possible motherboard issues

[wildstrike1516]

Recently i have been having a problem with my PC and i am having a hard time nailing the sorce down. My PC will randomly (or appear to be random) and lock up. I will be forced to restart my computer, only to discover it doesn't detect my hard drives. I first thought this was a hard drive issue, so i purchased a new one. After installing it and installing windows, the same thing happened again. I put my old hard drive back in since it seemed to NOT be the problem. I plugged them in to different ports this time. Everything worked fine for about a day, then my PC started restarting before it got into windows. I went through this several times then tried booting windows into safe mode. My pc restarted again, but this time it booted into windows. I have not had a problem with it restartng for two days now, but my internet is really really slow. Also looking at files is slow, and i have even had some weird sound issues, even though i have a sound card not onboard sound. I guess i am trying to figure out if this is a mobo issue, or is this something else. I have limited money for upgrading, and was hoping to purchase a new 8800gt, but looks like this is going to have to go toward a new MOBO cpu combo. Here is what i have inside


AMD 4400+ (939)
board is a ASUS sli deluxe n-force 4 (socket 939)
Antec 500W smart power 2.0 PSU (i think its called smartpower)


Thanks for any help, also if you need more info let me know please

 

[robisbell]

Hi, could you get me following info please.

Motherboard BIOS Revision and Model:
CPU Manufacturer and Model:
RAM Manufacturer and Model:
Anything else you think is relevant:

 

[wildstrike1516]

I will get you the info once i get off work. The only thing i can tell you is i am using an AMD 4400+X2. Other than that i know i have DDR 2700 ram, and 2gb of it. Also I think my board is an A8N - SLI but i am not 100 percent. I will check once i get home.

 

[robisbell]

well, when you can, let me know, I'll need it to check the basics. thanks.

 

[WildHorse]

wildstrike1516,

Sounds frustrating, with so many different ways that problems are manifesting for you.

If it was me, as a first step I'd clear CMOS. Power off, physically unplug the power cable from the back of the psu, pop out the cmos button battery, and move the jumper over to the "clear" position.

Some guys are convinced that the charge is cleared instantly, but based on experience where apparently dead motherboards were resurrected by letting it "clear" for many hours, I personally believe it's better to let it sit at the "clear" position for a while. Say 10 minutes +.

Then put it all back, and boot into bios to check you various bios settings.

Reemphasizing, this is suggested as a first step in your fix.

 

[wildstrike1516]

I know this sounds weird, but i changed out all of my sata cables last night, and i have not had a single problem since. I am going to give it some more time before I completely rule that this was the problem, but so far it seems that way

 

[robisbell]

bad SATA cables? that's new, to be causing the problem.

 

[wildstrike1516]

I have never heard of this happening before, to anyone I know. Its just an idea though. My old sata cables where over 3 years old though. I played the new call of duty game well into the night and didn't have any lock ups, but i had a lock up/unable to detect hard drive happen last night, before i switched them.

 

[robisbell]

well, try turning off the PC, let it sit for an hour then turn it on.