Unusual and unexplainable issues with my custom built pc

G

Guest

Guest
Hello,

It's been just over two years since I've built my custom PC and it's been having random issues with it ever since, lately even more so.
It started out as:

Asus Striker II Formula Motherboard
2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz Corsair Memories
Intel C2Q Q9450 12MB L2 2.66Ghz Processor + Ninja Plus revision B Cooler
BFG Nvidia 9800GX2 1024MB Graphics card
750W Chieftec PSU
750GB Samsung HDD
APC UPS

but I was getting freezes quite often AT HOME (keep this fact in mind) while in games (about 20-30 minutes apart) which I could only get out of by manually restarting the system.
So I took it at the shop I got it from. They ran tests (memory, all kinds of benchmarks), none of which resulted in freezing. They tried playing a game, Turok if I remember correctly. They did get a freeze eventually, AFTER 2 HOURS. I figured it was unusual at the time but it didn't matter that much, they were going to change the motherboard, which they did.

That was issue number 1


As I said, they changed the motherboard, so now instead of Asus Striker II Formula I had MSI Diamond motherboard (major difference being that this one had a 760i nforce chipset, not a 780i ~or 790i (?)~ like the Striker II Formula).
It worked great for about a half month. Then the freezes started again. They were still about half an hour apart.
I took it back to the shop, they figured it must be the nforce chipset that was causing the problems. Go figure, Nvidia mobo chipset not working with Nvidia graphics card. Oh well, I wasn't going to do SLi anyway so it was not a big deal, they were going to change the mobo again.

That was issue number 2


This time I got an Asus P5E Motherboard, which worked well for about 6 months. Then the sound card that came with it (supreme fx something) stopped working, without me doing anything to it. They replaced it.

That was issue number 3 (not that big of a deal but figured it was worth mentioning it)

By this time I started noticing that when I power up the PC it first runs for a few seconds (nothing posted on the screen), shuts down for 1-2 seconds and then it continues the startup process. I'm 99% sure it was happening before the sound card thingy but I can't remember exactly when it started.

The PC ran smoothly (apart from the random freeze every now and then) for up until recently (~2 weeks ago). That's when I started getting bluescreens for no apparent reason (no new hardware, no new major software).
I reinstalled Windows once, the bluescreens continued. Tried removing the two hard drives I didn't need (somewhere along the way I got another sata 1TB Samsung HDD and a WD 160GB IDE HDD) and reinstalling. This time the bluescreen appeared DURING THE SETUP.
The next day I started up the PC (the bluescreen was near the end of the installation, I figured it did actually finish) and I got the most unusual blue screen. It was something like this:

hardware malfunction

call your hardware vendor for support

***the system has halted***

Next time I restarted the PC it didn't post anything (I could hear the fans and everything but nothing was displayed on the monitor). Tried it a couple more times, same result

I took it back at the shop, they said they got the same thing as me (no post) THE FIRST TWO TIMES. After that it started up (without them doing anything to fix the problem), they reinstalled Windows and it worked with no bluescreens.

I took it back home and it worked for about 2 hours, then the bluescreens came back. This is the point where the whole thing became stupid.

That was the 4th issue.


Tried removing a memory stick and it didn't start. Tried replacing that memory stick with the one I replaced and IT WORKED. I've found the problem (at least that's what I thought), question still remains - why did it work at the shop?. I took the memory sticks back. They tried the one I said was broken in a PC there and it hanged with no post for about 5 minutes but then it started :|
I told them I didn't care it started on their PC, it didn't work on mine and they WILL replace it. So they agreed and borrowed me a 2GB stick until the replacements came back.

That was last Monday. The PC worked up until this morning when I tried to start it. Now when I press the power button, nothing happens (no sound/nothing starts up)
Worth mentioning is that yesterday I only browsed the net with Opera, listened to music with Winamp and talked on Yahoo! Messenger for a couple of hours - that's it, nothing installed, nothing uninstalled, no hard usage like games/after effects

That is the latest issue.

It's the last time I'm taking it back tomorrow, after that I will demand my money back


Do you guys have any slight idea about what the problem could be? I'll be forever grateful

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long story, tried to make it as short as possible
 
G

Guest

Guest
Can a bad PSU cause the weird not working at home but working at the shop thing or are just referring to the latest problem?
I forgot to mention, I opened the case and there is a green light on on the motherboard and the sound card is blinking (it's usually lit continuously) so I guess there is some power getting through