Very bad computer problems

[LuckyStrike]

Let me first say that I have searched and read through many posts on this board before I decided to post....

My comptuer is driving me crazy. I guess I'll just get right to it:

Backround/Specs
Recently Internet explorer was giving me loads of problems. I had recently installed a DVD drive and though that maybe the best option would be to get an OS that was from this century. So I upgraded from 98 to XP. I booted from the XP disk and proceeded to format my HD. The install of XP was rough. I got 2-3 bluescreens while installing. I would just start it up again and eventualy XP was setup. Right off the bat, the damm thing froze. (see more on that below) Here is my system:

AMD 2200 Processor
Gigabyte ga-rvx (i think) mobo
VIA chipset
512 Meg of ram
Nvidia Geforce 4600ti (gainward) vidcard
Creative Audigy Gamer soundcard
AOpen 325 lan card
One firewire card (came with vid card)
Powersupply - not sure can check at home
Windows XP Home
Sony DVD player - not sure of model number can check
Lite-On cd burner
Sony 52x CD read only drive


Symptoms:
Computer will "freeze up". Meaning ctrl-alt-del, alt-tab, alt-f4 do nothing. The only option is a hard shut down

Computer will restart randomly. I do not get the "countdown" that others here have reported. In the run box "shutdown -a" does not work. These restarts can happen 5 times in a row sometimes. The computer will boot, bring up the Windows desktop, and then reboot. Sometimes it waits until i'm in the middle of doing something. There appears to be no cause or pattern.

I get errors while surfing the internet both with IE and Opera. These are the same errors that others have got here.

I also get an "iexplore" error that closes IE and opera while surfing the net. I can post more details about this when I get home.


What I have done to correct:

Ok, I read through many posts here and have d/l and ran Stinger, AVG Anti Virus. Neither reported any type of virus. I ran the symantic blaster fix and that reported that there was no problem. I got the microsoft blaster worm patch anyway.

I have uptated all (i think) my drivers. This includes, my Audigy Gamer soundcard, AOpen network card, Nvidia Geforce 4600 vid card, bios for my gigabyte ga-rvx (i think thats the model mobo) mobo, VIA chipset four in one drivers.

Possible Solutions

Could be bad ram i guess. I haven't yet run memtest86 yet. I have ordered another stick of ram from new egg for a swap test though.

Power problems... Could it be that my newly installed DVD drive pushed my power supply to the limit? Do my symptoms indicate a power supply problem? What could I do to test this?

I belive that the Internet explorer errors could be a totaly different issue then that of my reset/freezing errors. Then again, they may not.


I honestly and totaly appreciate any help you can give me! I have no idea whats wrong here and it's driving me nuts.

 

[dark_pablo]

well i had that problem once, when i updated, i mean UPDATED win 98 to xp, then i decided to install windows xp from no thing, i mean, with the disk empty, and since that day, i dont see those messages and problems in my comp how did u install xp? updated 98 or from the begining?

 

[LuckyStrike]

For the install I formatted "c:" and then installed WinXp home. There were no errors during the formatting and when i looked around afterwards nothing from before was left over. Thanks for the reply tho!

 

[dark_pablo]

did u format it from dos? using the application "format"? thats the best way

 

[LuckyStrike]

ya i did

 

[Lior]

hmm ive seen those kind of screenshots before

is ur xp firewall on

cos ive seen people with that happen the generic services host and no countdown cos countdown was disabled using shutdown -a or the disabling of RPC in services

id still suggest virus scanning for msblast
cos thats the only time ive seen that same error happen (even without countdown like i said)

so yeah

let us know
and be sure to put that firewall up

 

[dark_pablo]

lol lior!!! i luv ur sig!!! and thats my favourite animal too!! congrats man lol, great signature there

 

[LuckyStrike]

It was a bios problem. My RAM settings were to aggresive. Funny thing is that I don't remember having any problems with Win98. It's just when I installed XP that this whole thing started. Anyway, if anybody ever has the same mobo and has the same type problem here is the fix:

Go into bios and set DDR voltage to normal. Then go into the chipset menu and set as follow:

Top Performace= Disabled
Fast Command= Normal
CAS Latency= 2.5
Configure SDRAM by SPD = Enabled
DDR Frequency = 333
SDRAM Command Rate= 2T rather then 1T