I have a workstation that just randomly dies with different errors. I get Blue Screen o' Deaths, startup errors (saying that XYZ file is corrupted, but rebooting will end up with a different error), random reboots and crashes, so on and so on. Just about any error you can think of, this workstation has seen it. It's like you get a different error each time you reboot. Sometimes I can get so far as logging into Windows, but I just have to sit at the desktop for a short while before it crashes. Now, based on the extremely random nature of these errors, what component do you think could be bad? The power supply maybe? I've tested the RAM and there don't seem to be any problems there... It's a fresh install of W2K Pro, but it's happened with Win XP, too. I'm 99.9999% certain it's a bad hardware part, but I'm just not sure which one. P4, 1.6Ghz, 512 RAM, 8Gb Hard Disk (it's a spare, but it's all good). Custom-built. - Jonathan

My guesses #1 RAM #2 Hard drive #3 Power supply or connector #4 Motherboard #5 CPU

As you said the Ram is fine my main guess is the power supply. It's also possible that the cpu is overheating. Something like your problem nearly drove me crazy years ago and there it was a broken cpu fan on a PentiumI 133MHz! Install Motherboard Monitor 5 or a similliar program and you know if it's a heat problem! BTW: You installed Win2000 on a 8GB drive ??? What else does there fit then ??? I ask because my XP partition (only XP and drivers on it) is now over 6GB big!) with only around 600MB left and ME is working hard to catch up to that (just had to size up 1GB after the free space got down to 67MB)!

It should not take 6 GB to install XP fresh, not even close. I want to say the last install I did was less than 1 total. As to the posters issue I would guess a cheap mobo with a Nvidia graphics card. Just a guess tho. You will have to do some process of elimination to find out what it is.

Well, Win2k fresh install is roughly 1.2 gigs. This machine really isn't going to be saving much of anything on its HD, so it needs very, very little space. I was almost certain it was the power supply and so I went out, bought one, and just finished replacing it. Same problems, except the power supply isn't dusty anymore. One "enlightening" problem is that the computer sometimes doesn't send a video signal - it just powers on, and sits there humming with a black screen (before BIOS). If I turn it off, wait 10 seconds, and turn it back on, there's a chance that the display will work again. Another enlightening problem is the computer sometimes freezes during the BIOS. These same problems happened on another hard drive previously, so I'm fairly certain it's not the hard drive. It's definitely not a software issue. I've removed the RAM chips individually (I have two 256 chips), and the problems still happen when either or both of them are in there. I wanted to install Intel's Active Monitor to check the heat and power levels but the problem is getting worse - I can't even get to the Windows screen anymore. However, the system fan and the CPU fan are both working - I can see them when I boot up with the case open. So now I'm back to my worst fear - it's the motherboard or the CPU. I have no idea how to test them other than using a different CPU in my motherboard and then to test my CPU by putting it into a different motherboard. Unfortunately, I don't have easy access to different P4 chips or differnet P4 motherboards, so that might be a problem. Suggestions? - Jonathan

Thanks for doing something against my curiosity Jonathan. My system runs for over 3 years now so it's quite blown up as I do all sort of things with it. About your problem there's not much more I can suggest beside taking everything out that's not really necessary. Just take the board, cpu, ram and videocard and see if you get any problems to reach the bios. If that works then it's neiter one of these components and has to be something else! About the testing maybe you can find a computer shop that does the testing for a reasonable price!