Bad motherboard or CPU?
Specs:
HP Pavilion a810n desktop
AMD Athlon64 3300+
Asus K8S-LA motherboard
Integrated graphics (SiS)
Integrated audio (Realtek)
Out of warranty: 2 years old
When I first got the computer it worked perfectly. 8 months into it, however, I began having occasional problems where one or twice a week it would randomly crash to the BSOD. I assumed it was a software issue so I reinstalled Windows XP Home (OEM at the time) and it appeared to resolve it. As it turns out that was just a coincidence.
A few weeks later it picked up again, and as time has progressed the problems have become increasingly worse until recently:
* Crashes to the BSOD at least three times in a row at every cold boot.
* BSODs at least 5 additional times per day.
* Will randonly fail to load drivers for random devices.
* At least 20 Win32 errors a day concerning random programs.
* 5-10 times a day the system will freeze for a few seconds to a few minutes. The audio continues to work but all video freezes, as do all peripherals.
* Several times a week the system registry is corrupted, and I have had to use the Recovery Console 9 times in the past month to get Windows to boot due to missing system files.
* Cannot burn CDs or DVDs any longer...error message states it has been disabled on the drives.
* Cannot play video DVDs...they are 'recognized' as blank discs only.
* 19 different BSOD STOP codes, including IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR, SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, PP0_INITIALIZATION_FAILED, KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, ATTEMPTED_TO_WRITE_READONLY_MEMORY, BAD_POOL_CALLER, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, RESOURCE_NOT_OWNED, ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY, NDIS_INTERNAL_ERROR, and a vage "Fatal System Error" citing only "c000021a." There is no pattern.
* Connected a second IDE hard drive, which had been formatted but never used, and the primary hard drive suddenly became invisible and unbootable.
* Several times each day CPU usage will spike to 100% for a particular process as random, be it IE, Word, Belarc, a game, or even a system process. When that happens the CPU temp level will instantly jump up to 11C (from 54C to as high as 65C) and the fan speed will double. The motherboard and HD temps, however, do not increase and the case fans do not increase in speed. This continues until I manually terminate the task using Task Manager, at which time the reported temperature (be it Motherboard Monitor or any other utility) *immediately* returns to normal. Logically it should take time to return to normal if it is that hot. Leaving the case open does not make a difference and placing a thermometer next to the CPU and heatsink shows no change while this is happening. Again, odd.
* Will occasionally fail to boot citing a failing hard drive, even though SMART tests show each and every new hard drive I have used is fine.
All of these problems occur regardless of length of time running, normal mode or Safe Mode, running processies, or activities.
So far I have:
* Wiped the hard drive using both KillDisk and DBAN, then replacing the hard drive.
* Switching from XP Home (OEM) to retail copies of 2000 Pro, XP Pro, XP Pro. x64, and Vista.
* Disconnected EVERYTHING, including optical drives and 56K modem, except keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
* Installing the latest drivers.
* Replacing the IDE cables and checking all connections.
* Moved the computer to another location and purchased a new APC UPS.
* Ran Memtest86 and then replaced the RAM despite perfect results.
* Ran Prime95 stress test overnight...no problems.
* Cleaned the computer with compressed air.
* Tested and even replaced the default 250W Hipro PSU with an Antec 450W.
* Replaced the optical drives with known-good.
* Run only a clean installation of Windows, with NOTHING installed or connected.
Earlier this week it became even worse. I shut down one night and everything went smoothly, but after I booted the next morning I received an error concerning NTFS corruption. As soon as I connect my hard drive to another computer it crashes the other computer, and after reading through the Microsoft KB I have learned that I must connect it to a FAT-formatted system, renaming the NTFS.SYS file in advance, and then run chkdsk. I have not gotten around to that yet.
After that happened I inserted another clean hard drive and attempted to install Windows (all above versions, one after the other) using FAT32 as the format of choice. each time, however, the installation would crash to the BSOD, citing random errors, during installation. If I attempt to install it using NTFS it will usually get through the installation, but still have the problems previously listed.
I believe I have completely eliminated every possible source except for the CPU and motherboard (which I'm leaning towards), and would like assistance indetermining which one needs replaced. I cannot afford to buy a new computer or take it to a repair shop, so any help you could provide would be great.
Gracias!
P.S. I have looked at my motherboard's caps and none of them appear to be buldging, leaking, or separating from the motherboard.
HP Pavilion a810n desktop
AMD Athlon64 3300+
Asus K8S-LA motherboard
Integrated graphics (SiS)
Integrated audio (Realtek)
Out of warranty: 2 years old
When I first got the computer it worked perfectly. 8 months into it, however, I began having occasional problems where one or twice a week it would randomly crash to the BSOD. I assumed it was a software issue so I reinstalled Windows XP Home (OEM at the time) and it appeared to resolve it. As it turns out that was just a coincidence.
A few weeks later it picked up again, and as time has progressed the problems have become increasingly worse until recently:
* Crashes to the BSOD at least three times in a row at every cold boot.
* BSODs at least 5 additional times per day.
* Will randonly fail to load drivers for random devices.
* At least 20 Win32 errors a day concerning random programs.
* 5-10 times a day the system will freeze for a few seconds to a few minutes. The audio continues to work but all video freezes, as do all peripherals.
* Several times a week the system registry is corrupted, and I have had to use the Recovery Console 9 times in the past month to get Windows to boot due to missing system files.
* Cannot burn CDs or DVDs any longer...error message states it has been disabled on the drives.
* Cannot play video DVDs...they are 'recognized' as blank discs only.
* 19 different BSOD STOP codes, including IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR, SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, PP0_INITIALIZATION_FAILED, KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, ATTEMPTED_TO_WRITE_READONLY_MEMORY, BAD_POOL_CALLER, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, RESOURCE_NOT_OWNED, ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY, NDIS_INTERNAL_ERROR, and a vage "Fatal System Error" citing only "c000021a." There is no pattern.
* Connected a second IDE hard drive, which had been formatted but never used, and the primary hard drive suddenly became invisible and unbootable.
* Several times each day CPU usage will spike to 100% for a particular process as random, be it IE, Word, Belarc, a game, or even a system process. When that happens the CPU temp level will instantly jump up to 11C (from 54C to as high as 65C) and the fan speed will double. The motherboard and HD temps, however, do not increase and the case fans do not increase in speed. This continues until I manually terminate the task using Task Manager, at which time the reported temperature (be it Motherboard Monitor or any other utility) *immediately* returns to normal. Logically it should take time to return to normal if it is that hot. Leaving the case open does not make a difference and placing a thermometer next to the CPU and heatsink shows no change while this is happening. Again, odd.
* Will occasionally fail to boot citing a failing hard drive, even though SMART tests show each and every new hard drive I have used is fine.
All of these problems occur regardless of length of time running, normal mode or Safe Mode, running processies, or activities.
So far I have:
* Wiped the hard drive using both KillDisk and DBAN, then replacing the hard drive.
* Switching from XP Home (OEM) to retail copies of 2000 Pro, XP Pro, XP Pro. x64, and Vista.
* Disconnected EVERYTHING, including optical drives and 56K modem, except keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
* Installing the latest drivers.
* Replacing the IDE cables and checking all connections.
* Moved the computer to another location and purchased a new APC UPS.
* Ran Memtest86 and then replaced the RAM despite perfect results.
* Ran Prime95 stress test overnight...no problems.
* Cleaned the computer with compressed air.
* Tested and even replaced the default 250W Hipro PSU with an Antec 450W.
* Replaced the optical drives with known-good.
* Run only a clean installation of Windows, with NOTHING installed or connected.
Earlier this week it became even worse. I shut down one night and everything went smoothly, but after I booted the next morning I received an error concerning NTFS corruption. As soon as I connect my hard drive to another computer it crashes the other computer, and after reading through the Microsoft KB I have learned that I must connect it to a FAT-formatted system, renaming the NTFS.SYS file in advance, and then run chkdsk. I have not gotten around to that yet.
After that happened I inserted another clean hard drive and attempted to install Windows (all above versions, one after the other) using FAT32 as the format of choice. each time, however, the installation would crash to the BSOD, citing random errors, during installation. If I attempt to install it using NTFS it will usually get through the installation, but still have the problems previously listed.
I believe I have completely eliminated every possible source except for the CPU and motherboard (which I'm leaning towards), and would like assistance indetermining which one needs replaced. I cannot afford to buy a new computer or take it to a repair shop, so any help you could provide would be great.
Gracias!
P.S. I have looked at my motherboard's caps and none of them appear to be buldging, leaking, or separating from the motherboard.
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