Changing my board+CPU

[Boudicca]

Okay...so here it goes:
My CPU or board (I don't know exactly) has been acting quite weird during the last few weeks. It all started with MTW2 crashing with a "fatal graphics error", later with an "unspecified error". A reinstall first worked, but did not solve the error.
A few days later, my PC suddenly started rebooting for obivously no reason or ending programs due to an "unexpected error". Sometimes I recieved a "0x0008 etc... could not be read" error. A few days later, my system woudln't work anymore and I had to reinstall everything, which did not solve the problem though.

Hot CPU Tester Pro produces Checksum errors in the Sorting Algorithms test regularly. I have checked my ram with memtest: no errors. I have checked my harddisk and I think it is very likely that I may have a CPU problem

I must admit that the system had been overclocked by about 5% for 3 years now. So that could very well be the cause of the problem. I had also considered my sound blaster live 5.1 to be the cause of the problem, as EAX2 suddenly wouldn't work any more. But I have ejected the sound card from the PC and nothing changed.

My sytem specs are as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (Clawhammer) (Socket 754)
Asus K8V SE Deluxe Mainboard
2048 MB's of Single Channel Mushkin PC 3200 DDR Ram (200 MHZ) (2x1GB!)
and an Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS XFX 256 MB (AGP)

As you see, I use an AGP graphics card, which is still a very good card and I only bought it last year. I also added the memory only 3 months ago (it was certified for the board by the manufacturer)

So..if you had a malfuncitioning board/CPU with this system, what would you do if you didn't have a lot of money. My problem is, that I want to keep my Graphics card and Ram. But I could change board and CPU. But that would require a board which still has an AGP slot (I don't know if there is a hybrid-board (PCIE-AGP?)

I could spend about 200 €. And I need some advice as to what to do. I was quite satisfied with the system up to now. It could play MTW2 on highest settings.

[Erik]

Can you see any signs of damage on the motherboard?
Most specifically: are any of the capacitors (the cylindrical components) deformed or leaking?

Either way: maybe you can find a good second hand board on e-bay?
I suspect many people are selling their old motherboards to replace them with PCIe versions nowadays.

[Exidus Maximus]

ya, if ur getting those errors is most likely either your GPU or maybe ur CPU... or just check ur drivers. if ur drivers are bad, it could easily slow ur comp down or mess stuff up.

what socket does ur mobo use? if its 939 i can easily suggest an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe... but that would be using PCIE so u will need a new GPU as well. honestly u can buy both for the 200 or 250 u are willing to spend... and it will be WELL worth it cuz PCIE is just inherently faster that AGP... thats y AGP is a dead technology. 1 year doesn't seem like much, but in the area of computing, its a lifetime.

[Erik]

Btw: have you tried under-clocking the CPU and increasing the voltages, to improve stability?

[OTZ]

CPU/RAM are usually the reasons behine the 0008 errors. Have you ran memtest?

[Boudicca]

I have run memtest on the ram for an entire night. And he didn't find any faults within the Ram memory.

Sorry for not calling my socket: unfortunately it is a 754 socket....so that's a dead end anyway.

Concerning the drivers: I am relatively certain that they are all right. At least I have installed all the latest Nvidia, DirectX drivers, I have the latest Bios for my board etc... So that should not be the problem

However I can't tell for certain, as the setup files are doing weird things like suddenly jumping from 24% to 74%. And all files I download via the internet (the bigger ones) often can't be unpacked because they show errors.

@ OTZ: Thanks for the advice on the 0008 errors, OTZ...that's usually the most frequent error I have been encountering. I have been shifting Ram tonight (using my old modules) in order to see what happens.

@Erik: Yes...I have tried "underclocking" but it would still produce crashes. The greatest stabilty is achieved when I use the overclock frequency I used in the past (which is FSB 209 MHZ)

[OTZ]

Corrupt downloads are typically associated with RAM - it could also be a faulty DIMM. Have you tried just using one stick at a time, trying it in a different DIMM, and running memtest on it?

[Erik]

Corrupt downloads are typically associated with RAM - it could also be a faulty DIMM. Have you tried just using one stick at a time, trying it in a different DIMM, and running memtest on it?

I think you mean faulty slot? (a DIMM is a Dual In-line Memory Module, ie: a memory stick).

[Boudicca]

Excellent hint OTZ. I tested with one Dimm at a time. And voilà, one of the Dimms is indeed faulty. So that explains it all.

To verify this:
My PC has been running fine with the old memory modules I reinserted, no crashes, no error reports....

And:
I gave my Ram to a fried of mine (today) who put it in his PC. And guess what: "Access violation error 0x00008.....", right at the start.

So thanks for your help. You're in for some rep (I mean you and Erik...that was first class aid!!!)

[OTZ]

Glad to help!

[King Edward I]

what ram brand? and what speed

[OTZ]

check the OP, Mushkin DDR400