Trying to repair broken computer.

[mykah891]

1. Overview of the problem
   (Bought pc broken cheap from a friend who got it by mistake from dell.. she ran it for awhile then it crashed, she got sick of it and sold it to me.)
   
   
2. Full description of the problem and symptoms
   
   Computer will run fine for a few days/hours at a time, then blue screen, system has halted, hardware malfunction.
   
   Upon rebooting after, prompted with mem error in 1200/20 EH on slot 2.
   
   Sometimes will reboot fine and run for awhile, sometimes it halts.
   
   
3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?
   
   Worked for my friend for a week or two and then for me for a few days, but became intermittently more problematic lately.
   
   
4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
   
   Semi random, because sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.
   
   
   
5. I already tried these steps:
   
   Tried moving graphics card to second pci e slot, tried moving memory sticks from slots, removing some/rearranging some, different combos (4 1 gig sticks).
   
   Tried swapping hard drives.
   
   
   
   
6. My software:
   • Operating System Win xp32, when attempting to install win 64 bit promted with error that harddrive has virus or malfunction, but ran checkdisk came up clean, also tried swapping HD.
   • Antivirus
   • Firewall
     
     
   • My hardware
     • System brand & model
       
       Dell, intel c2duo e8500, not sure on motherboard brand/model, nvidia fx 1700 graphics card with 4 gigs ram ddr2, with dell power supply, when i checked on their website all the computers with this setup come with the 375w power supply.
       
       
       
     
     [/quote]

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I would suggest looking more closely at the ram although it's possible the motherboard is bad. Put a single stick of ram in and run one of the memory testers that will run from a bootable CD. That will at least tell you if the memory is good.

 

[bovinda]

RAM would be my first guess too, with mobo as the second guess. Try Memtest86+ and run it for awhile (though that's not foolproof, as I learned recently). Also try just running the system with just one or stick for awhile. Silly question maybe, but just in case: any dead fans in the case or on the mobo?