Okay here's what happens:
I start up my PC and it gets to the "Welcome" screen as normal. But then it fails to boot up the desktop screen. After about 1 minute I get BSOD error messages with each reboot:
First : "Attempt to reset the display driver failed."
On reboot: "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed."
Second reboot: "System service exception."
Sometimes the computer works okay, but the only way I can get it stable is to remove the graphics card (Nvidia 9600GT) and replace it with an older low-power graphics card - it's a Radeon 600.
Also I have been having problems with the USB ports; the problem started last year but now it's getting hard to ignore. They work okay until I try to plug in any device with an extension cable. "bee-doop".."bee-doop".."bee-doop".. the sound of the ports connecting and reconnecting over and over. Without the cable the devices work (so far anyway) but adding a cable causes the USB ports to go on the fritz.
Is it the PSU? It's a good quality unit and not all that old, and my PC only uses around 350 watts of it's 700 watt limit. It's an OCZ 700SXS2. It wasn't cheap so I don't want to buy yet another one if it's not faulty. I've also read that the motherboard can short if it's not earthed properly, but TBH I don't know how to earth a motherboard.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Any help is appreciated, my computer fixing abilities are a bit limited. Thank you very much.
more info:
1. The USB ports fail if I use any kind of of USB extension cable.
2. Changing the graphics card doesn't really solve the problem, even with the much lower powered Radeon 600 graphics card, the USB ports still suffer from the same fault, which suggests that the Nvidia 9600GT graphics card is not the actual cause of the problem.
I start up my PC and it gets to the "Welcome" screen as normal. But then it fails to boot up the desktop screen. After about 1 minute I get BSOD error messages with each reboot:
First : "Attempt to reset the display driver failed."
On reboot: "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed."
Second reboot: "System service exception."
Sometimes the computer works okay, but the only way I can get it stable is to remove the graphics card (Nvidia 9600GT) and replace it with an older low-power graphics card - it's a Radeon 600.
Also I have been having problems with the USB ports; the problem started last year but now it's getting hard to ignore. They work okay until I try to plug in any device with an extension cable. "bee-doop".."bee-doop".."bee-doop".. the sound of the ports connecting and reconnecting over and over. Without the cable the devices work (so far anyway) but adding a cable causes the USB ports to go on the fritz.
Is it the PSU? It's a good quality unit and not all that old, and my PC only uses around 350 watts of it's 700 watt limit. It's an OCZ 700SXS2. It wasn't cheap so I don't want to buy yet another one if it's not faulty. I've also read that the motherboard can short if it's not earthed properly, but TBH I don't know how to earth a motherboard.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Any help is appreciated, my computer fixing abilities are a bit limited. Thank you very much.
more info:
1. The USB ports fail if I use any kind of of USB extension cable.
2. Changing the graphics card doesn't really solve the problem, even with the much lower powered Radeon 600 graphics card, the USB ports still suffer from the same fault, which suggests that the Nvidia 9600GT graphics card is not the actual cause of the problem.