[Slayerzer0]

Ok, ive been having problems with my PC for sumtime now - first ill list what ive got
2.8 ghz prescott intel P4
2X512 geil ram
a newly bought 500w PSU
a newly bought ABIT AI7 uguru mobo
a 40 gb IDE harddrive
a 120 GB maxtor Sata drive
a philips 5.1 soundcard
a radeon X800
a dvd drive
gigabyte cpu fan, 2 vantek case fans

the original problem with my computer was that it wud restart itself almost everytime it tried to boot into windows normally, and then occaisonsly wud boot into windows normally. So i replaced my mobo and tryed to format my maxtor HD, then after the format bar has completed it told me that formatting cud not be done due to a damaged disk or sum other problems. so i bought a new HD (40gb harddrive) and tryed again - it gave me the same error, and then randomly after a several attempts and resitting everything in my computer, it managed to format and install a fresh windows xp.
however the computer then began to generate random errors, even after windows updates and driver installation and appeared to randomly restart and occasionly not boot into windows. I replaced my 550w psu with a 500 w psu, and this appeared to fix the problem, the computer installed all drivers and updated windows fully and ran quite stably.
However i then tried to connect my sata drive to the computer - it started doing the same random restart issues as before. so i disconnected it.
Another problem i now have is that when i put a cd (eg a game) into the dvd drive and click install (tryed many games) the comptuer instantly restarts as it trys to spin the disk in the dvd drive. - it also restarts when i try and run certain applications or too many at once.
At the moment im completly lost as to what is going on with my PC - im swaying toward the PSU ive got now simply isnt powerfull to handle everything in my pc at once - so im going to buy a 650w psu soon. Does anyone think this will resolve the issue? or is there something else that cud be causing all these problems
thankyou

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random reboots are often power related (I think that PSU is adequate), memory related, or heat related.

Let's start with heat.

Stock fan? What kind of heat compound? How did you apply it. The biggest mistake I see in these cases is TOO MUCH paste. Heatsink paste like ArcticSilver does not accomplish it's goal by transfering heat...it does it by eliminating air pockets. No matter how finely ground the cpu and heatsink are, there are small peaks and valleys where air resides.

The paste should be applied thin, thin, thin...a grain of uncooked rice for the entire heatsink...any more and you are likely to get too much heat and the computer will reboot as described.

[gerryf]

random reboots are often power related (I think that PSU is adequate), memory related, or heat related.

Let's start with heat.

Stock fan? What kind of heat compound? How did you apply it. The biggest mistake I see in these cases is TOO MUCH paste. Heatsink paste like ArcticSilver does not accomplish it's goal by transfering heat...it does it by eliminating air pockets. No matter how finely ground the cpu and heatsink are, there are small peaks and valleys where air resides.

The paste should be applied thin, thin, thin...a grain of uncooked rice for the entire heatsink...any more and you are likely to get too much heat and the computer will reboot as described.

[Slayerzer0]

cpu and every other temprature runs at 35-40 constant :/ and the cpu cooler is top of the range (its a beast). i cud try wiping off the thermal paste i guess and re-applying, but its never been a problem in the paste and i havent tampered with the amount of thermal paste for a long time.
so im swaying toward memory/psu issues then, altthough my memory i bought barely 3 months ago

[gerryf]

Are you running your memory at standard speed? Overclocking?

Try running with only one of the two sticks.

What, if any, error messages do you get in event viewer.

As for age of memory, could have been bad from the start, but memory stable at one speed and in one board, may not be in another board. Did you run a memory test? try memtest86+

Also, note that not all memory will test bad even when it is.

I have a 512 stick of Kingston that tests good on both hardware and software tests, but the second I boot up a game, the system crashes to the desktop. I moved the stick to three different systems...same problem in each. Kingston didn't want to replace it because it tested fine, but there was no doubt that it was bad.

[Slayerzer0]

nope i re did thermal grease, same issues.
I guess when it comes down to it, at the moment i have 2 problems - my dvd drive wont install games, as soon as click install it re writes (tested the drive in another computer and it works)
and my comptuer wont recognize my sata hd, - well it shows it in the bios as IDE 3, but not in windows. Does this disk need formatting via use of boot disk? and could my actual IDE cable be the cause of my dvd drive not working properly?

[Slayerzer0]

my memory isnt overclocked, and the only errors i receive when booting are when i plug in my sata hard drive, it came up with "windows has recovered from a serious error" three times. I guess ill try removing one stick, and see if it recognizes my drive and makes my dvd drive work properly then.

[Slayerzer0]

ok it looks like one of my ram sticks was bad (took one out fixed dvd drive problem) however i still cant seem to get my sata drive to be recognized within windows, any ideas on why this could be? it has got data on it i kno that.

its plugged in correctly as far as i know, and is showing in the bios, just not in windows :/

[Slayerzer0]

wel its all fixed now, apprantly my sata drive didnt have a partition on it! :| thought it did >< anyway cheers for help