WTF is wrong with this system?

[BlueWeasel]

I built this system for a friend about a year ago:

Abit BE6-II MB
P3 700mhz (not OC'ed)
256mb PC100
Maxtor 10gb UDMA33 HD
TNT2 Ultra
Sound card
56k Modem

She recently moved and claimed this system was messing up when she got to her new apartment. I got the system and it was rebooting during the WindowsXP startup. I thought it could be the PSU, so I put in a good Antec 300w PSU, but the rebooting continued.

Today, I tried re-installing WinXP, but now the system randomly restarts during the installation process. I ran the Maxtor utilities on the HD, but the diagnostics did not indicate a bad drive. However, I do think the HD is going bad. I have tried using the drive on both the HPT370 as well as the IDE33 controller and it does the same thing.

Could it possibly be the MB going bad, or do you think its the HD?

 

[JC]

Hmmm....Maybe a static shock to the mobo during moving?
Longer shot, could be the quality of the power at the new place.

JC

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, its an old HD that is probably nearing the end of its lifecycle. Simply put, if its dying, it really doesn't suprise me. I can't completely say with confidence that the MB is not the problem - however, I would think I would be getting different problems if the MB was bad.

I know its not a power quality problem, because the system is back at my house now, and I have 2 of my systems running w/o problems.

 

[JC]

Still, I would expect problems to show up in the HD diag....try another stick of RAM?

 

[Hankysmoo]

I bet its the ram

 

[Spicedaddy]

CPU overheating?

 

[Shagga]

Try the Hard Drive in one of your setups. Take the PCI cards out one at a time and see if that resolves the rebooting.

[Edit]

The RAM is a good point though.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, its not the HD. I tried another HD and I still get the same problems.

[Edit] It appears its not the @!$^% RAM either! I guess I'll try another MB tomorrow...

 

[N11]

If the system is constantly rebooting during cd reading activity I would guess a bad cable to the cd drive, a poor connection, or try a different cd drive.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Its got to be the MB.

I have tried a different CD-ROM, different HD, different drive cables, and different RAM. I have also removed all cards other than the video card with no luck.

I have not tried a different video card, because I don't have an extra one lying around. Could it be related to the video card?

 

[xSauronx]

ummm

try THAT video card in YOUR pc to see what happens, considering you dont have one to try in that box

 

[BlueWeasel]

I took the TNT2 Ultra out of the problem system and put it in my secondary system. The TNT2 worked like a champ in my system.

.....that tells me its got to be the MB...there is nothing else left to check

 

[magomago]

If you did all that then the only thing left IS the mobo.....

Prolly static shock to the mobo or something

 

[mechBgon]

It sounds like a Windows issue to me. Try reinstalling Windows over the top of the existing installation without a reformat, which should preserve files and settings while giving it a fresh outlook on the hardware. If that doesn't work, reformat and reinstall.