Trying to locate a problem...and can't

[rickywsf1]

Hey everyone,
So this is my problem. A few weeks ago I was surfing the internet and when I clicked on a link...at that very instant my computer shut down. A couple of times it has done this with playing games yet it always turns itself back on. This time it didn't. It was late so I left it off. Came home from work the next day and turned it on. Nothing. I work at Best Buy and asked a few Geek squad agents and they suggested a new power supply. Got a 700w Psu and went home and hooked it up. Worked fine...I thought. Now here is the problem...my computer freezes every second for a nano second. I can do everything I could before but it's just not smooth enough. No games or music play fluidly. If my power supply surged before going out and zapped my motherboard would this be the result? If it zapped my cpu would it even turn on anymore? If the new power supply were faulty would it create this? My system is this:
Windows XP
Asus p5n-d motherboard
Intel E6850 cpu
2GB corsair Memory
700w Rocketfish PSU
PNY 8800 GT

Thanks,
Rick

 

[rickywsf1]

Well I've solved my stuttering computer. I reformatted my hard drive with the OS on it and it stopped. WooHoo! Now I can't update my drivers for my graphics card. I'm stuck at 800x600 and a whopping 4 colors. Any suggestions?

 

[Proximon]

Your problems sound heat related, first off. It sounds as if your processor was overheating and throttling back to avoid damage.

Of course, you would get the same behavior if you were loaded up with trojans and viruses, but since you are smart enough to come here and ask for help I'm guessing you know how to keep those off your system.

Secondly, you have been sold a Rocketfish. Your 700W PSU is really a 500W PSU made from very cheap parts and dangerous to boot with, but a good door stop.

The last time I was in a Best Buy they had exactly one PSU that was not junk. It was an Antec EA500W. They wanted $140.00 for it. It's a 60-80 dollar part.

What happens when you try to update your drivers?

If your GPU was damaged by the old or new PSU then your computer may no longer detect it properly.

 

[rickywsf1]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Well I got it to go back to normal...except the stuttering is back. It's as if I went full circle. Yes I haven't had any virus activity, considering I did a reformat. I recently took the PSU back and exchanged it for another of the same thing. I am aware that it is our store brand so this time before leaving I had Geek Squad try it on one of their computers and nothing was wrong with the PSU. So in my opinion I feel I can rule out the PSU as a source of the problem. My next step is to replace the motherboard. I only do this because when the computer is on I can hear the fans going whoom whoom whoom in a rhythmic fashion. So I'm thinking that perhaps the power is surging through the motherboard abnormally. As well could it be my memory? I'm not sure. Maybe I should try a different slot to see if this helps? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Rick

 

[rickywsf1]

Hello again,
Well I have fixed my problem. It was not hardware related as I thought. When I lost power it seems a surge went to my HDD and corrupted some sectors that were where the system registry was. After searching and searching for stuttering computer at google I found a link that brought me to the microsoft website. It said to fix the registry by doing a restore point but as I said earlier I had already done a reformat so I knew that wouldn't help. Then further down the list it said something about CHKDSK so I did it and WHAM! it stopped. Thanks for the (intended) help.
Rick