[NiceGuy87]

Ok. Hey everybody I haven't been back for a while since I purchased my Vista 64 bit quadcore. I'm very happy with it. No problems. But that is not why I am here today.

My brother's computer is very outdated (about 7 years I think). He has an Asus P4R800-VM with an intel pentium 4 2.8 and some haggard video card that was the minimum requirement for BF2 to play back in the day...an ATI Radeon 9600XT. The hard drive is a WD800 or whatever (Western Digital 80GB). His ram isn't helping his situation by only being 512mb at 400mhz Kingston.

So his computer hasn't had many problems in these past years...only a power supply replacement twice I think (cuz he buys crappy ones). I always tell him to buy 1 antec for life.

I uninstalled and reinstalled his Windows XP Pro formatting (not quick). Everything is laddyda for a little bit when ALL OF A SUDDEN his computer starts to freeze constantly and we began to think it was only when he ran iTunes or tried to play a video on youtube...

This is a fresh instalI with a normal (not quick) format. I tried adding a stick of 256 the same kind + same mhz and he got a beep code (no boot) so we took it out and it ran. To be sure there were no problems with the current stick, tried running memtest86 for 7 passes and it was good. So I start to think it's the CPU going or something with the motherboard if anything, since the HD doesn't make any disturbing noises.

Still trying to monitor the freezing, the occurences become more and more confusing and sporadic. It began to freeze when just on facebook or at Asus website to download drivers (idiot decided to do another fresh install because hes an idiot). Anyway, he got these 2 short beeps a little bit after he got it going again (when installing drivers). That stands for "Parity circuit failure" which have many different associated problems. Does that mean it's his motherboard?

His computer booted again no problem this time and got a new problem where when it froze, the screen shut off and went to "no signal" and the computer just hung there. Since he's broke cuz he's having car problems and a student, he can't buy a new computer which was my suggestion. If he has any money to spend it has to be on the one right part that will fix it and I say processor. How do you know for sure? His usage is at 10-15% with youtube, facebook, aim, and itunes on. All fans inside case are clean, including processor fan and gap in between. He has NEVER gotten a blue screen.

What do you guys think? If you got this far, I thank you for your patience. I am going on vacation for Daytona bike week tomorrow if any of you are motorcycle fans...so any replies will go directly to my brother (hes intermediate- I've been running him through it and he has done everything himself so he'll be able to follow instructions if any). Thanks a lot guys I really appreciate it!

[Bichey]

Write briefly, man. Nobody has time to read an "essay"

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by Bichey

Write briefly, man. Nobody has time to read an "essay"

I read it.
People will ask for details.
He is going to be gone for a while.
If you would have read the entire thing you have seen this

[Dust Sailor]

http://www.crucial.com/ Go here and do a scan This will tell you how much RAM the computer will accept and what is compatible .

[johnebadbak]

http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/12,13.html

[NiceGuy87]

Thanks for all the quick replies. I'm about to catch a plane, but just wanted to see if anyone had suggestions.

Bichey- I provided as much info as possible so nobody suggests anything we've tried already. I figured people would read it, maybe not you, but I know people read those boring HJT logs so someone would... The bold is for those who skim.

Thanks to everyone who has responded! I will advise my brother to try everything and he will respond after he gets back from driving me to the airport.

[Bichey]

Originally Posted by NiceGuy87

Thanks for all the quick replies. I'm about to catch a plane, but just wanted to see if anyone had suggestions.

Bichey- I provided as much info as possible so nobody suggests anything we've tried already. I figured people would read it, maybe not you, but I know people read those boring HJT logs so someone would... The bold is for those who skim.

Thanks to everyone who has responded! I will advise my brother to try everything and he will respond after he gets back from driving me to the airport.

Happy Journey!

[NiceGuy87]

Hey guys I just got back from vacation.

My brother bought 1GB of ram that fits his mobo accordingly. He is still having the same problems.

He downloaded speedfan to monitor his temps and with no processes running, his CPU is at 20-30% and then in iTunes (not playing a song because then it would freeze), just scrolling through the list of songs it spikes to 95%.

This means it's his CPU right? I don't think an overheating issue can be corrected by adding thermal grease, right? I thought that once the damage of overheating was done, the CPU is bad and needs to be replaced. Is that the only possible solution?

[aka Brett]

Thats just his usage not the temps.

[NiceGuy87]

But if his usage is maxed out while not doing anything, doesn't that mean it's bad?

He said he has $50 to spend. His current cpu says "intel 01...pentium 4...2.8ghz/512/533...SL6QB

Since his cpu is so old, a higher one (from those days) shouldn't be too expensive. I went on eBay and typed in "512/533" and went through the list to find:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Pentium-4-...3A1|240%3A1318

This is compatible correct? I'll probably offer $50 for it if you guys think it's worth it. Thanks.

[aka Brett]

But if his usage is maxed out while not doing anything, doesn't that mean it's bad?

Alot of things can cause a cpu to eat up the cycles
Have you tried booting into safe mode and see how it runs?

[johnebadbak]

P4R800-VM get all the drivers for the motherboard. from Asus site
also get the drivers for the video card from AMD site.

boot into safe mode hold down F8 key soon as the machine is switched on..

if the machine boots up ok and runs ok then it has to be some software installed causing the machine to max out
run msconfig and stop all "Program files' starting up at boot time.disconnect the internet while trouble shooting..

[NiceGuy87]

His CPU usage still spikes to 100 in safe mode. It's very slow, but hasn't frozen. I still think it's the CPU! If you guys are convinced, is that one I posted for eBay the right one? Thanks.

[johnebadbak]

ok check in "processers in "task manager" and find the program using the biggest amount of cpu% and uninstall it.

[NiceGuy87]

There is nothing. Only system idle process, which is at 99 and I know that's good.