Motherboard cause system to be unstable?

[sevenbeansalad]

In August of 2002 we built a computer from "scratch" and have had problems with stability ever since. It will give blue screens, restart, freeze. We have reinstalled windows maybe 5 times tried win98se and xp home, switched ram, etc.

p4 2.0ghza with Intel heatsink/fan
soyo-p4vda mobo
1 stick 512mb ddr 2100 266mhz Mushkin
Antec sl350 350watt power supply
40 gig maxtor
100 gig western digital
sony cdrw
geforce 2 mx400 64mb
windows 98se installed on the 100 gig

The only thing that I can think of ,hardware wise, that is remotely cheapo is the motherboard because we got it at fry's along with the cpu for a good price, I also can not find any reviews on the internet on this motherboard.


Any ideas?

Thanks,
Christopher

[BipolarBill]

Are you sure the memory is good?

www.memtest86.com

Is the BIOS updated?

[sevenbeansalad]

I have downloaded the memtest and will test it when I get home. No the bios is still version 2aa2 (I have been too scared to flash a bios).

[BipolarBill]

I owned at least 6 Soyo boards and never mis-flashed one. Just do it.

[sevenbeansalad]

I have flashed bios. If I post on here again then it probobly did not work. I hope it did.

Thanks,
Christopher

[sevenbeansalad]

I ran memtest on the comptuer and it gets 15% into the first test and then says "unexpected inturupt - halting" and gives me a hole list of numbers.

[Rugor]

Sounds like bad RAM.

It's amazing what a bad RAM stick will do. I have one here that would hose my video drivers whenever it was installed.

Generally your kind of problems are caused by either bad RAM or a bad PSU. Yes I'm generalizing, but those are the two components most likely to cause systemwide crashes, especially intermittent ones.

Good luck.

[x51out]

I agree. RAM is seriously touchy about static. If you accidentally zapped it with a little static whilst installing... but don't mention that to Mushkin. Maybe it was just bad to begin with, hey, it happens. They have lifetime warranty, right? Also, that motherboard mite require registered RAM at that size and/or density.

[sevenbeansalad]

I put the ram in my computer and it ran memtest without any problems. Could it be that the mother board is a dud?

[BipolarBill]

The things you should do next:

1. Scan the hard drive completely w/surface test.
2. Check the power supply or just replace it.
3. Flash the BIOS.
4. Replace questionable cards - especially NICs.