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I've been having weird issues ever since May and I suspect its the mobo but I would like to get some feedback from much more intelligible minds on possible solutions.
Long version with details:
1) System ran fine for 3 months. I decided to canned air blast the dust off all my components one day. I held my can at the wrong angle and blasted my mobo with that cold stuff (for a split second). After that I started getting hang-ups and system crashes within 15 minutes. No blue screen, the speakers would make rapid repetitive noise and the screen would just display the last image before the computer crashed. Prime95 was not stable on all levels. I took out one stick of RAM and the system ran a bit more stable but would frequently and randomly crash.
2) Suspecting RAM to be at fault I ordered 2x1gb G.Skill 2-3-2-5 DDR400 and replaced my old 2x512mb Patriot sticks which had the same timings. Things were generally a little more stable but crashes were frequent during gaming and had the system freeze infrequently.
3) At this point I decided to underclock the memory down to 333mhz. Games were playable but a system crash was expected within the hour. This worked for one month.
4) After one month, the system started doing its crazy thing on a more frequent basis. I memtest'd the memory for 4 hours and figured the sticks themselves were not the culprit. I underclocked my 3500+ by 200mhz. Prime95 is crashes around 1-2 hours. At this point, the random system lockups are rare, and freezing during games are also infrequent and things are good so far. However, when the random crash does occur, the system is unable to recognize hard drives. I have to rearrange the SATA connections on my mobo to get it working again.
5) In the past week, another problem has sprung up! There is a 1 in 3 chance that when I try to shut down my system, it doesn't! Windows shuts down but the power is still on and the fans plugged to my motherboard all go to 100% full blast. Holding the power button for 10 seconds does not shut the system down and the reset button also does absolutely nothing. Only way to power it down is to push the button on the back of the PSU.
Short version:
The only way the system is-for-the-most-part stable, is by underclocking my RAM, CPU. However, when the system crashes, my HDD are not detected unless I switch the connectors around. Also, 33% chance upon trying to shut down the system, it will not power down and my only solution is to push the kill switch on the back of the PSU.
My mobo is a DFI NF4 Ultra-D with OCZ Powerstream 470W powering it up. Is there any possible solution to all this crazy stuff hampering my system? Could the AMD chip actually be at fault and not the mobo? What can explain this little chain reaction of things that continually go wrong!
Long version with details:
1) System ran fine for 3 months. I decided to canned air blast the dust off all my components one day. I held my can at the wrong angle and blasted my mobo with that cold stuff (for a split second). After that I started getting hang-ups and system crashes within 15 minutes. No blue screen, the speakers would make rapid repetitive noise and the screen would just display the last image before the computer crashed. Prime95 was not stable on all levels. I took out one stick of RAM and the system ran a bit more stable but would frequently and randomly crash.
2) Suspecting RAM to be at fault I ordered 2x1gb G.Skill 2-3-2-5 DDR400 and replaced my old 2x512mb Patriot sticks which had the same timings. Things were generally a little more stable but crashes were frequent during gaming and had the system freeze infrequently.
3) At this point I decided to underclock the memory down to 333mhz. Games were playable but a system crash was expected within the hour. This worked for one month.
4) After one month, the system started doing its crazy thing on a more frequent basis. I memtest'd the memory for 4 hours and figured the sticks themselves were not the culprit. I underclocked my 3500+ by 200mhz. Prime95 is crashes around 1-2 hours. At this point, the random system lockups are rare, and freezing during games are also infrequent and things are good so far. However, when the random crash does occur, the system is unable to recognize hard drives. I have to rearrange the SATA connections on my mobo to get it working again.
5) In the past week, another problem has sprung up! There is a 1 in 3 chance that when I try to shut down my system, it doesn't! Windows shuts down but the power is still on and the fans plugged to my motherboard all go to 100% full blast. Holding the power button for 10 seconds does not shut the system down and the reset button also does absolutely nothing. Only way to power it down is to push the button on the back of the PSU.
Short version:
The only way the system is-for-the-most-part stable, is by underclocking my RAM, CPU. However, when the system crashes, my HDD are not detected unless I switch the connectors around. Also, 33% chance upon trying to shut down the system, it will not power down and my only solution is to push the kill switch on the back of the PSU.
My mobo is a DFI NF4 Ultra-D with OCZ Powerstream 470W powering it up. Is there any possible solution to all this crazy stuff hampering my system? Could the AMD chip actually be at fault and not the mobo? What can explain this little chain reaction of things that continually go wrong!