Video Card? Hard Drive? Virus?

Have been experiencing some problems with my system in general, heres the specs as they are at the moment:

Asus P4C800 Vanilla
P4 2.8C HT
80GB Maxtor HDD
Win XP Pro SP1
Video Card - ok i know this is lame but ill explain below - Rvia TNT2 Model 64

Alright, ill try to be as precise as i can. Basically, i HAD a radeon 9800 pro but it died and i couldnt warranty it so ive had to stick an old card in my system, the tnt2 m64. As far as i know the card checks out fine and has no hardware problems. I take good care of my old stuff even when im not using it any more. So i replaced my 9800 with that until i can afford a new card with some punch. Basically i just want system functionality.
So my system starts acting up - the cursor hangs, the CPU usage jumps to 100% randomly, with no re-creatable pattern that i can see. So i think i have a virus and scrub my system totally, full format, and reinstall clean with winXP pro Sp1 non pirate. Get it all set up with basically no programs or games. Same issue - CPU usage jumping to 100%, cursor hanging.
So i figure it cant be software. i dont know what the CPU usage jumps mean at all so im hoping someone here can help. I really cant aford to replace my card right now so i need to be pretty sure that it really IS the video card and not the HDD or something else. Ive run Sandra 2005 and all the benchs (cpu, mem hdd) seem to check out fine within my system specs.
The cursopr hangs seem to be getting longer and the cpu jumps are more frequent, which is freaking me out. I cant find anything in my specs to suggest what might be causing it.
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, that would be great :S
Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums 🙂

A raw WindowsXP SP1 installation is a total sucker for worm infection directly from your modem. You don't have to open a browser, just plug the computer into the modem and suddenly it has 50 computers saying "would you like some candy, little girl? :evil: " and your raw WinXP SP1 installation is such a 'tard that it says "sure, guys, I'd like some of your candy 🙂 " and now you have worms. If you have a firewall (either a software firewall, or a router with a hardware firewall, or both) then you're protected, as long as the firewall was in place before the computer got hooked to the modem*. Average time to infection (raw Windows, no firewall) is about 20 minutes these days, I hear.

So basically... was your computer firewalled at all times before and during your installation of Windows? If not, maybe this guide will help, I made it precisely for getting a new WinXP install up without worm infection. There are also tips for securing the system for the long haul. Hope that helps 🙂 Yeah, basically I'm saying start from the top and take these precautions.



*if you have other computers on "your side" of the router's firewall, then only your software firewall will protect you if one of these other computers catches a worm. This includes a poorly-secured wireless access point that others nearby could use (dorm, whatever).

 

[stevty2889]

I would suggest running memtest86 to make sure your memory is ok, and also what do you have for a PSU(brand and wattage)?

 

The PSU is an enermax 420watt, but i think i may have found the problem. In my mobo manual (online version only for some stupid reason) it lists that i cant use 3.3v video cards, and this old card im using IS 3.3v aparently. Dont know why its having this effect, would have thought it wouldnt work at all but i guess ill have to try a new one.

Thanks for the suggestion though, i will try that out.
Cheers

 

[stevty2889]

Ouch, 3.3v video card could have damaged your motherboard..