About six months ago a few friends and I built a new PC for me that was mostly intended for gaming. Problem is, is that it's got bugs up to the fans. Hardware specs are as follows: MB CHTECH VNF4/Ultra NFORCE4/ULTRA = MOBO AMD 64 |3200+ ATHLON 64 939P = CPU HD 120GB|WD 7200 SATA2 WD1200JS = HDD CORSAIR D400 512MX2 VS1GBKIT400 = RAM VGA GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128 6600GT = VC COMBO|AOPEN COM5232/AAP = CD/RW/DVD The problems include games not installing correctly (mostly crashing when InstallShield starts up), games not running after being installed (hanging and crashing at launch screen), and loss of memory to the point of crashing (endless "Out of System Resources" windows pop up). I'm rather frustrated with the situation, and as something of a hardware illiterate I don't really know where to start to fix the problems. Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Nucker

First of all make sure the motherboard didn't set by default the cas latency(check your memory timings) lower than 2.5

These issues... Were they always there, or did they begin well after the initial build? Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina! www.redcross.org

List your psu also with amperage on the +12v

Teddryo: I'm fairly illiterate, and am not sure how to check these settings. Do I do this through windows or will I need to do it before windows boots up? heropsycho2177: The problems with installation and program responses have been occurring since we assembled the machine - they first became apparent when trying to install legal copies of Doom 3 and Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but these problems were routed by using noCD patches. I was able to use the programs but experienced semi-regular crashes and memory drops. Other games have followed - those with recent installation programs seem to have the most trouble installing, and even older games which install normally will have trouble initializing. indigian: The power supply is an Orion 420W XP400 model and has an amperage of 17A at +12V.

Correction to the above - I guess it's actually a 350W psu, not a 420.

"heropsycho2177: The problems with installation and program responses have been occurring since we assembled the machine - they first became apparent when trying to install legal copies of Doom 3 and Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but these problems were routed by using noCD patches." Okay, that's a problem. Not to slam noCD hacks, but you shouldn't use them a remedy to a problem. There is absolutely no reason you should have to use one to fix a problem. Would have been better to pursue the issue and fix the root cause instead of this workaround. Also, introducing these types of hacks could lead to other problems that further complicate the issue. Often, they even contain malware which could explain some of the odd behavior. Bottom line: It may end up being in your best interest to start over and erase your hard drive, and install your OS from scratch to make sure your system hasn't been infected, etc. to ensure these aren't possibilities. But I'll assume your machine isn't infected for the time being. "The problems include games not installing correctly (mostly crashing when InstallShield starts up), games not running after being installed (hanging and crashing at launch screen), and loss of memory to the point of crashing (endless "Out of System Resources" windows pop up)." First off, it helps tremendously to give exact error code wording, etc. For example, what did the error code on the blue screen say? Are there corresponding errors in your event logs? First off... Are you running the most recent drivers for your hardware? Did you update most importantly your motherboard chipset drivers? www.nvidia.com Video drivers? (same site) If not, do that first, and make sure you follow the directions closely. I would also recommend backing up any important data before doing so. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina! www.redcross.org