This Defies Logic!!!

[Tiamat]

Greetings all. Some of you may have read my previous posts on this matter, but some new, disturbing elements have arisen. Im in some deep woe with my system and its bluescreen/werid corruption issues.

 

About a couple of months ago i started recieving bluescreens randomly when cruising the net. Figured it might be an issue with ethernet or IRQ but it wasnt. It started happening when watching videos with any media player. usually within about five minutes.

Then the bluescreens started occuring randomly all over the place and windows bagan to operate sluggishly until eventually system files became corrupt. In the end it wouldnt boot because apparently certain files were missing.

 

Suspecting the obvious culprit (my 2x1gb PC4000 ballistix) led me to the discovery that one stick had gone bad, while the otjher was memtest stable after 8 hours. I reinstalled windows with the one good stick and all was well for a couple of days. Then it started again.

Weird thing is that even though these BSODs occur randomly at any point, if i manage to get a game started i can play for hours on end without a problem Online or off. I figured it must be my windows HDD because all my games and music are stored on a seperate drive and they seem fine.

 

So i attempted to install windows on this HDD instead to see how it went. To my dismay when windows was copying setup files it kept telling me that certain files could not be copied. So i tried again with the original HDD. Same thing happened. the files it could not copy vary every time. Perhaps the IDE DVD Drive then? Nope.

After six hours of trying to reinstall windows It eventually decided to copy all setup files and install without a problem. Once in windows I clicked on the start menu and BLUE SCREEN!

 

So I figured it was not a problem with either of my HDDs or my DVD drive. I knew the RAM was fine. I proceeded to try each of my GFX Cards alone and remove the sound card, then install fresh again. Still the same. Seeing how random this issue seemed to be, I deduced that it was either PSU, CPU or Motherboard related, but like I said, when i can actually get a game working...it works fine for as long as i wish to play.

 

Surely if one of these major components was under too much stress, or worse on its way out completely, such a hardware heavy task such as gaming would bring the problem to light? CPU, RAM, GFX Cards, Sound Card and PSU are all put under heavy load when playing the latest games, and yet games are the one application of my system I can count on to run smoothly and without error.

 

I am using BIOS settings that have served me well since all this hardware was installed about 9 months ago. The only thing I can think of here is that maybe my motherboard is dying, but once again...surely an issue that serious would prevent me playing a game (when i can stay in windows long enough to install them) without fail.

 

All of my equipment is still under at least a two year warranty, and lifetime in some cases, but i need to find the cause befor i start sending stuff away. I am really at a loss to what is going on here and I really need help to diagnose what is causing this.....cheers for your attention!

[red930]

Are all these attempts to reinstall the OS with your Creative Sound card installed ?

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

ok well this may sound stupid, but something that caught my attention was the error copy xp files while installing, i had an issue like this with a bad ide hdd cable

check ur cables

[Tiamat]

I have tried installing the operating system wihtout the XFI and only one GFX card. On the few occasions when the windows setup files will actually copy....I have removed my IDE DVD drive altogether before continuing with the installtion on the hard drive. Once into windows...the problems persist.

[red930]

Is it posable you have the OS installed on more then one drive?

[Tiamat]

When these problems began, I had only one operating system on my first HDD. When I eventually formatted and reinstalled it was on the same drive. Thinking it was the hard drive causing the problems, I installed to my other HDD (after repeated attempts) and unhooked my first drive to see if it was actually the culprit.

 

Unfortumately whenever I use the second HDD alone I get to POST and I am greeting with the message 'Disk Boot Failed, Please Insert System Disk And Press Enter'. I found this a bit weird, because my floppy drive is disabled anyway (I dont have one) and the first drive boots fine when its connected alone. I have tried using the cables that connected the first drive but the only way I can have Windows boot from this new installation is by making this drive the secondary and choosing the operating system from the menu. So, yeah....I have two OS now.

[Tiamat]

If that was a bit unclear (sorry) the only way I can boot my new windows installation from the other HDD is to have the HDD that I though may be faulty connected and choose to boot the new OS install in the menu. its as if my comp just doesnt like my second HDD being connected alone. Even when using the cables form the first.

[Kingfisher]

Looks to me like your power supply is too weak. Does it have a 12v EPS 8-pin connector?

 

I would try a different PSU if you can borrow a friends or something. Make sure you get one from the recommeded list under my sig.

Also, are you positive your RAM is stable? You can follow the stability testing programs link as well. Good stuff from Praz there.

[red930]

well your going to have to pick a drive for a boot drive . and pull the other drive out on line and do a repair or a new install. and before installing the other drives you will have to make sure the bios uses that drive

[Tiamat]

Hmmm, if my 530w PSU was not supplying what was required....then i think that by removing a second GFX and XFI card i would surely have enough. unless of course it is busted and giving me an inconsistent supply. Is there any chance my mobo is on the blink here?

[red930]

I would have to say 98% chance of that is NO About the M/B

And the Crucial Ballistix PC4000 About 90% yes

But like I said having more then one OS on a system is a No No unless you tell the bios witch one to use

[Tiamat]

Right....Its not the ballistix. Like I said, memtest stable after 8 hours and I tried it in my friends DFi machine and it works fine. I have tried each of my HDD connected alone with an operating system and still the problem continues. I can think of only two things it could be; the PSU or the Mobo. Im going to try another PSU in a couple of days but I dont see how I could have this problem for the past month and yet still manage to play Oblivion and Battlefield without error if I was recieving an inconsistent power supply. Im really baffled!!!