Note: Please forgive my lack of technical jargon and know-how. I'm not very computer savvy.

This morning when I first turned on my computer, I was met with a black screen and the message that Vista was unable to communicate with my hard drive. (Or something similar; I can't recall exactly.) After resetting the computer a few times, it finally started normally. I ran an error check on the hard drive and did the tests at PC Pitstop. Everything seemed fine. Several hours later, I noticed that my internet connection wasn't working. However, I get my internet through a wireless router which is hooked up to our other computer, and the other computer's internet connection was working normally. I reset the router and modem and when that didn't work, reset my computer. I was then met with a totally black screen and the monitor told me it was getting no signal. I opened my computer case and the hard drive was cool and all the fans were spinning. When I touched the area on the top of the fan that fits over the processor, it seemed quite hot. It also looked a little dusty. I waited until everything felt cool and then used canned air to blow off the dust. When I turned on the computer, I again got a plain black screen. I reset, and this time everything started normally, but the date and time on my computer were wrong -- it was showing December 31, 2006.

The computer is only 2 1/2 months old and has worked flawlessly until today. What could be the problem?

Here's what I have:

Windows Vista Home Basic
Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W Power Supply
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Dual-Core Processor
Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit Video Card
Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Your cpu could be overheating. Can you go into the BIOS and check the temperature ? Also, it is possible that your CMOS battery needs to be replaced. That could cause the date and time on your computer to be wrong. Before replacing the battery, I would check all of your settings in the BIOS so you can restore them after changing the battery. Actually,your motherboard may have a dual BIOS-check your manual to se how to use that option if you replace the battery.

I hope I did this right...this is what I see re the temperature:

Current System Temperature 36C
Current CPU Temperature 37C
Current CPU Fan Speed 1068 RPM
Current System Fan1 Speed 1151 RPM

Everything in there feels cool to the touch right now, but as I said, earlier the area around the processor was hot, much more so than it is now.

I have no idea what a CMOS battery is. I didn't even know computers had batteries. (I feel like such a dummy!) Why would the battery need to be replaced if it's less than 3 months old? Is there any way to test it to see if there is a problem with the battery? If it's faulty, wouldn't that be covered by the warranty?

Thanks so much for trying to help me. I really appreciate it.

"I have no idea what a CMOS battery is. I didn't even know computers had batteries"

CMOS is a small chip on the motherboard that stores the hardware configuration settings...one of them being the date/time. The battery maintains power to the CMOS chip so that the settings stay in memory when the computer is completely shutdown or unplugged. The fact that the date reset seems to point to a bad battery. It's a lithium coin type battery, about the size of a nickel. They're about $5 & you can find them just about anywhere...drugstore, supermarket, Kmart, Radio Shack, etc. You don't necessarily have to go to a computer shop.

Oh...more symptoms, I'm afraid. I was just off to bed and when I tried to shut down the computer for the night, it restarted instead. It's done this twice now. I'm totally baffled.

I'm too tired now to stick around and try to figure out a solution, so for now I'm just going to unplug it and will see what happens in the morning.

BTW, nicely configured system. Decent component "blend" without going overboard...who built it?

Thanks jam. I decided how much I wanted to spend and did some research (mostly at "Tom's Hardware") and then ordered from Newegg. My son built it for me. I'm going to call him and ask him to replace the battery. That's probably a bit over my head, and my husband is pretty hopeless when it comes to things like that.

The computer did start normally today and the date/time are correct.

Again, thanks so much for all your help. I never would have figured this out on my own.

The fact that your CPU heatsink was very hot that one time might indicate that you have a fan problem. It might be failing to start sometimes. Fans are inexpensive and pretty easy to replace. If you decide to change it, get one with ball bearings, they are much more reliable.