For the past two weeks i've been having trouble making my computer work, to the point that i can't find the cause of the problem.
The thing is that if i turn it on for the first time of the day Windows XP comes to a halt at random times of the loading process (usually it's before the welcome screen shows up but it has also frozen after the desktop is shown or while the Windows bar is loading).
To get it back on i have to reset it a few times and then i can use it normally. This also happens if i turn the computer off for a few hours and then turn it on again.
I also sometimes get the BSOD instead of the freeze, most of them are IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA.

At first i thought i would be a bad memory stick so i replaced it for a new one. No luck, the issue was still there.
Then tryed removing my video card (GeForce FX 5200, AGP) just to make sure there was no dust in the motherboard's AGP connector. Plugged it back again but nothing changed.
My last try was to purchase a new hard disk and make a clean install of Windows XP, as some of the BSOD said the ntfs.sys caused the stop. Installation process went ok. I also didn't install any drivers to make sure if a driver was causing the problem but no luck also. (am i a really unlucky guy or what? jaja)

At this point i don't know what else to try.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

This post has been edited by Diego8: May 6 2008, 09:17 AM

Have you tried, recovery console? fixboot might take care of that.

errr I didnt see you already tried a fresh install, try resetting your bios settings, check you hardware jumpers and what not.

tryed loading the default settings of my bios but nothing changed
Also checked jumpers... they are all ok.
My bios revision is the lastest stable released for my MB (Asus A7V8X-X).
There's a beta version of the next bios revision (from 2005/06/28, don't know why the stable version was not released).
Should i try updating my bios to this one?

Thanks.

Most likely defective ram.

There are two programs that are normally used to test computer memory, Memtest86 and Microsoft Memory Diagnostic. They are available from the following locations:

Memtest86
Microsoft Memory Diagnostic

They are bootable CD ISO images. You don't burn the iso file itself to CD., you create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called DeepBurner which will do this. Another called ISO Recorder is also very easy to use.


This post has been edited by Ztruker: May 7 2008, 06:44 PM

Yesterday i spent a few hours trying to trace to source of the problem. I unplugged/disabled everything just to strip it to the minimum (unplugged Wireless PCI card, optical devices, floppy drive and disabled onbard audio and lan).
The problem was still there...
Today and out of the blue my computer started working fine....Reconnected everything... also working fine.
I guess that the same way the issue disappeared it may came back again.
I will follow Ztruker's advice and then post back the results.

Thanks

Finally i could solve it. It was the power supply. I noticed that if i left the computer with power for a few minutes before turning it on the halts didn't happen.
I guess a capacitor or something was not working well so the PS couldn't deliver enough power when the system started to consume more of it.

This post has been edited by Diego8: May 12 2008, 09:05 PM