I had a weird problem with my computer. I had used it fine for a year and a half, when all of a sudden it just died. I've had problems before where it would shutdown randomly or freeze up once in awhile, but this was extrememly rare. Today, however, it froze three times. The first two times, the screen image became garbled (the colours went weird) which is what has happened during the few times my computer has frozen before (I assume it's the integrated graphics screwing up or overloading the RAM). I just restarted the computer normally, and everything worked. The third time, it was more odd -- the image was just stuck on the monitor; no moving the mouse until utlimately freezing, no grabled images, nothing. When I restarted this time, the computer wouldn't start up. You could hear the CD-Roms starting up, but no image on the monitor would come up, and no "beep" as the computer was turning on. I restarted again, and the Asus startup screen showed up, only to get stuck and turn into random colours. I restarted again. This time, nothing happened. The Cd-roms won't even start up. I tried switching components with another compatible P4 to try to figure out what happened. The CPU wouldn't work in the other system. The RAM was also fried. I could read the hard drive though, as a slave drive on the second PC (I figure that it'd work as a master but I'd have to reinstall XP). When trying to use my motherboard with the other's computer's RAM, processor, and video card, the computer would start up, but say it couldn't find a boot drive. The BIOS would only allow a floppy drive as a boot drive (even tho there isn't one on the computer) and didn't detect the CD-Roms or hard drives. Did my computer just die all of a sudden? I don't really know what happened, because from what it seems, the processor, ram and motherboard may have all gone. Could the system have overheated or shortcircuited? I have the RAM and CPU under warranty, and didn't overclock, so that shouldn't be a problem. Here's my system before it died: Asus P4P800-VM P4 2.6 512 MB Azenram Integrated graphics 300W Power Supply Intel-supplied heat sink

Well it certainly sounds serious. Look at the capacitors on the motherboard. (Those black canister shaped items that have a silver bottom. They usually have an X design on the end that you look at.) If any of them have a "rounded" silver surface; then that capacitor if fried. The X is there to allow for expansion during a power surge or overheating. Let us know what you find.

Nope. From the looks of it, all the capacitors are fine. So I still really wonder what might have happened.

Well, I tried plugging it in today again with another compatible power supply and some new ram to see if that was the problem. It started smoking up. I shut it down quickly, but the room's still filled with smokey smell. How disappointing. This was the first comp I'd built myself. I guess I'll see if I can get the CPU and RAM replaced (it's still under warranty) and maybe get a barebones off Tiger Direct. I guess that's the risk you get with DIY. You think I should bring it in to the shop and have them look at it to see what happened? Or is it just time to pitch it at this point?

Hi, Same problem here. I am using the Asus motherboard, P4 2.6. I bought it about 1.5 years back. Recently the machine started rebooting, initially i thought it was a virus problem on XP and didn't bother about it, since i use FC3 as the primary OS. But the problem got worse and worse. After reboot the PC would go automatically to the BIOS -> CPU speed and on the right side would display the error that the system hung previusly due to improper cpu speed. But the system has stoppped booting now :(. Intially i hear the CD-ROM buzz for a sec then it dies and the monitor wont start. If you have found out what is the cause of this problem, Please mail the solution to me. Regards, utteerna