Hello everyone! This is my first build, although I've spent plenty of time fixing old computers for friends/family that I'm pretty experienced, but this one problem has me baffled: my computer will randomly shut down (sometimes BSOD (due to driver issues which cannot be resolved yet) sometimes instantly black) and upon restart the heatsink's fan will not spin, and as such the BIOS will refuse to let the OS load. I'm using the stock heatsink (which has a pretty nice heatsink (large, copper wiring) as it is a gaming CPU, not sure about the fan's quality though). Should I look into replacing the fan with another, removing and readjusting the heatsink, or possibly plugging the fan into a different set of pins? I have an ASUS M2A-MVP motherboard in a Raidmax Sagitta case (120mm incurrent and excurrent fans, 80mm side fan (blowing in towards CPU/heatsink), and fans in the PSU (Raidmax 630W modular--not the PSU from the case). Updated the BIOS and all applicable drivers, etc. Not entirely sure as to what the CPU's temperature is at the time of restart, but as it varies and the restarts never occur during gaming (Oblivion, Jade Empire, World of Warcraft, nothing!) I don't think it's a CPU overheating issue. Any ideas? This is my main beast of burden as my laptop is starting to show some wear and tear after only a year and I need it to be in peak condition with no random reboots! Thank you!!!! :D

BSOD problems are mostly caused by bad RAM module and failing motherboard. The first thing I'd would do is to strip down the system to the minimal. i.e CPU, RAM, GPU and 1 HD only and run "Memtest86" to see if you get any RAM errors. If you do not get any errors, then make sure the CPU is not overclock and the power supply is not going out. Go into the BIOS and check for vcore, +3.3v +5v and +12v. As far as your fan does not spin after reboot, maybe you have Cool-n-Quiet enabled in the BIOS?? TMP-Man Asus P5P800 PAT P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5 2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400 120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD Leadtek 7600 AGP 590/1600 VF700 ALCU AS5

my friend had the same problem today and it was bad ram. he was getting the irq less or equal to bsod and bsod sys.error. he took out all the ram except one and tested it and the pc just had a black screen. he took that ram module out and left it to one side and tried all the other ram modules and it works perfect now. try using one ram module at a time. might not be a fix for your problem but worth a try

plus i forgot to add that his cpu fan would not turn with the bad ram installed and he had to give it a nudge to get it moving.but like i said it was fixed after he got rid of the bad ram module and the fan has not had a problem since.

Good question from TMP-Man about Cool'n Quiet...if it's enabled, disable it. And testing your RAM with Memtest86 or Memtest86+ is another good suggestion. What about your BIOS settings? Did you manually configure them or are you running defaults? If you know you have a driver issue that's causing the BSOD, simply remove the offending driver, run Driver Cleaner Pro to clean up after the uninstall, then reinstall the lastest driver. Radimax is not known for making great power supplies. Regardless that the 630W modular is not the el-crappo that probably came with the case, it's still a Raidmax. I would have chose a different brand.

Well, I went and tried to turn off the Cool 'n Quiet today and then I restarted, nothing started. I figured I'd screwed up and reset the CMOS. Still nothing. I called my friend (didn't check the message boards, should have done it first!) and he suggested I remove one of the 2 RAM chips, and what do you know, one of my G.SKILL chips was dead. I ordered another set from newegg.com (in case I don't get the memory before I have to leave for college) and I'm RMA'ing this one, so I'll have 8GB of RAM @.@ I dont' think I quite need that much yet, but I'll have my system's max installed and it'll be ready for whatever comes. Thank you everyone!