Hello all, first time poster, long time computer nerd.

My PC is acting up, and here are the symptoms.

1. Every so often when I am running a program, it tells me that there is a problem and it wants to report it. I let it get reported, and then glance at the error report that it is sending. The two that I have harvested recently are:

(FIRE FOX - NOV. 1)

"ERROR SIGNATURE

AppName: firefox.exe AppVer: 0.9.0.0 ModName: xpcom.dll
ModVer: 1.7.20040.14765 Offset: 0003cfd1"


(Outlook - Nov 3)

"ERROR SIGNATURE

AppName: outlook.exe AppVer: 11.0.5207.5 AppStamp:3ea0af8d
ModName: mso.dll ModVer: 11.0.5207.5 ModStamp:3ea0b9ea
fDebug: 0 Offset: 00066d7d"

These kinds of errors have happened at all sorts of times. While opening, while closing, while processing, while cutting and pasting, no consistancy. And it has happened with everything from outlook to adobe premiere.

Since it is so wide spread, I am wondering if it could be sympotmatic of a gibbled memory stick, or possibly a faulty mother board. Both memory and mother board and CPU are new. Before I upgraded these i did not have these problems. So could that be it? If so, how the heck do I go about diagnosing?

2. There are equally random, although not as frequent, times when the PC just *blink* powers down. Where do I begin to diagnos that?


I geuss I should mention what I am running:

AMD Athlon XP-A +2600
1024 MB RAM
ASRock K7S41GX mother board
Windows XP SP1 (with all other updates besides)
WinFast A 180B video card w/ nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 3d Accelerator

Any help on this one would be much appreciated!

Both of those applications are internet related. Install service pack 2 and see if that changes anything.

Originally Posted by newbie_geek

Hello all, first time poster, long time computer nerd.

Any help on this one would be much appreciated!

Hey newbie_geek; Welcome to D-A-L

Did you re-install XP after your hardware changes? It is generaly recommended to do a Repair Install:

"After changing the board, and setting up date/time in the new BIOS and
detecting the disks, set the BIOS boot order to CD first, then hard
disk. Boot the XP CD, start Setup (do not take 'repair' at this
stage), then after the license agreement take 'Repair Installation'.
Installed software and all data files will be preserved, together with
most settings. When it first reboots, change the boot order back to
'HD first' before proceeding.

This will need a new activation probably, but with only m'board and
cpu changed this will probably go through automatically on the net as
first time."

Here is a good guide to XP installs; you would be interested in Repair Installation; the 2nd repair option on the CD.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/index.html

Also a good idea is to run the File & Settings Transfer Wizard prior to Repair;
Here is a good guide to that:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

Good luck!

well that is what I would have thought, but the trouble is that i did a total system re-install after the hardware change.

And as for this being internet related, I have had it happen with totally stand-alone software, and during long periods when i am not even hooked into the net.

Besides that, I am quite weary about installing SP2 as I have recieved quite a few warnings about it's stability.

Have you checked the Device Manager?

Also Everest is a good diagnostic tool:

EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware1 system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for home PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. It offers the world's most accurate system information and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.

Everest

what am i looking for in the device manager exactly?

any yellow "!"

on 2nd thought the cpu is there but no ram or board help...

again I would recommend downloading Everest for these details

i have everest... what would it tell me... i have only ever used it for making sure i have the newest drivers installed...

does the motherboard, memory, & cpu read what they should read?

is there a BIOS upgrade?

yup... CPU, MEM, and MB all seem to be as they should.

and there is only a link to e-support for a bios upgrade... so long answer yes, short answer no.