Mobo dying?

[srfrancis]

I've had gradually worsening random problems for a few months now. At first my second video card would stop working well, freezing out the two monitors attached to it. Then my registry started corrupting repeatedly making me reformat multiple times. Now on post, it will occasionally hang up or will display random colored pixels on the background. Also, when I setup my windows XP install, random characters on the bluescreen will either be altered colors or characters. Occasionally it will hangup on the install as well, always @34 minutes when it's installing devices.

Thoughts? My system is a core 2 duo with eVGA mobo and two identical eVGA graphics cards not in SLI running 4 monitors. I've check out the internal temps. My case has 4 120's plus the PS fan, and my processor has a ninja on it butted up against the two exhaust fans. Nothing is overheating.

As of now I'm contemplating replacing my mobo. Maybe I should also upgrade to the new Radeon's with 4 DVI?

 

[Dangman]

What PSU are you using? Please be VERY SPECIFIC about this
What HDD are you using?
What RAM are you using?
What GPUs are you using?

So far your problem sounds power or GPU related.

 

[srfrancis]

PSU - Ultra Xfinity 500Watt
http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=60&pPath=383&productID=383
Mobo - eVGA NForce 680i Lt
CPU - Intel Core 2 6300 1.86Ghz
GPU - Winfast PX7300 GT TDH (Both)
HD - Maxtor 200GB
Memory - Corsair 667 1GBx2

All of these parts are about 3 years old.

I was messing around in the bios and its getting worse. Random characters are not displaying properly, or the background that should be blue is random colors like red or yellow. The voltages all checked out except for the battery voltage. It said 3"musical eight notes"06V. I'm assuming the musical note symbol should have been a "." Other characters were replaced by symbols like that randomly.

Ideas? Thanks for the fast response.

 

[Dangman]

Well I recommend replacing your PSU even it isn't the cause. That Ultra PSU is of pretty low quality.

Now here's the thing. You have three possible issues here:
- It's the mobo. The 680i chipset was pretty unstable compared to their Intel counterparts. Try another mobo

- It's the PSU: Like I said earlier, that Ultra is of pretty low quality and can/might cause problems. Buy and use a digital multi-meter to monitor the voltages coming from the PSU. No software is accurate when it comes to voltage readings, not even the BIOs. Follow the instructions for "Using a multi-meter to check voltages": http://www.bfgpower.com/troubleshooting.html#DMM

I still recommending the PSU no matter what.

- It's the GPUs. Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPUs individually and the other GPU uninstalled.