Ongoing problem with PC ...

A.N.Other · 5 Sep 2006 at 19:16

I have a strange problem with my PC that has been going on for a while ... randomly the PC will freeze and a red line will appear at the top of the screen. There is no option but to hard-reset the PC

. No errors appear in the event viewer and this problem occurs completely randomly.

I thought at first that it was a problem with the graphics card, so I repaced the X800GTO with a X1900XT - same problem remained. I have now replaced the mobo (Sapphire Pure Innovation) with a DFI Ultra-D and done a fresh XP Pro install. I still have the problem :mad:

! With the old mobo, sometimes when you turned the PC on after a crash, it would display a green screen of death (GSOD?!?) with an irql_not_less_or_equal message - with the new one, I'm sometimes getting it during normal operation as a normal BSOD, as well as the GSOD. I always thought this error to be RAM / mobo releated, but I know both to be fine. Stress testing and doing F@H, there is no instability and memtest runs fine on the RAM.

Does anybody have any ideas - I'm losing my mind here! Could this possibly be the CPU? All components are running at stock and temps are great.

// EDIT // I have .dmp files from the irql errors that windows creates - can anyone analyse these?

Forgot to say as well ... X2 3800+, X1900XT, 2G Corsair XMS Cl2 RAM, DFI Ultra-D, Hiper 580-R.

VeNT · 5 Sep 2006 at 20:03

its either your ram or processor. try different ones in each untill it works.
also, it could be that either are not seated correctly (I've had this happen before, it was just a little off for some reason!)

A.N.Other · 5 Sep 2006 at 20:29

I can't do anything about the CPU but I can replace the RAM, so I'll give that a go.

Thanks for your thoughts.

A.N.Other · 6 Sep 2006 at 19:54

Anybody else have any ideas?

XtAsY · 6 Sep 2006 at 20:13

What are your temperatures like?

[EDIT] oh you said they were fine.. I should read more carefuly I guess. :rolleyes:

Munromax · 7 Sep 2006 at 16:01

Always worth checking all connections - is your mains supply stable?
Could even be some intermittent prob with your PSU!

A.N.Other · 7 Sep 2006 at 16:23

Thanks for your ideas. The mains in the house is old but stable, but as you say it could be a problem with the PSU. I'm inclined to say that it isn't, as the rails are excellent when the CPU is idle and fully loaded - not fluctuating at all and well within the error margins.

Thinking about it, though it is one of the few components that are original. The mainboard has changed twice, the gfx once, the ram once - only the HDDs, the CPU and the PSU remain unchanged. :confused: