Help with a problematic computer...

[Garet Jax]

I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my computer. I have taken out all components except for the chip, the RAM and the video card.

I have two chips:
AMD Duron 700 MHz
AMD Thunderbird 1.3 Ghz

I have two sticks of Crucial 256MB PC 133 SDRAM and I have a Hercules Kyro II Prophet 4500 video card.

The machine has posted with both sticks of the RAM, both chips and the video card, but it is not consistent.

My guess is that I have a faulty MB. Would you agree or would you try something else?

Thanks a lot.

 

[chocoruacal]

Memtest86...google for it. Faulty RAM is just about the easiest thing to troubleshoot first

 

[piasabird]

See if you have the part numbers on the little white sticker that should be on your RAM if it is real Crucial RAM. Write it down and go to the www.crucial.com and see if you can get a list of RAM that is compatible with your motherboard by using their upgrade memory selector. It should give you a list of Crucial RAM they say will work on your motherboard. Your Crucial RAM Part Number should be on that list. If your RAM is not on that list you have a compatibility issue possibly.

It can also be the video card. If you have an old PCI video card you might try that and see if your system keeps running.

Check to see if there is a CD that came with the motherboard. Sometimes you need to install addittional Chipset specific drivers for your motherboard to make it run right with your OS.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal
Memtest86...google for it. Faulty RAM is just about the easiest thing to troubleshoot first

I don't think it is the RAM because the system has posted successfully with both sticks and with each one individually. However, it has also had problems with both sticks of RAM. It isn't consistent.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: piasabird
See if you have the part numbers on the little white sticker that should be on your RAM if it is real Crucial RAM. Write it down and go to the www.crucial.com and see if you can get a list of RAM that is compatible with your motherboard by using their upgrade memory selector. It should give you a list of Crucial RAM they say will work on your motherboard. Your Crucial RAM Part Number should be on that list. If your RAM is not on that list you have a compatibility issue possibly.

It can also be the video card. If you have an old PCI video card you might try that and see if your system keeps running.

Check to see if there is a CD that came with the motherboard. Sometimes you need to install addittional Chipset specific drivers for your motherboard to make it run right with your OS.

I don't think it is a compatibility issue since this was a fully functional machine up until a week or so ago. It has been running for almost two years.

However, it is possible that the video card is the culprit. I will have to see if I can find another card. At worst, I can drop my domain server and take the Matrox Millenium from it for testing purposes.

 

[Garet Jax]

Other suggestions?

 

[Novgrod]

i've probably gone through just about every problem recently.

when does it crash--at a specific time or randomly? last go 'round i had a bad windows boot. It's hot outside; could it be heat-related?