A computer 'riddle'.

Spare · Post by **Spare** » 2003-08-14 02:54pm

Ok, I've been trying to solve this problem for 2 years now. And I thought...what the heck, I can post it here, maybe someone will come up with a new idea.

Okay, the whole thing started about 2 years ago on my Abit Kt7A with Duron 800 processor, GeForce 2MX 20gb Fujitsu disk and 512mbytes of SDRAM.
I had W98SE but was preparing to install Windows XP. Near the end of my W98SE voyage a strange bug appeared - Kazaa was frequently locking up my computer (blue screen). On XP, whethever I tried to download something big (like 20+mb) the computer went for a hard reset with no apparent reason. I thought of it as a power problem and bought a stronger 300W power box. The problem did not resolve. Then my processor fan went down (it wasnt the best one, so I wasnt really surprised). The processor survived the whole ordeal thanks to the fan-fail shutdown. Then I bought an ATi Radeon 8500 card my motherboard decided it will play dead on me. So I added a new Gigabyte KT400 GA7VA motherboard to the shopping list - and of course a 256mb DDR ram chip to replace the obsolete SDRAM. Few weeks ago I had some cash that didnt evaporize the moment I got it...so I decided to buy me a new AMD Athlon XP+ 2000 processor and installed it. The lockup/restart problem still did not go. Few days later my 300W 'power box' (funny, I don't know the correct word for it in English) broke so I installed the old 235W one. And the problem is still there. The only thing that hadn't been replaced is the hard disk and the floppy drive. But my comp still does hard resets when downloading bigger amount of data. It once even happened when I wasnt hooked up to the net. I did scan for viruses - turned up clean.
Now the theories I had been putting up together with my friends.
I will mark 'X' where a theory had proved to be false.

X Damaged/overheating Processor - replaced it, changed the fan 2 times.
X Damaged Motherboard - the above
X Damaged RAM - replaced.
X Damaged power box - replace that too
- HiS terminal damaged...I will try to verify that in the following days.
- External power...maybe there is something with the power line or with the cables...the wires under my desk are always a mess, despite my efforts.
- Software compatibility problem - dunno, maybe Microshit's system doesnt like something that exists on my machine.
- A witch has cursed my room.
- God doesn't like me

and so on. If you have any ideas...well, post it. And if any proves right, you will be a computer God to me.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-08-14 03:36pm

I'd say a witch, only I think an angry gypsy would be much more likely.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-08-14 03:43pm

If it were up to me I'd say it's...the hard drive.

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-08-16 10:53am

It sounds silly, but try network cable. We had a machine that had everything replaced and it still locked up. We changed the network cable and it fixed it.

lukexcom · Post by **lukexcom** » 2003-08-16 02:17pm

Yeah, I too would venture a guess at the network cable or the hard drive. Oh, did you format when you went from Win98SE to XP? Because if you just upgraded, and it was some software bug, then it could still be there on your hard drive.

Hey Tolya, you live in Warsaw, PL? I was in Poznan and Gorzow (used to live there) for 5 weeks about a month ago!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-08-16 04:22pm

Check your home's power quality.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2003-08-17 02:29am

phongn wrote:Check your home's power quality.

Definitely. Buy/borrow a UPS (just a lower-end one that'll give you a few minutes of battery power but will smooth out power spikes). If it doesn't solve your problems, format the HDD. AFter you've reinstalled everything you need, if the problems still exist, replace the HDD.