[Chris Y]

Yeah, there's another plugin slot at the back of the PC but it's shaped very odd. My monitor cable doesn't fit in there. About the motherboard where can I look that up? I tried the "System" tool in the control panel but I cannot find any mother board in the list.

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Download and install Everest Home Edition. Run it and look in "motherboard" for the make and type of the board.

[The Skeptic]

Download and install Everest Home Edition. Run it and look in "motherboard" for the make and type of the board.

[Chris Y]

Intel La Crosse D865GLC

Type: Micro ATX
Maker: Intel Corporation

Buss type: Dual DDR SDRAM

[The Skeptic]

The problem in your computer can be result from anything. As a matter of fact I am inclined to think that it's an application and not a hardware problem. What I would do at this stage, however, is to reinstall all motherboard drivers except bios. Use this link and read about known issues & solutions for this motherboard. Use this link to download updated drivers. Please report latter.

[Chris Y]

I've gone and upgraded most drivers. The extreme graphics one had a "severe error" and refused to finish. I've also looked through the support list a few times over now, but I can't find anything like my problem.

[The Skeptic]

Try to download and install an older version of your graphic card driver. If that doesn't help then I would try to replace the card temporarilly with one borrowed from another computer. I wanted to avoid this step that's why I asked before if the motherboard has a built-in video connection. Since it hasn't things become more complicated. The fact that there was an error preventing driver installation could point to a faulty card or bus.

[Chris Y]

I'm having trouble finding an older graphic card driver. But are you sure the graphic card is the cause of my Memory could not be "read" problem? It has worked before without a single problem.

Heavy 3D games doesn't crash except for Oblivion which did 2-3 times. Quake 4 and F.E.A.R have never encountered the problem. It bothers me a bit that a simple windows command application causes this error the most of them all.

The extreme graphics update is for the motherboards interegrated(or whatever it's spellt) graphics, why would it go and interfere with the graphic card? Sorry for asking questions but if possible I'd like to learn a little on the way.

Until I find someone I can exchange cards with, what can I do in the mean time to solve the problem(if the issue isn't the graphic card)?

[The Skeptic]

I am not sure at all that the problem is in the video card. In one of my previous posts I mentioned that the problem could arise from many sources, either hardware or software. The computer, which we so often take for granted, is such a highly complicated machine that many times I wonder how it works in the first place.

Many times you have to make eliminations to get to the problem. The easiest way to do this is to install replacement parts temporarilly, one at a time. If the problem recurs then you have to go to the next item. So far you tested the memory with no negative result. Your video card also has a memory which might be faulty, that's why I suggested to replace it temporarilly.

Diagnosing a computer can be a long and frustrating process. The advantage of the commercial lab is that it has replacement parts available, making the process fast and easy.

[Chris Y]

I haven't got myself a graphic card to test with yet but I ran the PC with the interegrated one and I still get the memory read error on applications (3D games I have yet to test when I can get a hold of a graphic card).

While taking out the graphic card I also noticed that my CPU fan has gone broken. I'm now using a simple desk-fan to cool down the PC for the short moments I use it. Will that do for now, or am I doing something really stupid?

[The Skeptic]

The cpu fan must be replaced. If cpu temperature goes too high everything can go wrong, sometimes in hard-to-diagnose ways and permanent damage can occur. since you already downloaded Everest you can watch cpu temp by going to computer > sensor.

In many cases you have to remove the heat sink because quite often you can only buy a set that includes the fan and the heat sink. If you do remove the heat sink clean carefully the top of the cpu and the bottom of the heat sink and apply a very thin layer of thermal paste before reinstallation.

[Chris Y]

It's 38 degrees celsius in there, 100 degrees in farenheight(typo?). I've never removed a heat sink before. It looks like the whole thing is pretty much stuck on to the motherboard. I don't think I should do it, I need to get someone who can do that for me. It'll take a few days though.

[The Skeptic]

38 degrees is not too high but you have to take into consideration that when you run the computer with a closed box and several heavy applications running, temp can shoot up. If you are not sure about how to replace a fan then let somone else do that for you.

[Chris Y]

There, now I have a brand new fan. Temperature is down to 30 degrees celsius now. My memory problem has become worse since last time I wrote though. Firefox for example takes about 15 seconds to completely terminate it's process when I close it. During that time I experience lot's of computer lag. Like mouse teleporting instead of moving smoothly. Firefox also freezes a lot when using it. It can totally stop for 5-10 secs for no real reason. And now most of my applications gives the memory read error when closing them.

[The Skeptic]

Download BurnInTest from here (30 days trial period). Run a thourough test of your hardware. If the test shows that all is well I would consider formatting the disk and reinstalltion of windows and all applications.

[Chris Y]

It found no errors.

Re-installing Windows XP was the first thing that came to my mind, when I got this problem. I've done it and it didn't work. I also had my friend over so he could format the PC for me. But after he tried he said it didn't work, the computer kept freezing and locking up on him.

Another thing I'm worried about is the Windows XP install limit. This PC is originally put together by someone I bought it from. And after trying to update Windows XP even I understood what kind of weird copy he installed. So when the install limit expires I will be unable to install it.