[General Battuta]

The various parts for my new computer have arrived off NewEgg. With the help of a more technically proficient friend, I assembled it.

The general stats: Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 GHZ, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, a Radeon HD 4870 video card, Asus P5H-Q motherboard (I think that was the model number?). Antec case with three big fans, 700W PSU. Running Windows XP, SP2.

We haven't quite managed to get the damn thing stable yet. Windows installs smoothly, but once you actually boot to windows, the computer abruptly and randomly restarts anywhere between thirty seconds and five minutes since startup.

We've swapped out the hard drive, tried different Windows installed, checked for the problem with and without graphics drivers, changed SATA settings in the BIOS, and flashed the BIOS. No luck!

Ironically, the only time it became stable was when we pulled all the components out of the case, set the motherboard on my desk, and ran everything there. However, the case itself doesn't seem to be the source of the problem...I'm hoping it's a software issue with the motherboard rather than a defective motherboard (specifically SATA controller) itself.

Ideas, anyone?

[castor]

I guess you have triple checked that the CPU fan is properly seated?

[BloodEagle]

Suggestions (one at a time, mind you):

Swap out the graphics card(s).

Swap out the RAM.

Put in an ATA disk with its own OS.

Swap out the PSU.

-----

Of course, if you have a spare (working) motherboard, you could just put everything on that.

[General Battuta]

It can't be a CPU fan problem because it did run perfectly smoothly for that a couple hours at one point.

It could be the graphics card, but why then would the problem occur regardless of whether or not there were graphics drivers present? If I'm correct, the computer can't use the graphics card without drivers, right?

The RAM is probably stable for the same reason as #1. Similarly the power supply.

And we did swap in an ATA disk with its own OS. Exact same symptoms! (Linux won't even install.)

[MP-Ryan]

Ironically, the only time it became stable was when we pulled all the components out of the case, set the motherboard on my desk, and ran everything there. However, the case itself doesn't seem to be the source of the problem...I'm hoping it's a software issue with the motherboard rather than a defective motherboard (specifically SATA controller) itself.

So without the case, all the components ran as a functioning machine for a significant amount of time?

If that's the case, you have a motherboard grounding problem, or something isn't seated properly.  My bet would be RAM - less-than-perfect RAM conditions cause all kinds of bizarre things.

And did you guys check the event log to see what's causing the reboot?

[General Battuta]

Good question, I'll ask.

Preemptive question -- is the event log located in the BIOS or in Windows?

(And, by the way, ASUS said it was a motherboard short or grounding problem as well. Would this fit with the profile -- that it only crashes during Windows operation, not during bootup or installation of Windows or any amount of tinkering with the BIOS?)

(Also, does it fit with the fact that the computer hangs for a moment and sometimes shows a BSOD for a second or two before restarting, while other times simply hard rebooting after only the slightest flicker of blue?)

[Tyrian]

Before you go too far into troubleshooting, You might want to find the voltage rating of the RAM and check it against what the motherboard is supplying.  If it's not within the range, that can cause some funky behavior.

Also, check to make sure the timings are reasonably close / match.

[General Battuta]

As of this moment -- situation tentatively resolved!

Reset the BIOS, set everything hard-drive related to compatibility rather than performance, and rocked from there. No crashes so far.

If this is solved, I'm going to blame it on XP's crappy support for SATA hard drives.

I'll keep you updated.