MSI K8N Neo Platinum Starting to Act Funny

[TrentJ]

First here are my specs:

MSI K8N Neo Platinum nForce 3 Bios 1.9
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle (stock speed not overclocked)
Corsair CMX512-3200C2 Ram (2 for 1GB total)
MSI ATI 9800 Pro Video Card
Antec TruePower 380 Power Supply (came with Sonata case)
Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
Windows XP Pro SP2

First I plan on buying a new PC in the next month or two and would like this one to work properly so I can sell it.

I built this PC about 3 years ago. Everything ran fine for a year or so. Then every once in a while the PC will instantly shut down with a message that states that my video card does not have the power cable attached. Usually I just hit the power button and it would boot back up and run fine for months. That is the first strange problem.

The second strange problem started about 2 months ago. The PC would just freeze and I would have to hard reboot. And then it would take like 10+ mins to boot up. It always seemed to hang during the memory check part of the boot. I tried to use the LED bracket that came with the motherboard to troubleshoot but it seems to not work correctly.

So I decided to check the ram. At first I had the ram in Slot 1 & 2. So I moved to Slot 2 & 3. Same thing. Then I decided to run just 1 DIMM in slot 1...bingo booted up like normal. I tried the other DIMM in slot 1 and it worked as well. I then put only 1 DIMM in slot 2 and ran Memtest...tons of errors. I then moved that DIMM to slot 3 and ran Memtest...it wouldn't even run. But with the DIMM in slot 1 Memtest runs fine.

So I have been running my PC on 1 DIMM/Slot 1 (512 MB ram). But now my computer makes a random beep every once in a while. I don't know if it is from my power supply, motherboard, etc... Plus the PC is just slow with only 512 ram.

I thought that my motherboard had two bad DIMM slots but now I think my power supply is going bad? Any ideas? I really need to fix this so I can sell it.

Thanks for you help.

P.S. - I don't have any extra parts around so it is hard for me to swap power supplies, motherboards, etc...

 

[Quiksilver]

MemTest86. Test your Ram.

 

[robisbell]

okay, is the appropriate power cable connected to the video card?

okay a few things to do and check.

1. go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and have if scan all files and drives on your pc. post what it finds.

2. then go to http://ultimatebootcd.com and get the iso, burn it to a cd and reboot with said cd. then from the menu choose memtest86+ run that for 6 hours and post the results. then run stresscpu for 6 hours and post the results.

3. then go to http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php and install PC Wizard and post the temp and voltage screenshot.

 

[TrentJ]

Thanks for the quick response. However, I did mention that I already ran Memtest on the ram.

Zero errors when running either DIMM in Slot 1 only. Thousand of errors when running either DIMM in Slot 2 only. Memtest does not even run with either DIMM when in Slot 3 only.

The video card power cable is plug in correctly. Like I said it was working fine for a year or so and then started this problem but happens every once in a while.

I also forgot to mention that I have even tried doing a complete fresh install of XP to see if I had spyware or something.

Robisbell...I will post what I find. Thanks!

 

[robisbell]

if they errored out in slot 2, and not slot 1, then it's a bad motherboard.

 

[TrentJ]

I only have 1 DIMM installed and have it located in Slot 2 and Memtest errors like crazy. I do the same thing in Slot 3 and Memtest doesn't even run. Slot 1 works great.

Here are the volts/temps:

Voltage CPU = 1.16V
+3.3V Voltage = 3.23V
+5V Voltage = 4.76V
+12V Voltage = 11.92V

Processor Temp = 34C
Mainboard Temp = 30C
Power/Aux Temp = 41C

So you think it is the motherboard? Hard to find a Socket 754 board to replace.

 

[Quiksilver]

Oh, I missed that you said you ran memtest. Anyway it does sound like the problem is indeed your motherboard.