First of all let me say I'll provide more detailed system specs. when I get home from school, I can't remember off the top of my head my exact system parts.

XP Pro
xfx 8800 GT
core 2 duo
GIGABYTE GA-EP31-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P31 ATX Intel Motherboard or possibly EP35
Mushkin HP2 DDR 2 800 2x1gb
SB xfi fatality

I started having a problem where my motherboard startup screen would come up and then not proceed, I couldn't go to BIOs or POST. I would have to use the power button to reboot the computer usually a couple more times before it would start up. This problem didn't occur everytime I started my computer but frequently enough to cause concern. I was also having problems while playing online games they would freeze for a few seconds and then I would usually get dropped from the server due to some form or another of "Communication Failure". I attempted to reformat my drive and reinstall windows and in the process of installing windows an error message came up saying it couldn't be completed with some error I didn't understand. I searched the error on the windows site (sorry I can't remember what it is) and the windows site said that one of my RAM modules must be corrupt. I thought that this explained my crashes/startup problems. I then took out my first memory module and tried to install windows again to no avail. I then put the stick back in, took out the 2nd stick and tried to install it and it worked. I figured I must have had 1 bad stick.

I planned on running on 1 stick for awhile untill i could buy new RAM but I soon began to experience the same problems I was before (startup issue/ ingame crash) so went and bought 2 sticks of Patriot ram. The problems subsided for a couple weeks and then once again this morning I tried to boot up and all I got was the Gigabyte mobo screen and had to use the power button to reboot a few times before I could get into Windows.

Now I'm thinking it could be my mobo, my BIOs and drivers are up to date and a faulty mobo doesn't really explain my first run through with the Mushkin ram. Are there any tests you can suggest so that I can determine the problem?

Hi and welcome to D-A-L

try swapping the RAM sticks over it may be a problem on the motherboard connection ie dust

I swapped the ram sticks into the other two slots (since my mobo has 4) and I'm still getting the same problem.

is the board overclocked?
are you using double side RAM sticks?

have a look here seem similar problems
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP31-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P31 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards