Problem with XP and K7S5A Motherboard

[thbart]

I have a really weird issue with my desktop I hope someone can shed some light on. I have had this desktop for a little over a year and it has the following:

Elite Group K7S5A Motherboard
AMD Athlon 2000+ Processor
Crucial 256 MB DDR memory
XP Home Edition

Starting just last week when you would boot the machine, the login screen would come up normally, however, when you click on the account icons, no screen would appear for the password entry. If I do ctrl-alt-delete twice I get a "Windows 2000 like" login screen. Once onto the main desktop, the behavior and launchablility of various programs is inconsistent.

I thought, hey, must be a virus or software issue. So I installed a clean version of XP onto a different hard drive and the login screen behavior is the same: no password boxes.

I am now thinking it might be the MB. I have cleared the CMOS with the jumper and still nothing. This is a little out of my league. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ChaosBlizzard]

Well you can start by checking volatile parts such as your memory. I heard memtest86 was a good memory testing program. Usually when you start getting software errors like this it is a sign of your memory going. If not you can check to see if their are any bios revisions, sometimes they help.

 

[thbart]

Thanks, I saw some posts elsewhere mentioning this possibility. I will check it out. Other thoughts welcome!