Format issues

OK Since Wed/Thursday I have been fighting with my PC - I had to go back to XP Pro SP2 from SP3

I have had no love with reinstalling winblows.

1st attempt - installed OK then during the update process windows froze up and would not restart. I cold booted and I never got past the spalsh loading screen. 5 or 6 tries and never got past the splash screen.

2nd attempt - format and winblows loaded OK, SP2 installed OK, loaded ESET NoD32 anti-virus and Spy sweeper lock up - no mouse - no keyboard response.
Re-boots fine but no mouse or keyboard recgonized - tried both USB and PS2 devices.

3rd attempt - format and winblows OK loaded SP2 re-booted and all I had was wall paper, no sys-tray, no start button mouse worked fine, ctrl-alt-delete opens task manager but no system bar sys tray or sstart menu.

4th - all OK SP2 installed, all anti-virus, spy sweeper, games, and updated OK - the issue I have now is I'm using the PC - gaming or online and the video drops out - I get the [NO SIGNAL] display. PC power light is on but no HD light.
If I do a quick restart right after it happens the PC make all the right sounds of starting up but no video. I wait ~ 2- 5 min and all is well.

I have a temp monitor application on the processor and the power supply they are both in the green - though I have not had the monitor ap running when it happens.
Also it is most prevalent when O play ET | QW.

Ideas?

Man, this is a tough one. Hardware issue, maybe ram or HD?

Anyone else have any ideas?

I'd say ram is dirty or defective. Disassemble your case and blow the dust from CPU.

While your there, remove and reinstall all cards, etc.

Either insufficient power or bad ram. Download and burn the UBCD (best tool to have in your arsenal people) and test the ram with memtest.

But I would think it's hardware. Another nice check is get a cd of Ubuntu, boot the OS live from the cd and run it and see if you have any issues.

My votes are for RAM, PS, or video card.

Start swapping out parts. If you have multiple sticks of RAM, remove all but 1 and try again. If you still have issues, try the next stick. Use a friend's known good RAM if you can. If that's not the problem, move on to the PS or GFX card.

This would be a little easier if I thought you could keep it running long enough to do a good memtest.

This isn't going to be an easy one. You're gonna have to get your hands dirty inside the beast. Keyboard and mouse magic won't do it.

DocJon wrote:Use a friend's known good RAM if you can.

friend??? This is Duck you are talking to 😈

Bubbaspanky wrote:friend??? This is Duck you are talking to 😈

I <3 Bubba

Duck wrote:I'm using the PC - gaming or online and the video drops out - I get the [NO SIGNAL] display. PC power light is on but no HD light.
If I do a quick restart right after it happens the PC make all the right sounds of starting up but no video. I wait ~ 2- 5 min and all is well.

Turns out that the NO SIGNAL issue was related to bad or no install of the actual monitor drivers for the 24" LCD I have.

The Video card drivers were OK but looking in to system hardware I had a yellow triangle on the monitor as unknown device - checked drivers and none were installed - I found install disk from Viewsonic and now the monitor is recognized and no more online crashes.....
w00t! FTW

Wow, I often go through the effort to install the proper monitor drivers, but I have never heard of an issue using only the generic monitor driver. You live and you learn.