Computer instability

[Smartazz]

I left Folding @ Home on overnight a few days ago and when I came back in the morning my computer was still warm and the light was still on, but when I turned on the monitor it stated "no input signal, go into power save". I don't have sleep mode or hibernation on. So I restarted my computer and I lost the entire work unit, I was around 500 frames away from finishing a really long WU too, so it really was agrevating. Then when I was using itunes, on AIM and using Firefox the music kept repeating a part of a song(about 2 seconds long), the mouse was frozen and the computer was frozen. I haven't seen any BSODs regarding this and I noticed that my antivirus won't work, but it said that it's updated. Could these issues be from a virus? Thanks in advance.

Update: In case you were wondering I found the problem. Someone said something about the RAM being the problem. Well I checked the RAM voltage in the bios and it was set to 1.8v for PC6400RAM, I put the voltage up then gave it a try, it's perfectly stable now, even when overclocked. Thanks for the help.

 

[btcomm1]

Do you have bulging or leaking capacitors on the motherboard?

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: btcomm1
Do you have bulging or leaking capacitors on the motherboard?

Where would I look for this? Would it be fixable?

 

[Cheezeit]

They would be on the motherboard, inside your case? Caps look like small cylinders or small AA batteries sticking perpendicularly out of the mobo. If they are bulging or leaking, the cost to replace them would probably be more than getting a new motherboard.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: Cheezeit
They would be on the motherboard, inside your case? Caps look like small cylinders or small AA batteries sticking perpendicularly out of the mobo. If they are bulging or leaking, the cost to replace them would probably be more than getting a new motherboard.

Yeah lol, I knew they were in my case, I just didn't remember where on the motherboard they might be. I see that they're everywhere and all of them look fine to me although I think that my CPU cooler is blocking some off, so I'll take a look at it in a bit when I have the time to take it apart. If it's broken then I think that I'm just going to make the move to Core 2 Duo.

 

[Smartazz]

Sometimes when I boot up my computer, after the welcome screen my headphones give off a loud pitched screech. Isn't that a symptom of a bad capacitor?

 

[Smartazz]

The two smallest capacitors look like they are leaking, the ones right next to the CPU. I need to make a choice now, should I move entirely to Core 2 Duo or keep my X2 3800+ and buy another AM2 motherboard?

 

[athfbum]

If you are willing to spend the money then move the Core 2 Duo, otherwise stick with your X2 3800+

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: athfbum
If you are willing to spend the money then move the Core 2 Duo, otherwise stick with your X2 3800+

Maybe I should sell the AMD processor itself then buy the E4300 and a decent motherboard. I already have a Scythe Mine so I guess I'll use it again. I set aside $150 for Vista, but I think that Core 2 might be a better upgrade though.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Move to c2d and keep an upgrade path open for yourself.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Move to c2d and keep an upgrade path open for yourself.

AM2 probably has a lot of life in it, but if I can find a good deal on a motherboard then I'll just buy the E4300 and sell my old AMD proc.
edit: Would you recommend the P5B-E?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Move to c2d and keep an upgrade path open for yourself.

AM2 probably has a lot of life in it, but if I can find a good deal on a motherboard then I'll just buy the E4300 and sell my old AMD proc.
edit: Would you recommend the P5B-E?

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=19

 

[Smartazz]

Upon closer examination the capacitors look fine, the writing on them kind of look like leaking fluid. I have no idea what the problem with this system is though. I'll look around a bit more.

 

[btcomm1]

Well, it could be that your ram went bad or has been bad. I had 1 GB of ram in my system and it seemed fine most of the time but once in a while had issues. I did a memtest and found out that one was definitely bad.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: btcomm1
Well, it could be that your ram went bad or has been bad. I had 1 GB of ram in my system and it seemed fine most of the time but once in a while had issues. I did a memtest and found out that one was definitely bad.

Will the Prime 95 RAM check discover something like this?

 

[GFORCE100]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: btcomm1
Do you have bulging or leaking capacitors on the motherboard?

Where would I look for this? Would it be fixable?

Kind of strange how you think it's down to leaking capacitors and then don't know what to look at to verify your claim.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: GFORCE100

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: btcomm1
Do you have bulging or leaking capacitors on the motherboard?

Where would I look for this? Would it be fixable?

Kind of strange how you think it's down to leaking capacitors and then don't know what to look at to verify your claim.

Actually I meant that which capacitors would I have to look at? I know what capacitors are and I've seen them before, but the motherboard has a lot of them on it.

 

[boomerang]

I've only seen the large ones fail.

Here's some examples.

Bulging tops, or brown crusty leakage are signs of bad caps.

 

[Smartazz]

I think that I figured out the problem. I wrote it in the OP.