Help? Out Of Hope!

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:11

well my pc is really beginning to annoy me.

i started getting BSODs on the desktop, randomly that is, and i thought hmmm memory problems i have

4 x 512mb Sticks Of Crucial Ballistix. pc400

so i ran memtest i got errors, so i thought right send it back, so i tested them in pairs to identify which pair were faulty, and no errors were found whatsoever so i thought hmmm odd.

now i boot up my pc, and nothing it struggles sometimes to find the harddrives, it gives me random beep codes, it gives me a check sum error every so often, its a real task getting it into the OS.

anyone got any ideas?

-Neon.

Thanks in Advance.

A.N.Other · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:22

This is exactly (and I mean exactly) what was happening to me a few days ago with an old Socket A setup. Random POST bleeps, sometimes not turning on, sometimes booting to windows, switching off randomly in windows ... blah blah.

The problem I had was that one of the capacitors had blown, which meant that the board voltages had gone all dodgy. Just a thought, but it's worth giving them a check over.

Probably apart from that, there is either something else wrong with the mobo or you have a corrupt windows install, I would say.

Townlea · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:22

hmm, this does sound like the memory... you never know it could be the motherbaord tbh. I havent experienced this problem but I say its the motherboard.

However there has been a lot of bad things said about the Ballistix

split · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:23

What mobo etc?

Logan09 · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:23

How long did you test the individual pairs of memory in memtest for? I've found sometimes that errors only get picked up after a long time. It might be worth running memtest overnight on the seperate pairs.

If you've already done that then it may be a mobo problem. After you tested the memory did you put all 4 sticks back in or have you tried running with just 2 of them?

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:24

system is:

p4 3.2 "Prescott"
Dfi Infinity 865PE
2048mb ram Crucial Ballistix DDR400

ive tried running with 1 stick 2 sticks, 3 sticks different combos you name it still the same, sometimes it boots up and i can use it fine.

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:40

no blown capicitors as i can see, also it just booted up fine, then yep it bsods

IRQL_EQUAL_OR_LESS.

that was the random error message this time.

split · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:51

it gives me a check sum error every so often

I wonder if it is the memory.

Have you got any PCI cards in this PC?

IRQL_EQUAL_OR_LESS can be anything (including memory) but that sounds like your BIOS has a strop on with the check sum error.

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 15:58

i have a sound card?

and a network card.

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 16:07

removed them both and booted up, still get bsod's

split · 1 Jun 2006 at 17:11

This has lots of onboard stuff as well tho.
I suppose you have the sata disabled in the BIOS?

Thinking..does it only happen when you load windows or do you get probs going into the BIOS at all?

SiriusB · 1 Jun 2006 at 17:16

Have you not got access to spare parts at all? If I were in your situation I would be trying different RAM/PSU/HDDs etc. It might be worth trying your RAM in someone elses system too. If everything is fine on their system with your RAM you can probably rule bad memory out.

Unless something is glaringly obvious on your hardware to suggest its faulty you will have to try all your hardware in something else.

SiriusB

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 18:04

SiriusB said:
Have you not got access to spare parts at all? If I were in your situation I would be trying different RAM/PSU/HDDs etc. It might be worth trying your RAM in someone elses system too. If everything is fine on their system with your RAM you can probably rule bad memory out.

Unless something is glaringly obvious on your hardware to suggest its faulty you will have to try all your hardware in something else.

SiriusB

think im gonna chicken out and jus upgrade lol.

but yes im on another machine atm, and i have problems when booting in bios etc etc

Neoni · 1 Jun 2006 at 23:47

Help? still stuck no clue on what to do next

Nix · 2 Jun 2006 at 00:31

Sounds like it's your mobo tbh dude. Try and test your RAM in another machine first, at least that way you can work out if is your RAM that is at fault.

Neoni · 2 Jun 2006 at 00:44

yeh good idea, im guessin its mobo too

Sultan of Ping · 2 Jun 2006 at 00:58

Try running your tests with any unnecessary PCI cards out of the system ie. only RAM, CPU, OPTICAL DRIVE, and GFX card (and PSU of course) - clear your BIOS prior to running these tests - let them run for a few hours, not just a few minutes - check PSU voltages in BIOS via 'Hardware Monitor' or 'PC Health Status', or even better rig up a multimeter to check voltages on all rails if you know how.... hope this helps