desperate and confused

[orenf]

Through the last months, I've been experiencing some starnge problems with my computer.
After several hours of intense work in the internet, my system starts to slow down and than at the end I get the microsoft blue screen and the system crushes. sometimes the system just hangs or the screen goes blank and I have to reset the system. recently I've noticed that after I reset the system, when it boots up, my display adapter reports it has only 16 MB of memory instead of 32 MB. but if I shut down the system, unplugs it from the power and after few seconds I plug it back in and power it up, the display adapter will report the correct amount of memory.
In addition to that, sometimes I get the "windows protection error", sometimes the system resets by it self, and I even got twice the "boot disk error message".
I formated the disk and tried to install the OS from scratch but the system got hand during the installation.
I replaced one of the SDRAM's and I did manage to install the OS back again, and for few days it seemed ok, but now the problems start to reappear.
My system configuration:
Windows ME
AMD 1Ghz (100Mhz FSB)
512MB RAM
ASUS A7V motherboard
ASUS v7700 deluxe display adapter
40G maxtor HD (7200 rpm ATA/100)
creative SB live! 5.1 sound card
conexant soft 56k PCI modem
Realtek 10/100 ethernet adapter
Plextor PX-W2410A cd writer
Pioneer 116 DVD-ROM
My internet connection is through a 512K ADSL line.
I am also running P2P applications such as kazaa and edonkey.
I am using norton systemworks 2002 on my system.

I would be glad if someone could help me
Thank you.

 

[flamethrower205]

Win ME is your problem.

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[orenf]

hi Chris
Thank you for reading and replying.
What do you think I should do?
Install windows 98?
I can't use linux or switch to MAC because I'm into games, so I have to use microsoft. (I can't use win 2000 for the same reason)

 

[dhlucke]

WinME causes problems for way too many people. Get a hold of Win98se. Alternatively you could get WinXP when it comes out in less than a month.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[dhlucke]

As far as my opinion on your problem, I would check your temps. Just be sure they are in a reasonable range. Overheating can do some weird stuff besides just burning your CPU up.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[flamethrower205]

True. What are your temps? I'd seriously go for 98se or win2K (you'll love it). ME is slower, and worse than 98se.

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[orenf]

Thank you everybody for you're remarks but I think this is a hardware problem.
As I mentioned one of my SDRAM's was damaged.
I replaced it, formated the HD and installed win98se. everything worked fine for a week, and then the symptoms came back, until last night my system totaly crushed and I couldn't even reinstall the OS.
So I guess the SDARM is broken again but something else is the cause for that.

 

[flamethrower205]

Your mobo or PSU may be screwy, sending too much electricty or something. How's teh hard drive?

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[orenf]

Hi Flamethrower
Thank you for you're reply.
I too think it's my motherboard.
I think the HD is fine, I did a surface test a few days ago and it didn't came up with any bad sectors.
I gave my system to a lab so they will check it out. I don't have the time nor the resources to handle it by myself. I hope I will have an answer to my problems in a few days.

 

[flamethrower205]

Please tell what it was, as I'm curious to know.

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[orenf]

Well guys, the verdict is finally out.
After intensive investigation of the problem, I came to the conclusion that the problem is my CPU. Last night I opened my system's case and took out the CPU. One look at it proved that I was right, there was a big, dark, brown mark on the bottom of the CPU, the CPU was partially burned !!!!!! I was surprised that the thing kept on working. Today I returned it to the store and I'm wating for them to replace it with a new one.

 

[dhlucke]

Did you check your temps? What were you running at?

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[flamethrower205]

Aw shucks, why'd u return it? Could've made a keychain. hehe

U got a problem?! Then dial 1800-328-7448!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

poor contact between the cpu and HSF one can assume?

Religious wars are 2 groups of people fighting over who has the best imaginary friend.

 

[Guest]

Try running your system with the case open (to allow heat to dissipate better) and see if it has any effect. If the problem happens again, have a look to see if the fan on the CPU is running - it's probably okay or you would have had a burned out processor.
Also have a look at the heatsink and fan on your graphics card. Those Nvidia-based graphics processors generate alot of heat. I don't know if an overheated graphics chip would cause the Geforce2 chip to slow itself down, stop or burn out.

Other posters here recommended getting rid of Win ME. I don't think that will make a huge difference for problem. I don't recommend getting Win XP until a couple of service packs are out.
If you want to get a more stable OS, get a copy of Windows 2000 and then install service pack 2. Or you could get Linux. Mandrake and Redhat Linux are two popular distributions.

 

[Guest]

Whoops! When I posted my last message, I didn't check the 2nd page which showed your post about you finding out what the problem was. I'm glad to hear you got it fixed.