My computer has recently started acting up, and I need some help figuring out what to replace.
Here's my system:
Epox EP-8RDA+ motherboard
AMD Barton 2500+ processor
1 GB ram (2x crucial DDR 333)
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro video card
Antec True480 power supply
Windows 2000 Pro
The motherboard (and on-board audio section) and video card have up to date drivers. Windows has a recent service pack. I've run Spybot and an antivirus program (Avast!), and the system comes up clean.
When I'm watching video clips or playing computer games (Star Wars Galaxies), the computer will occasionally reboot. It doesn't just crash windows - it seems to power cycle. When playing my game, it happens about once per hour. I think the game is a little more stable when I disable the sound. I thought it was just a game problem until it happened recently while watching a video clip. I tried several times, but was unable to get through the video clip without the computer rebooting.
I'm happy to replace whatever's causing the problem, but I need help figuring out what that might be. I'm a novice at building and debugging computers, but as far as I can tell, it could be the processor, the motherboard, the memory, the video card, or the power supply (one of the voltages I can monitor with the motherboard utility (VDD Core) gets down to about 1.2 volts sometimes). The CPU temperature looks pretty normal. Of course I'd rather not have to replace everything to find out which one was causing the problem.
Are there any utilities that can help me determine why my system crashes? I have run through all the sound and video tests in dxdiag. I've downloaded utilities from the motherboard manufacturer, but they just monitor system functions - not tell me why the system crashed. I'd appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks.
Here's my system:
Epox EP-8RDA+ motherboard
AMD Barton 2500+ processor
1 GB ram (2x crucial DDR 333)
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro video card
Antec True480 power supply
Windows 2000 Pro
The motherboard (and on-board audio section) and video card have up to date drivers. Windows has a recent service pack. I've run Spybot and an antivirus program (Avast!), and the system comes up clean.
When I'm watching video clips or playing computer games (Star Wars Galaxies), the computer will occasionally reboot. It doesn't just crash windows - it seems to power cycle. When playing my game, it happens about once per hour. I think the game is a little more stable when I disable the sound. I thought it was just a game problem until it happened recently while watching a video clip. I tried several times, but was unable to get through the video clip without the computer rebooting.
I'm happy to replace whatever's causing the problem, but I need help figuring out what that might be. I'm a novice at building and debugging computers, but as far as I can tell, it could be the processor, the motherboard, the memory, the video card, or the power supply (one of the voltages I can monitor with the motherboard utility (VDD Core) gets down to about 1.2 volts sometimes). The CPU temperature looks pretty normal. Of course I'd rather not have to replace everything to find out which one was causing the problem.
Are there any utilities that can help me determine why my system crashes? I have run through all the sound and video tests in dxdiag. I've downloaded utilities from the motherboard manufacturer, but they just monitor system functions - not tell me why the system crashed. I'd appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks.