I have a AMD 2600, Radeon 9600, 1024 Ram, and XP Home. My computer crashes randomly (refer to "Reduction in CPU speed" thread). It seems to occur without any pattern but I have noticed it crashing a few times when I have accessed the start menu. I am wondering if my RAM could be bad, I have a virus, or some software problem. Also, DXDiag said one of my critical system.dll files was missing and I needed to reinstall DX. How do I do that? I can’t do it through Windows Update cause I still have 9.0c. Is there a place I can download it?

Direct X download:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/dir...ctx/downloads/

Freeware RAM tester:
http://www.memtest86.com/

Use the downloaded file to create a bootdisk on one of your floppies. When complete, you won't see any files on the floppy, but they are there. Just boot the machine with this floppy and run it as long as you can afford to. If there are errors, run it on one memory "stick" at a time to narrow down the possibilities. (ie; Remove all but one stick.) You may have to set your bios boot device sequence to boot from the floppy drive first.

Most of the leading security tools:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...d,22262,00.asp

Post back with your results and any further questions.

Thanks a bunch. I have not had any more problems now that I have reinstalled DX9.

Glad to help. Thanks for posting back.

Ok I lied. I am still having problems. The comp didn't crash for a while and I thought it was fixed. What it does is sometimes crash when I go to the start menue. I avoid it now but it's really a pain. It will open it and the comp will start making a very short, very low pitched, loop sound that continues till I restart the comp manualy. The comp is completely frozen. The start menue does come up but it doesn't show any programs when it crashes. It's just blank grey. It also crashes radomly as well. It will just freeze, making the loop sound, and force me to restart. Sometimes I get a blue screen. Just a blank blue screen, sometimes I get a blue screen that says a device driver has caused the problem. One time my screen freaked out and I got some kind of graphics crard disortion that froze it as well. When I restart the comp wants to report the problem to Microsoft. Most of the time it says that the problem is a driver. It has told me once that the problem could be with my PS, motherboard, CPU, or RAM. Sometimes it says that it can't figure out what the problem is. Could it be that my old 300W PS is corrupting the rest of my hardware? I am getting a 450W today. Could I be looking at a bigger problem with CPU, RAM, or motherboard? I have not installed any new hardware. Should I frag my HD and start over. I have a large music collection so that is not easy. Any help would be really appreciated!

Did you test your RAM thoroughly?

The symptoms do indicate it could be any of; PS, Motherboard, CPU, or RAM. The new PS will certainly help, if that is where the problem stems from.

Install the new PS and put the machine through some heavy paces, then post back with your results. At least one of the four possibilities will be eliminated.

I burned the ISO to the CD and set my boot to CD. But the comp just blows right by the CD boot. It says booting from CD then it loads windows. What do I do?

I say again: "Did you test your RAM thoroughly?", over.

Please answer previous questions so we get an understanding of exactly what has been done so things may be eliminated from the problem equation.

"I burned the ISO to the CD and set my boot to CD. But the comp just blows right by the CD boot. It says booting from CD then it loads windows. What do I do?"

You've lost me here. What ISO image?

Is the boot device sequence in your bios set to CDROM prior to the hard disk? If so, do you get a "Press any key to boot from the CDROM" prompt?

Sorry about that. I have not tested my RAM because I can't figure it out. I unzipped the testing program and I burned the ISO file to the CD. I set the BIOS to boot from CD first but in the startup process, when it says "Boot from CD:". It just says that for about 2 seconds then continues on to the Windows startup.
I installed the 450W PS and it has made a difference . I have not had any problems with my start menu, which was my biggest problem. I'm not getting any crashing in programs like I normaly do. That is with the loop sound and the frozen comp. It seems to have fixed most of the problem. What it is still doing is every once in a while (3 times in 8 hours) it will stop and give me a blank, blue screen that lasts for 3 seconds, then the comp restarts. It has only happened while I was playing SWAT 4 and America's Army. It seemed entirely random. There is no sound, just the screen, no error message.

If your bios boot device sequence has the CDROM prior to the hard disk, there's a problem with the "bootability" of your CD.

If your system is old enough to have a floppy drive, the easiest thing would be to create the Memtest86 boot disk on a floppy and use that to test your memory. If the system has any age on it, removing and reseating the RAM modules will help to clean any tarnish/dust from the contacts on the modules and the slots. Same idea with your video card.

The symptoms still point to memory as a possible cause. (Heavy memory use with games etc) Have you adjusted your virtual memory settings from "stock" values that the system set up?

Also ensure there is no heatsink dust build up on either the video card or CPU. Ensure all cooling fans are operating well.