Crashes Galore Under XP Recently... HELP!!

[nmcglennon]

OK I built my own system last year, and it has been running smoothly ... until now. Basically it reboots and crashes suddenly without warning... I have no clue how or why this happens. Windows Online Crash Analysis mentions a conflict in the device drivers... but they all check up fine, and are "Windows XP certified". Once it said something about a AFS2K.SYS device driver causing trouble too. I also get random reboots when using my scanner, anything using DirectX, etc. I am really confused... I know a decent amount about computers and how they work (I am a CS major too) but this occurance is baffling me...

Maybe a motherboard error?

I tried reformatting adn reinstalling XP, but my computer crashes or gets stop errors (blue screens) during the installation process. I finally just settled, and reinstalled Windows over my previous copy, but things are still screwed up, and I get the random crashed and reboots again.

My system config is as follows:

AMD Athlon 2100+
2 DIMMS 128MB (ea) DDR-RAM PC2100
Soyo K7-333 Dragon Ultra Platinum MB
GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128MB
Win XP Pro w/ SP1 and all updates
IBM CD-RW (LG CED-8080B CD-RW)
Realtek RTL8139 Ethernat (Integrated)
2 Hard Drives (1: 120GB IBM, 2: 40 GB Western Digital)

Any thoughts? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!! Please respond!!!

 

[EeyoreX]

My usual thought with random crashes and BSODs is faulty RAM. Run memtest to see if you have a bad stick. Or, try running one stick at a time and see if your problem goes away with one and not the other. More often than not, RAM is the problem.

Good luck.

\Dan

 

[nmcglennon]

So you think it is the memory huh? Well I have no way of directly proving if thats it but I'll give it a shot with the memtest program. Where can I download that at?

 

[Green Man]

http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[snobgoblin]

do you have aol 8.0 my computer did that when i installed aol

 

[nmcglennon]

Nope no AOL...

Just standard email, Office, MSIE, Kazaa-lite, Photoshop, 3dsmax, games, etc...

 

[DTSS]

Hello, heres a thought about your problem! do you have a UPS on your system? If not, perhaps your Power Supply is faulty. You wouldn't think to look at them, but pc's are picky eaters. They subsist on a diet of uninterrupted, precisely regulated electricity. Provide too little power, and your system behaves erractically or completely blacks out. Provide too much, and its tiny circuits - each 1/400th the width of a human hair, or thinner- are permanently fried.

Goodluck - DTSS


* page 152 pc world april 2003

 

[nmcglennon]

You think upping the voltage in the BIOS for the CPU and such would gain more stability?

 

[nmcglennon]

I opened my computer and the HSF for my CPU was REALLY HOT, and the heatsink was clogged with dust so I guess the fan couldnt cool it. I think the computer was shutting down due to excessive heat, the chassis was like 89-90 degrees, and the CPU was 145 to 150 degrees!