I'm running a home-built system which consists mainly of a Athlon 64 3700+ cpu, an Asus A8N-E motherboard, an eVGA 7800GT video card, and 2gb of samsung ram. This system ran stable for a number of months until for no apparent reason I started running into two main issues which started at the same time and are likely related. Most annoying it'd freeze on an hourly basis. Primarily in games (HL2, Hitman Blood Money, Doom3) but occasionally just on the desktop it'd freeze after a few minutes to half an hour of being on. Most puzzling to me though is that it won't boot on the first attempt. When I press the power button the system will power up, fans will run, drive lights come up, but nothing happens on the screen, none of the usual bootup hard drives sounds occur, and no windows sounds happen after any time. BUT, if I leave it like this for a few minutes, then power it off and back on it will work perfectly (until it freezes in a game). This actually works quite reliably. I'll get home each day, turn it on, go make a snack while it sits there with its fans going but nothing happening, then come back, turn it off and on and then proceed with my computing. Excluding the freezing this isn't actually that annoying, but it can't be a good thing. Any ideas? A more experienced friend of mine said something about the motherboard capacitors, and/or the pci express slot for my videocard. Ideas?

You might need to do a memtest. To test your ram or harddrive. Also Might need to check to see if your graphics card is any good. Jim R

The need to warm up suggests to me a problem with the hard disk. The data on modern HDD is so tightly packed that as the drive warms up, the heads need to be re-calibrated to account for the slight expansion of the disk. This is done invisible to the user by the HDD hardware. It appears that the recalibration system isn't working as it should, but once the hard disk reaches a certain temperature, it boots up fine. As it gets hotter, the recalibration system fails again and it starts to get data errors. Go to the disk manufactures web site and download their diagnostic application - they all have them. Run the extended test and it should root out any problems with the hard disk. Stuart

Hi, Stuart has a good thought there. Listen closely to the HD as the machine boots. It may have a problem spinning up. Usually several tries gets it going. Indicates a soon to happen failure to spin at all. THe "Freezer Trick" can help if that happens. Luck, Jim

I had a similar problem, but it wasn't quite as repetitive, but the problem was with my having an accidental loop in my power supply. Anyway, for the freezing, it is possible that it is a heating issue or power issue. Your running a good video card, so it might be pulling alot of power. according to newegg, the evga geforce 7800GT, should have a 450W power supply with 18A on the 12 voltage rail. for a minimum. Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

If you don't get the initial beep and do not get a display, it's probably a poor connection on the motherboard. As things heat up or cool down they expand and contract. This can cause poor connections to make or break. These poor connections can even be inside of integrated circuits. But try reseating the motherboard connector. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

Hi, Freezing has nothing to do with over heated HD. It causes contraction of dissimilar metals and expansion as it warms up again. Sometimes breaks loose whatever is keeping the platter from spinning. Plater motors have practically no starting torque so any extra friction can keep the drive from spinning up. Temporary fix, so get your stuff off of it before you turn it off again or you will have to freeze it again. Good Luck, Jim