Been trying to figure out for months whats wrong

[bogey51]

alright where to begin? i guess this problem all started with a BSOD. ( by now im pretty sure my computer has shown me every BSOD that there is to see) and what would happen sometimes is that the computer would turn on and try to boot up, but nothing would happen(no communication to monitor keyboard or mouse, but keyboard and mouse would light up a bit like a normal startup) the fans would be running, and i can hear the computer try the cd-rom and the hd, but still nothing. usually the computer would restart itself when it is in this state, only to end up back in this state. so i did system recovery for the time being, and all was good. but then the same problem started occuring again and again. i cant get into safe mode via pressing f8. so i finally decided to just reformat the computer. when doing so i was given two options, either A) save all my files to a recovery file and set the drivers back to factory settings, or B)just restore the factory settings, and delete everything on the computer. since i have alot of music on my computer i went with option A. when it was done reformatting it was telling me in the device manager that my gpu took a crap on me, so i replaced my evga e-geforce 8800 gt with a pny geforce 9800 gt. all was fine at 1st, but then the problem came back with vengance. ive tried every tool given by the computer in hopes of finding a problem (memory diagnosis, startup repair. etc) only to have them tell me nothing is wrong. ive tried many different anti-virus programs, but no virus ever came up. i tried pulling the plug and holding the power button down for 5 seconds.(dont feel comfortable taking out the battery to reset the cmos, since there is no release mechanism on it) ive downloaded programs that fix registry problems and updated drivers, but still no solution. thought it could of been the kb973879 update, but alas i did not have that file. Even added a new coating of thermal grease, but to no prevail. the part that throws me off though is that sometimes the computer would boot up perfectly normal, with no problems at all, running like the day i bought it. would be very thankful if anyone could give me some direction on this whole ordeal. thank you

Gateway
FX 7020 model
mcp61pm-gm mobo
windows vista home premium SP 2 (32 bit)
amd phenom with quad processor
old GPU: evga e-geforce 8800 gt. new GPU: pny geforce 9800 gt

 

[bogey51]

o ya, and for 1 reason or another, i dont have a vista cd that i could boot from.....

 

[Jonmor68]

This sounds more like a hardware problem. I suggest you run a memory test.
You can get free software here:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/memorytest.htm

 

[bogey51]

i ended up giving a friend of mine the cpu. he got it working, and said it wasnt a hardware issue. he had it for a week and it worked fine, i had it for 3 days and same problems starts backup.only thing i downloaded on the computer were 2 games (guildwars/dawn of war 2) the speakers i have plugged in have a subwoofer with it, dont know if that could lead to any problems. still at a loss with this whole thing

 

[bogey51]

i also read that other ppl were having the same problem, and that it make be caused by a bad windows update. if this is true, could anyone help me in finding which update it was?