does anyone know of computers that just don't boot/freeze/run really slow all of a sudden over the space of a few days?

mine is doing this, it is over 2 so that could be part of it but other than loose wires/plugs i don't know what it's problem is.

discuss...

COULD YOU BE ANY MORE SPECIFIC?

AMD Athlon� 64 3500+ Processor Retail (939)(Venice)

1024M (2X512Mb,1G Kit)PC3200 DDR RAM Kingston/Kingmax now with a gig more of giel

Gigabyte GV-NX66256DP GF6600 256M PCI-EX16TV-OUT/DVI

Thermaltake Soprano Silver with 430W PSU

runs winxp, has 40gig free on c:

hm what else... i use it for stuffing around on and uni work.

MSI K8N Diamond SLI Socket 939 Motherboard

did your computer problems arise after you added the extra Geil RAM by any chance?
Does your hard drive have any read errors n such? Does it tick or make more noise than you're used to it making?

well it is after i added the giel memory, but i added it about a year ago

yeah the hdd is making a bit more noise than usual, also it would turn on sometimes and be really loud like something was stuck in the fan then that'd stop after about 10 seconds

also it would turn on sometimes and be really loud like something was stuck in the fan

it's all downhill from here

if something was stuck in the fan, and the fan stopped, then the thing under it has been heating up more than it really should.

is it still under warranty?

a bodgy cabling job that sees fans die/motherboard meltdown is usually covered under warranty if the store built it for you

first things first backup all you important stuff just in case

I think you blew a capacitor.

A flux capacitor?

dude it could be bloody anything in his case.. sheesh!

Seeing as we don't know squat first hand
First things first
Has the system been overclocked?
Has a component in the system been overclocked prior to purchasing (if purchased 2nd hand)?

Check the error logs in Computer Management
- Try and find a common issue or repeated error in the logs
If the log indicates an error with software, run spyware and av software while the HDD is hooked up as a passive device (eg slave config in a second machine - same with components)
If logs indicate issue is with a particular device and consistent errors, run some diagnostics on the device in question
If neither of those avenues prove fruitful, consider a backup and a fresh install.

This way you know that you are dealing with a clean environment

If you still have issues in a clean environment, run minimal components (ie less devices fitted the better, then add one at a time)
No luck there, then check the PSU
No luck there, the motherboard/cpu (rare in Intel, not so rare in AMD rigs)

All else fails at this point you can try running the system barebones outside of a case

If it's out of warranty an you can't do the above yourself or spare the time yourself, it will be cheaper to replace the whole unit as it literally isn't worth the $/hour value on getting someone to look at it

nothing was overclocked or 2nd hand

well i didnt even get through the dos bit of installing xp before it froze again

so ill try removing components

when you say barebones is that just video, monitor, keyboard, ram, mobo and thats it

It's a ballast resistor.

It's a coffee blender

This may solve your computer issues

Where does it get up to when it crashes while booting?

the motherboard screen bit, just before the winxp load screen.

I'd guess a) dead mobo b) dying psu c)maybe ram

In reverse order... Get UBCD and run memtest86+ for an hour