computer has become unstable.

[Jesta]

I built this computer alittle over a month ago.

And recently it has started giving off errors in applications. (wow mainly.)

When i ran the repair utility that came with WoW it said that to many files were corrupted and i needed to reinstall. So i did a fresh install and it didnt solve anything, and when i ran the utility again it said the same thing. (other things i download are often corrupted aswell.)

Another symptom is it will appear to reboot, but it doesnt actually reboot. It goes to a black screen. and stays there untill i do a hard shutdown. I first thought this was a video issue but one time it did it. there just happened to be a sound playing when it happened and the audio looped over and over untill i shut down.

I have ran a defragmenter, I have used the seagate scanner they provide at their website. And I have done a complete reformat and fresh install of windows. (xp)

I have downloaded the newest nvidia driver for 9x00 (i have the 9600GT.)

My computer is made up of,

case - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

mobo - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail

video - EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail

Ram - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail

HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

keyboard - Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 B2L-00047 Black USB Ergonomics Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM

dvd rom - Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7190S - OEM



Also when i went to check the volatages on my PSU i couldnt find the 5v rail anywhere in bios. Is that normal with this Mobo or was i looking in the wrong place?


EDIT:
here are the volatages i found,
Vcore - 1.332v
ddr18v - 1.872v
3.3v - 3.344v
12v - 11.858v

Also, I have never seen the temps on my computer rise over 40 degrees cel. But i cant check the GPU temp. I dont know how. I really doubt WoW can push a 9600gt to overheat though.

Also nothing has been overclocked.

[gvblake22]

What power supply do you have? I would suggest only using a digital multimeter (DMM) when monitoring the voltages on your PSU. Check out this thread for more info about DMMs...

Is any part of your system overclocked at all?

[screwballl]

first thing I always suggest and do myself with a new build... drivers drivers drivers
In your case.... Motherboard drivers:
AUDIO

CHIPSET

LAN PORT

I would suggest starting with these 3.
Also something else worth looking into, look at the memory information and make sure the memory in the BIOS is set to the memory specs, not automatic specs. Sometimes the automatic sets it to 533MHz instead of 800 or the timings show as 6-6-6-24 instead of 4-4-4-12.

If after all this, if it continues... it is possible you may have a bad hard drive.

[MontanaFX]

Try going to Start menu > Run > %APPDATA% and see if there is a WoW folder in there. If the is, uninstall WoW > delete appdata then reinstall.

That worked when I had problems with FireFox that wouldnt go away by un-installing.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

What power supply do you have? I would suggest only using a digital multimeter (DMM) when monitoring the voltages on your PSU. Check out this thread for more info about DMMs...

Is any part of your system overclocked at all?

I have to second this question from Gvblake22!!!!
What power supply do you have???

[Jesta]

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

Is my PSU, im pretty sure its a good one.

Originally Posted by screwballl

Also something else worth looking into, look at the memory information and make sure the memory in the BIOS is set to the memory specs, not automatic specs. Sometimes the automatic sets it to 533MHz instead of 800 or the timings show as 6-6-6-24 instead of 4-4-4-12.

If after all this, if it continues... it is possible you may have a bad hard drive.

I am getting the drivers now, where in bios do i check these things?

I did a driver scan, and it said the following drivers are not up to date.
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek High Definition Audio

I beleive you linked me to the audio one, I will try and locate the other 2. But if you know where to find them please let me know. I have a hard time finding things like this :)

[Yellowhello]

Check you mobo manufacturer's website for the NIC and IDE controller drivers.

And I believe the memory settings would be under "Advanced options" or something along those lines.

[Jesta]

I went in and checked them, It is auto clocking my ram at 800.

But i could not find anything that looks like the other settings that was mentioned above.

so it could either be the Hard drive?

Are there any other possibilities? I can buy a new harddrive and MoBo and send the old two back. Since they are the most likely culprits.

[sbohdan]

don't buy anything just yet. not until you know what's wrong. check 2 more things: your memory with memtest (it will reveal any errors) and what is the temp of your video card. I saw instances when the video card cooler had a poor connection with the GPU and this caused overheating. heck I've even seen coolers attached without thermal paste (I guess it was forgotten). check the temps!! if they too high just carefully remove the cooler and reapply the paste...

[Jesta]

I can easily check all the temps on everything but the video card.

They are all cooler then any comp ive ever had.

The GPU temp doesnt show up in bios. And im not sure where else to check it.

EDIT: memtest came back with no errors.