Is this a Motherboard Problem?

[purple buzz]

Problems:

1) my PC WON'T LET ME RUN AT ITS MAXIMUM CPU SPEED! It would freeze and the only way I could run it is at a low speed (running at 1000mhz atm)

2) my Wireless Internet is acting WEIRD! One day it finds 10 different connections like 2WIRE1738, 2WIRE0041, etc... EXCLUDING the one in this house, the other day it would only find 1 like Printer Something (On Demand) [is this our cable company?], and the other day it would find the connection that is in this house. I have to ask my landlord every day or every other day to repair the connection. One day it's Low, the other day it's Good, other day Very Good, and right now it's Excellent. (I just talked to my landlord and he said there was some problem with the wireless within 2 days. So I guess disregard about the part with wireless problems. I don't know..)

Also, some days it would say "Connected" but no internet is available when I try to connect


Things I've tried:

1) buying new speed and adding different pastes. I've upgraded my speed which was 2100+ to a better one which is 2700+. Same problem. I also noticed my Heat Sinker has some scratches on it, would that make my computer unstable, or could this be the issue?

2) trying a different Hard Drive. I got a backup HDD that has WinXP on it and it freezes with it just as it does with the one I'm currently running.

3) buying a new Video Card. I've just spent a $100 on a new video card thinking that was it and it still has these same problem (Because my old card would crash certain games so I thought maybe that was it.)

4) cleaning my PC. I spent 2 days cleaning my PC from all the dust, and there was a lot of it with many places clogged up. I even opened the PSU and cleaned most of that inside!

5) unplugging certain units like extra HDD (Sata), DVD-Rom, and some other fans, as well as moving around my wireless and TV cards to different PCI slots. I thought maybe my PSU is tripping and my Wireless card is defecting, but I guess not? I had Wireless issues in the past and tried other cards. It but it was still unstable, but not like this.

6) Scanning my PC with an Anti-Virus program (PC Tools) BUT IT GETS STUCK ON 1 FILE AND EITHER FREEZES MY PC OR JUST KEEP SAYING "scanning" THAT ONE FILE WHICH IS SOME FILE IN WINDOWS OR PROGRAM FILES DIRECTORY!

7) Scanning my PC with Anti-Spyware program (Spybot). So far no spyware detected but I'm scanning again as I'm typing this.


Things I haven't tried:

1) replacing PSU.

2) replacing the Motherboard.

3) re-installing Windows. I don't see the point though since I already tested a different HDD with a newly installed WinXP.


Suggestions, comments, thoughts?

I would REALLY appreciate them!




my Spec:

ASUSTek Computer INC Mobo (A7N8X Deluxe)
AMD Athlon XP: Thoroughbred, Socket A 2700+
3 gigs of RAM (Corsair 2 sticks regular of 1 each, and the 3rd XML)
SAPPHIRE 100228L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card
PLANET WL-8310 Wireless Card
80GB Maxtor HDD or 200G Seagate (Master)
500GB Wester Digitital SATA
Coolmax AP-550X Power Supply
WinFast TV2000 XP Expert WDM TVTuner

 

[purple buzz]

Update:

I just talked to my landlord and he said there was some problem with the wireless within 2 days. So I guess disregard about the part with wireless problems.


Things I've also tried:

Scanning my PC with an Anti-Virus program (PC Tools) but it gets stuck on 1 file and either freezes my PC or just keeps saying "scanning" that one file which is some file in the Windows or Program Files directory.

Scanning my PC with Anti-Spyware program (Spybot). So far no spyware detected but I'm scanning again as I'm typing this.

 

[roonj]

I suspect your getting your cpu readings with coolnquiet enabled which reduces the cpu speed based on demand. You can disable this feature and then you'll see the difference.

 

[purple buzz]

hey roonj,

thanks for replying but I really think it's my video cards.

it was mos def dust, i cleaned it.

now it's a video card (yes, even the new one is a PIECE OF CRAP!!!)

I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER ATI RADEON CARD EVER AGAIN! this is my 3rd and last one.

i can run my old card that lasts about an hour before it freezes because it's almost dead.

ALSO IT'S MY HARD DRIVE. it has so much crap on it and i haven't reinstalled windows xp on it for so long that i can't even do full virus scan. it just stops scanning on certain files even if i delete them. it will find another file to stop on.

so i replaced my hard drive with a backup. no freezes now but theyll still come till i get a video card that is stable.