Hi guys, I got a Athlon XP 1800+ ,GA-7VTXH+ mobo,256mb ddr,geforce2 mx400 64MB,samsung 40GB,PSU 300W Every thing was running perfectly until yesterday.I was playing Mohaa after finishing RTCW. This Morning when i turned on my PC ,windows XP showed me the Blue screen of death!!!!!! Then i booted to my Loyal Mandrake Linux 8.2. It seemed to work fine. When trying to Reinstall windows XP from the CD , i got file copy errors.This didnt happen b4. Then i decided to install Win98se from CD ..tats too gave a similar file copy error !!!!!!!!!! Then i copied Win98se to the HDD from Linux and installed win98se from HDD.The setup went fine. But after installing all drivers (VGA,Sound card,NIC). I found out tat the system is hanging after a few mins of playing games. Directx 8.1 and latest NVIDIA drivers are installed. I have tried both w/ VIA 4 in 1 and w/o VIA 4 in 1 it made no difference. Things i have done: a)Changed ram slot. b)Tested CD drive ( LG 24x10x40x writer) c)Removed gfx card and reseated it. d)I have tried both with BIOS optimized and BIOS Failsafe settings. These have made no diff :( I have not oc the system. +5Vsb between +4.970 to +4.990 +12V between +12.410 to +12.480 +5V between +4.860 to +4.890 +3.3V between +3.260 to +3.280 Vcore between +1.740 to +1.760 Note : I ran Hot CPU pro lite version for nearly 3 hrs. Nothing happened. System stable. Bus as soon as i stated 3dmark2k i got blue screen !!! And also the system hanged after 15-20 when running burn in memory test . I suspect the PSU. Somebody plz help !!!

It sounds like you have a bad memory stick. Try downloading a bootable tester, like from www.simmtester.com, and see what it tells you.

I ran the simtester burn in memory test. It ran well for 20 mins passing all tests. After that the system hanged. My voltages are a bit fluctuating. +5Vsb between +4.970 to +4.990 +12V between +12.410 to +12.480 +5V between +4.860 to +4.890 +3.3V between +3.260 to +3.280 Vcore between +1.740 to +1.760

Your voltages are fine. The flucations are normal. If I was in your boat I would try a different video card first and see what happens. Could be bad video/faulty video memory which can wreck havoc on a system. About the only thing you can do though is good old trial and error, replace this and that and see what happens till you find the problem. I personally though would start with the video card. KTTD

Well guys, Thanx for all the suggestions. The culprit was the DDR stick. I got it replaced and everything went fine. Thnx again Happy Troubleshooting!!!