here my system
motherboard : asus a7n8x-e deluxe
processor : athlon xp 3000+
Ram : Corsair XMS twinx1024-3200pt ddr400 pc3200 (ive got 2 matched sticks of 512)
sometimes ive been trying to set windows up on s SATA drives in a RAID 0 array and sometimes ive been tyring to set windows up on a single IDE drive.
all of my hard drives are western digital
the problem is that after i install windows and turn the computer off, windows (and sometimes other programs) is corrupted when i turn the computer back on. it seems to be worse the longer i wait before turning the computer back on (meaning if i get windows up and running then turn it off and right back on it will usually start up. if i turn it off and leave it overnight, it will usually not start up.) as the computer tries to start i can hear the hard drives spinning and clicking as if they are searching for files that are scattered throught the drive
this problem has been going on for months. at this point i can always fix windows by running CHKDSK off the windows CD. but after i run the CHKDSK program and turn the computer off, windows will have problems the very next time i turn it back on. sometimes the problems are minor (all of the sound files in my "media" folders dissapeared one day for instance) sometimes the problems are major (ill get a black screen that says windows cant start because a particular file is corrupt or missing. even wierder is that its not always the same file that is corrupt or missing)
here is a list of thigs i have tried to troubleshoot the problem:
ive tried 3 different CPU's (an athlon XP 2400+, an athlon XP mobile chip which i
understand now isnt compatable with my motherboard and my current chip an athlon XP 3000+)
ive tried 5 different hard drives (ive tried 4 different SATA drives sometimes setting windows up on a single drive, sometimes as a RAID array on both drives, and ive tried 1 IDE drive)
ive tried 2 different kinds of RAM orriginally i bought Kingston Hyper X pc3700 which i found out later is too high a pc for my motherboard. so now i have the Corsair Ram at pc 3200 which should be correct. Ive tried the memory timings at the auto detect setting, and then ive tried adjusting them to the timings that corsair has on their web site.
ive tried installing windows off a different CD thinking that maybe something was wrong with my CD
ive been looking around to try and get another motherboard but finding one that will work with my current RAM and CPU is proving difficult.
ive been looking online at all different forums, ive spent 1000 of hours on the phone with tech support from all these companies ive brought it to a local computer repair shop and noone seems to have any suggestions that sound reasonable
ive spent so much money and time on this id hate to throw it out. but my wife is starting to get understandibly upset as to why weve spent so much money to have a non working computer taking up space in our living room for over a year
any one have any ideas that i can try before i just go to sony and buy a computer?
thanks