corsair RAM (2x512)
Nvidia Ledtek 6600 GT Graphics card
80gb Maxtor Hard disk
160gb seagate Hard disk.
Windows XP Pro With SP2 and all hotfixes.

I've tried the basics, virus, adware scans. Reinstalled Windows XP and SP2. He can monitor the Tempreture of the CPU, Graphics Card, Hard disks and Case tempreture. They all seem to be staying below 65 C. All drivers i can think of (including modem) are latest version.

Will try and provided more information as i get him to test various things, and will be able to provided most things on request.

I hope i don't have to drag his comp over to my place, already got enough going on as it is, but i got enough spare parts to test for faulty hardware.

Games that Will crash to desktop Included:
Quake 4

Will add more as he tests, but it COULD just be the game.

Thanks for any assitance.

 

[Osiris]

what do you mean by reset?

 

[fangs2000]

by reset, i mean as if you just pressed the reset button. Screen goes black and you get the computer loading checks (memory, CPU, IDE etc.)

 

[Osiris]

check msconfig ->startup...disable everything in there excep av and reboot...then try again

 

[fangs2000]

i'll get him to do that now, thinking about getting a memory tester running on his comp, see if that turns anything up.

 

[fangs2000]

okay, i've got the Computer now and been playing round with it.

I've formatted his Main drive and reinstalled windows XP, Still got the problem.

Reset the bios, same problem.

So i took out the one ram stick so it's down to 512 (1x ddr400) and everything seems to work fine.

I have run Memtester 86 and it didn't find anything on either stick, so i'm thinking if maybe the MotherBoard has a compability problem, it mentions something in the manual about ddr400, but since the motherboard is a 333 FSB, the memory is running at 333 anyway, right?

Anyway, going to switch the sticks around, see if i get the same results, at least then i can find out if it's a MB problem or memory.

Thanks for the assiatance so far