Problems for Murphmanl's PC

Murphmanl is having problems with his PC, so he can't post (for obvious reasons). He mentioned these problems before, but now its got worse.

He had lockups whenever he put his PC under stress (i.e. games, video encoding) for a few minutes in some cases, hoursin other cases. So we tried this:

1. Took out all PCI cards and CD drives - still lockups
2. Took out one of two RAM sticks - still lockups
3. Put RAM stick back in and took other one out - still lockups
4. Put old graphics card in - won't boot at all, not even beeping or fans
5. Put everything back in, boots but still lockups

6. Screw everything in securely BUT not actually changing the hardware in any way (and this is the bit I don't understand!) - as soon as it tries to load Windows it restarts. Comes up with F8 type screen (Safe mode, last known good configuration, etc.), but any option just results in an immediate restart.

I think that whatever was causing the lockups has finally gone - I'm thinking the HDD, but I'm not sure. Also, while he could still get into Windows we ran Speedfan, and it reported temperatures of over 55C - could the overheating be causing the lockups under stress?

Thanks, and sorry for the long post!

Mike

Think the only solution is to format? just hope he's burnt a backup of a few CD'S

it could be heat related but it could also be a poor psu not giving out enough juice when the pc needs it
is he o/cing his cpu ? as it could also be his cpu refusing to o/c

try www.memtest86.com as a quick test for the mem
under clock teh cpu ram and nb and make sure pci/agp/isa is all in spec and it might help

His PSU is 350W (I think), but is Dragon. I've never heard of it, have any of you? Is it any good? I suggested he get another one to see if that was the problem.

He hasn't overclocked at all.

As for formatting, when I last talked to him, I told him to do that if he couldn't get it to work. It's not really a problem anyway since he just reinstalled.

As for the memory, I recommended he run memtest. The shop he bought his PC from ran some tests on his PC, and they said the RAM and graphics card was fine. But I don't trust them much, condidering them built a PC that was overheating at 55C with no load!

Thanks for all the replies

Mike