Firstly, I've never used a forum before so sorry for any random misuse, like if I don't reply because I can't work out how or something.
So, my PC is a home build & 3 and a half years old. We built it to the specs necassary for video editing but on a small budget. I've never had a problem with it... until about 5 months ago.
I made only my second modification to the system after 2 years of making the best of the PC. I installed a 3rd Hard drive. (The first modification had been to install a third hard drive but it died about 6 months later). I also installed 2 new sticks of RAM, taking it to 4GB and ultimately Windows XP Home Editions limit.
The PC began to randomly reboot and random intervals. It never gave any error messages. I still don't think it realises it's doing it. Sometimes it lasts seconds. Sometimes it will stay on for an hour or more. We installed a new PSU, incase it couldn't handle the 3rd HDD. That didn't make a difference. Then I figured I've probably bought the wrong RAM, took the 2 new sticks out, and it was fixed.
Now, 4 months on, the same problem has come back. It randomly just bombs out and restarts with no error messages. I figured if it was RAM last time, it's probably RAM this time. So I took the old ones out and tried the new ones (the ones that I'd bought, put in & took out) and tried them seperately. One didn't work at all, so I figured that was the dud. The other one worked, so I left it to do a 24 hour soak test, and it worked. Then when I start actually using it for something, it conks out. I've tried each of the 4 sticks seperately, in different RAM slots. Always the same results. Whether it takes 4 hours or a few minutes, the PC randomly reboots.
Sometimes you don't hear the computer do anything, like nothings happened, but the screen goes blank.
Today, for the first time, the screen went black and then I got white jaggered vertical lines down the screen. The PC still sounds like it's running.
Rather than bombing out completely it's also developing a habit of freezing and the sound stutters repeatedly, with the screen holding the same frame. The mouse won't move, Ctrl, Alt+Del doesn't work. I have to just press the reset button.
I've tried unplugging 2 of the 3 hard drives and seeing if it will just run with the active drive, incase there's a conflict with the others, but that had the same result.
I'm really, really hoping this is a cheap fix.
So, my PC is a home build & 3 and a half years old. We built it to the specs necassary for video editing but on a small budget. I've never had a problem with it... until about 5 months ago.
I made only my second modification to the system after 2 years of making the best of the PC. I installed a 3rd Hard drive. (The first modification had been to install a third hard drive but it died about 6 months later). I also installed 2 new sticks of RAM, taking it to 4GB and ultimately Windows XP Home Editions limit.
The PC began to randomly reboot and random intervals. It never gave any error messages. I still don't think it realises it's doing it. Sometimes it lasts seconds. Sometimes it will stay on for an hour or more. We installed a new PSU, incase it couldn't handle the 3rd HDD. That didn't make a difference. Then I figured I've probably bought the wrong RAM, took the 2 new sticks out, and it was fixed.
Now, 4 months on, the same problem has come back. It randomly just bombs out and restarts with no error messages. I figured if it was RAM last time, it's probably RAM this time. So I took the old ones out and tried the new ones (the ones that I'd bought, put in & took out) and tried them seperately. One didn't work at all, so I figured that was the dud. The other one worked, so I left it to do a 24 hour soak test, and it worked. Then when I start actually using it for something, it conks out. I've tried each of the 4 sticks seperately, in different RAM slots. Always the same results. Whether it takes 4 hours or a few minutes, the PC randomly reboots.
Sometimes you don't hear the computer do anything, like nothings happened, but the screen goes blank.
Today, for the first time, the screen went black and then I got white jaggered vertical lines down the screen. The PC still sounds like it's running.
Rather than bombing out completely it's also developing a habit of freezing and the sound stutters repeatedly, with the screen holding the same frame. The mouse won't move, Ctrl, Alt+Del doesn't work. I have to just press the reset button.
I've tried unplugging 2 of the 3 hard drives and seeing if it will just run with the active drive, incase there's a conflict with the others, but that had the same result.
I'm really, really hoping this is a cheap fix.
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