I built a computer roughly 8 months ago and ever since I built it has been freezing blue screening restarting in odd places and under large CPU loads especially. Now I always thought that it was because it was overheating or something was incompatible. So I upgraded everything, BIOS, drivers, windows, fans, case and still no result though a major improvement. Now my system never exceeds 125F with the fan at 2400 revolutions. Then I thought about incompatible issues. I ran memory test, endless system diagnostics tests. All these tests came up clean. I was able to play games the largest load on system for about an hour before the system froze. Today it can play a game for about 20 minutes until it freezes. Now I believe strongly that the issue is a bad mother board. Why? When I first installed the board maybe it was a bit sketchy on quality and I didnt notice it until now. It is an ASUS K8V-X and I have heard that quality control of ASUS has decreased. Though I also heard it was a very good board- one of the reasons I brought it. So anyways maybe it was something in the board that slowly degraded over time and it is slowly getting worse. This is my first build ever so I am just shooting in the dark now upon what is wrong because I have little past experience and have tried everything else I can think of or read. Perhaps I touched or hit or didn’t ground myself properly when I installed the board. It could be any number of issues there, but that doesn’t really matter now. So I am asking if it could be a bad mother board, perhaps one of you computer experts has had an issue like this in the past and knows a solution before I spend $80 on a new board. Thanks for any input on this topic. This forum has helped me greatly and I appreciate the continued help. ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink

In a sense, your MB is bad---that is if the problem is what I think it is: bad RAM Sockets. I have a laptop with the EXACT same symptoms you described. It would freeze randomly, especially on CPU intense applications, and would get real hot sometimes. After a long search, it was the RAM sockets. Thank God I had only 1 stick of RAM in the laptop. Moving it from slot 1 to slot 2 fixed the problem. I am typing on the same laptop now, and it has never ran better. So, if you have 2 sticks of RAM installed, take 1 out, and leave the other in. Use the computer for awhile. If you still get the problems, take that stick out, and install the opposite module in the opposite slot. It helps us out if you keep us posted. So please do that if you can, Hope it helps! May God bless everyone along the Gulf Coast trying to recover from Katrina. But let this be a lesson for America to turn back to God.

I hate to see people just arbitrarily replacing stuff without taking the time to properly diagnose the problem. Sounds like a weak power supply to me. What's the make/model/wattage & how many amps are on the +12v rail? ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

I agree with the PSU. But you should set the system to post the BSOD and then post the error it gives you when the system halts. Right click on My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Startup and Recovery Settings and take the check mark out of Automatically Restart and then make sure Send and Administrative Alert and Write an event log have check marks in them. Next time your system halts write down the error and Post it here. <===Lefty===

Thanks for all the quick and though responses. So the first thing I did is the RAM switch. My board does not allow me to start with a RAM slot in the second slot- it kept freezing up. Second thing was the PSU. I have a 450W one I am unsure of make or model but it was around $50 though newegg. I also do not know how many amps or on my 12v rail. Sorry about this one I don’t know much more than W. Does it say anywhere else? Third my computer was already set to receive/save dumps. But I have no idea upon how to open them. Why are they so big? Mine are close to 1 gig. When it blue screens it sayings saving to disk then counts 1,2,3... is this supposed to happen. Thanks again for any help. ASUS K8V-X 1 gig RAM, Redaon 9250 AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case Zalman CNP Heatsink

"My board does not allow me to start with a RAM slot in the second slot- it kept freezing up." What exactly does this mean? Does it freeze the same way it does before? If so, that's your problem: The second ram slot is bad. Leave 1 stick in the first slot and see what happens. It could be the PSU, but I thought I'd better start with the RAM thing so you won't have to go out and spend more money just yet. May God bless everyone along the Gulf Coast trying to recover from Katrina. But let this be a lesson for America to turn back to God.

I too am having these same problems with my computer. I just now tried switching the RAM to a different slot and have been told before that it was my PSU, although I have yet to buy another one. anyway, my 12v rail is running at 11.71v idle. not sure what this means but I hope it helps.