[Alistair]

For the past month or so my computer has been experiencing random reboots. I thought at first that it was related to my video card, so I bought a new one. The new video card ran fine for a while but the reboots quickly returned. So I tried new RAM, that didn't solve the problem. At last I opened up my A+ certification book (I have taken a class, never bothered with the test) and it recommended a new power supply as did my instructor. Well my new power supply arrived today and I get the same problem.

When trying to reinstall windows I get the following message:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xF79A3E51, 0xF7D0213C, 0x00000000)

*** disk.sys - Addres F79A3E51 base at F799F000 Datestamp 3b7d840f

When reading through the text it asks me to verify that I have enough disk space (its a 60GB HDD), to check the indicated driver, to change video adapters (have done), to flash my BIOS (have done), and to disable BIOS caching or shadows (both done).

Does anyone here have any idea what is going on in my system?

Athlon XP 1900+ (Palomino)
1024MB DDR PC3200 (tried putting in my old RAM and each stick individually)
Radeon 9800 np
Radeon 9500 np
Western Digital 60GB HDD (the one I'm trying to install to)
Western Digital 30GB HDD (my backup drive that I REALLY don't want to format or have space to attempt a Windows Installation on)
ECS L7S7A2 motherboard

[Al_Vampyre]

Try the steps here if you haven't already

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315335

[swimtech]

Could be something loose (sometimes the simple things will nab you). Make sure your cables/wires on your mainboard are secure and that your microprocessor is well seated. The fact that you replaced your video, power supply, and memory, and still have the problem, makes the likelihood of them being the problem next to nil.

If you have moved the unit within the last couple months and/or have the unit in a place where temperature changes widely with the seasons (or from day to night), makes the likelihood of bad connections that much higher. Good luck!

[Sourcer_2002]

Make sure all you components are well seated, try a another copy of windows as that CD could be bad, the CD-ROM itself could be failing it this is happening during a reinstall.

[BiGBrOwNPimpsta]

backup, format, make sure everything is installed properly, enough power from the PSU, and that your CPU is not overheating because random restarts due occur due to overheating CPUs (which is quite obvious hehe)

[Alistair]

Originally posted by swimtech
Could be something loose (sometimes the simple things will nab you). Make sure your cables/wires on your mainboard are secure and that your microprocessor is well seated. The fact that you replaced your video, power supply, and memory, and still have the problem, makes the likelihood of them being the problem next to nil.

If you have moved the unit within the last couple months and/or have the unit in a place where temperature changes widely with the seasons (or from day to night), makes the likelihood of bad connections that much higher. Good luck!

Shortly before these problems started to occur the basement in my parents house had gotten quite warm. Not long after I moved into an apartment. I have taken your advice and have remounted all my wires and components. So far it is now allowing me to format, though it has allowed me to do this before.

When putting my cpu back in I noticed that my thermal paste had evaporated and there was just a bit of moisture between the cpu and heatsink. I'm hoping that my cpu wasn't really at 100C like my BIOS was suggesting. I doubt it was as I have read many people say that the thermal monitor on my motherboard is bugged and won't read properly without an enthusiast hacked version of the BIOS that corrects the issue.

My roommate is willing to let me try his old cpu if this doesn't work.

[swimtech]

Interesting about "moisture" between the cpu and heatsink, you no doubt know that just shouldn't happen as there is virtually no space in between and it is supposed to be sealed against both air and moisture by either the paste or the thermal pad. If you use another person's cpu in your unit use his/her heat sink with it. Sounds like your heatsink was making very poor contact with your cpu for some odd reason. Check carefully the moisture you observed - it may not be water after all.

[Alistair]

well setup is now copying files so I am now pretty sure its a case of a dead cpu.

[Alistair]

thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it The responses here were MUCH more useful than over am Futuremark, thus ensuring this is the place I come from now on

Its a shame I have to drop from a 1900+ to a 1700+ but at least this one is a thouroughbred or so we think as the layout is totally different than the 1900+ palamino I had.

[FluffyChicken]

grab a sysutil and it will tell you
AIDA32 for instance.
Use the Plugin on Menubar called CPUID (or any program that uses CPU-ID instuctions.)

[Alistair]

well now I just experienced a complete system lockup while playing Star Wars Galaxies and upon doing a hard reboot my entire system refused to powerup as though I had no processor installed. I swapped the "fried" cpu back in and it did the same... well I got mad and walked away for a few minutes, come back and I am now in windows with the old cpu. Could it possibly be my motherboard is what is going bad? I mean my old power supply WAS bad so is there a good chance that when the power supply started messing up it messed up the motherboard as well?

[zerodamage]

From what you said has been done so far, what I would do next is consider it being a bad motherboard. Try this. Clear the CMOS. You can do this by unpluggin the CPU and removing the battery for up to 30 mins. (sometimes longer, one i just fixed sat for 2 hours and it still did not clear, stupid cmos passwords)

After doing that, use the Safe Defaults for your bios settings and see how that runs. Maybe your RAM timings or something else in there is causing the problem. If that doens't work, then try a BIOS flash. Just be careful doing this for it can cost you your whole system if not done correctly.

If that doens't work, then I am going to say it is prob your motherboard.

[zerodamage]

And if it is your Motherboard. You can pick up a Biostar Nforce-2 chipset mobo from Newegg.com for 52 bucks. Not too shabby.

[Alistair]

Well... I did the flashing the BIOS and using the safe defaults last night to no avail. I also tried every RAm setting I could think of. I have an old motherboard lying around that I think I'll try using tomorrow to see if that lets me go without a lockup or crash. If it turns out to work, I'll probably be ordering that motherboard you just mentioned.

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

in the bios
turn off com1 and 2

and if you dont have aprinter or use usb turn off usb and lpt1

if you have onboard sound and are useing a card make sure you turn it off in the bios...
and make sure you not useing pci slot 1

also try the lates xp service pack sp1a or the sp2 beta's

...........

whats your temps/voltages ?

[swimtech]

Yup, sounds like mommyboard - wouldn't bother flashing the bios though (you can't anyway - won't boot!), just reset to factory defaults (jumper on the board most likely) and/or turn off the ports mentioned - still no go? - new (more features and speed ) board. Hang in there!

Again - that problem with your processor and heat sink (the space and moisture!) really bothers me. Could have cooked the board underneath the socket. Look with a flashlight and check for discoloration within the socket and on the underside of the mainboard beneath the socket.

[Alistair]

Well I laughed at a person who told me to replace an IDE cable because he had heard of similar problems occuring as a result of a bad cable... The funny thing is so far I haven't had a crash and I ran my games for 5 straight hours tonight.

The moitsure between teh cpu and heatsink bothers me too, I'll be removing the motherboard later this weekend to take a look (I have to work the weekends so my time is limitted on it.)