An interesting problem

[Giturar]

Alright, for the last month or so, my computer has been having some issues. First, itll turn off randomly, and when I try to turn it back on, the monitor stays in standby and the bios beep a thousand times and nothing happens. I found that this can be fixed by turning off the power supply, jiggling the monitor cable into the video card (which is in tight, i made sure), and powering the computer back up, then it works fine. Sometimes the computer will just freeze (like when I come out of screensaver) and I have to do the same thing. I think it may be the video card having problems, but I'm not so sure. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[GeForceX]

Most of the time it's usually the PSU. If you'd look around the Gen. HW forum that most crashes and shutdowns and reboots come from the PSU, besides memory and such. What brand name is it?

-J.

 

[Giturar]

the psu is an antec true430

 

[GeForceX]

You really should list your computer's specs (including the brand name). I doubt it's your PSU. It's something else. When you have a problem, always list your specs. For now, I can't help you much.

-J.

 

[Giturar]

well, the whole thing is in my sig, but ok

Asus P4S800D-E Deluxe Mobo
Antec True420
Pentium 4 2.66GHz CPU (with thermalright sp-94 heatsink and panaflo 92mm fan)
1-512MB PC2700 RAM (PQI)
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (Cat5.1)
WD 120GB HDD
Creative Audigy2 ZS Sound Card
LiteOn DVD
NEC CD-RW

 

[GeForceX]

ROFL!!!

Sorry, I didn't see your sig. You could've just pointed it there.

the bios beep a thousand times and nothing happens

Ok, explain that? How many beeps is that in a boot up?

Here's a few theories I can think of:
*Your Windows XP installation might be SP1. Some update can cause problems like this. It depends on incompatability. I would recommend a full format and installing SP2 over.
*Your PSU can be showing signs of losing power over its' age. Try unplugging unnecessary components such as your DVD/CD drives, and sound card, etc and test it's stability from there.
*Your RAM might be dirty. Try to get memtest on it. But I think this is unlikely.
*Update every piece of your hardware with drivers, etc.
*Perhaps the latest 5.1 video driver isn't up to match your system. Try an older version (4.9, 4.10, etc).
*Is your computer infected with something dirty? Virus/malware/spyware? Check on that.

The basic stuff to get you started, I suppose.

-J.

 

[Giturar]

*Your Windows XP installation might be SP1. Some update can cause problems like this. It depends on incompatability. I would recommend a full format and installing SP2 over.

ive reformated and reinstalled with winxp w/ sp2

*Your PSU can be showing signs of losing power over its' age. Try unplugging unnecessary components such as your DVD/CD drives, and sound card, etc and test it's stability from there.

i will try this

*Your RAM might be dirty. Try to get memtest on it. But I think this is unlikely.

its relatively new, but ill take a look

*Update every piece of your hardware with drivers, etc.

done

*Perhaps the latest 5.1 video driver isn't up to match your system. Try an older version (4.9, 4.10, etc).

it had been doing it before the video upgrade as well

*Is your computer infected with something dirty? Virus/malware/spyware? Check on that.

i keep my computer very clean, no virii, adware, etc

 

[GlobalFear]

IS the video card seated properly?

Also, look up your motherboard's beep codes.

 

[GeForceX]

it had been doing it before the video upgrade as well

This is what I was afraid of hearing. Then it's definitely not a video card issue. It's something else. Whenever I have something on my mind, I'll be sure to suggest it.

-J.