[trevoravitch]

I have a problem that has been occurring for the past couple of weeks and I'm not sure if it’s a hardware, or a software problem. Maybe you can advise?

On boot up my system carries out the Power On Self Test, then loads the XP Home OS. A period of time then elapses, from a few minutes to an hour or so, then the PC shuts down instantly, with no warning in the middle of whatever I am doing. The Power light on the tower is still left on.

If I then press the reset, or the power switch, nothing happens. The only way I can switch the PC on again is by switching the socket off for a few minutes, then back on again. Occasionally, the system will load up, but more often it will stop after a few SECONDS.

The only way I found around this was on boot up, then immediately go into the BIOS and load the default settings, then save them and let the system boot up as normal. This way, however, only gives me a couple of hours before the PC shuts off as described above.

On switching on I get, on occasions, the message "System failure due to CPU overclocking" is announced by the POST system, even though the CPU has not been overclocked and is on the BIOS default setting. On occasions the POST message is “System failed memory test, computer now booting from Operating System”.

When the PC is working I also get the problem that when I play music on MusicMatch Jukebox (free with Logitec bundle) and at the same time, use the CD drive, on closing the drawer and the system identifying the CD, the Musicmatch falters and stops playing until the CD has been recognised ().
Programs also stop until the CD has been identified.

My hardware is as follows;

Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with nvidia sound
3 x 512mb DDR sticks
Nvidia 32mb Prophet 2 graphics card (Naff, I know, but my ATI Sapphire 128mb went kaput and I can’t afford a decent replacement at the present time)
Creative Labs Soundblaster 2 Card (this was because the A7N8X’s sound was distorting after a few minutes using Musicmatch Jukebox, however, this appears to have been rectified as I do not have a problem with it now)
Digimate 17" LCD Monitor
Logitec cordless mouse
Logitec Keyboard
Generic Floppy drive
(Lexmark scanner/printer and an Epson 760 printer attached)

Primary IDE:
Master: Seagate 40gb hard Drive (with original Windows XP OS)
Slave: Maxtor 80gb hard drive

Secondary IDE:
Master: Maxtor 80gb Hard drive
Slave: Generic DVD rewriter

All of this is housed in a LianLi tower unit with a 500 watt PSU. There are 2fans on the front of the tower one on the top and one on the PSU. I have had no significant changes to the hardware since last Christmas (2005).

Have you any idea what is causing these infuriating shutdowns and the lack of performance of the PC in general?

Thanks Folks

Trev