old user needing help!

[Big Beere]

Hey all,

been a long time since ive been on here, for those of you who can remember me, i built a brilliant gaming rig a few years ago which i still have but havent used for a while (of course its now wayyy out dated). But in need of some help!

The Setup:

WinXP Pro SP2
Asus A8N32-Sli Deluxe mobo
AMD (socket 939) 64bit dual 4600+
2gb corsair ram (dual)
x2 sata hdd's 320gb + 250gb
Hyper 580w psu
nvidia gefore XFX 7900GTX 512mb GPU
creative x-fi sound card

now the system worked non stop floorless when i was gaming on it, multitasking like ****! it was honestly on 24/7 then i bought a netbook and never looked back, but miss the gaming life style! So i decided to turn it back on and had a few BSOD straight away, it looped a few times, i turned it on and off and finally it hit the desktop. i must of formatted it the last time i used it. I installed a the new updates including SP3 - but as soon as SP3 was installed it was just one complete loop and never worked, so i reformatted, worked fine, with the slight hic-up, then i tempted fait and tried SP3 again, same problem.
So here i am again, just reformatted it and im at the stage now of just installing SP2 with all the driver updates etc. do u think i have some faulty hardware, whats program do you guys use now to check for hardware at fault?

BUT, since the format on the odd occasion when its booting up POST, CMOS pops up saying date/time isnt rite, it says 2002 so ive changed that twice now. Seems to have stayed at the correct time/date since ive changed it for the second time. Its just really odd ?!
Since ive installed the new nvidia drivers for the gfx card (which i got off their w.site) everytime i right click on the little icon bottom right hand side of the screen or click on the program the screen flashes black then comes back to life, or if i change a setting, again it flashes black lol! strangee.....

If anyone can shed some light, it will be really appreciated!

[Shock]

1) Your motherboard battery has died of old age, time to replace.

2) its really hard to guess which hardware has developed a fault.

first of all, I would replace the mobo battery and if its been sitting still for so long, give it a good dust inside the case and ensure all fans are working and that's not causing any heating issues and then look for faulty hardware.

[kevin36thi]

Like Shock has said. I think you should replace the motherboard CMOS battery.

Also it maybe a better option to think about upgrading to Windows 7 as there's no longer any support for XP.

[Coops]

Hey BB Good to see you again.

I would agree that mainboard BIOS battery could be dead after all this time, especially if mains AC power has been out.
Also just looking at Asus website for BIOS updates they have release one for to fix issue with not being able to enter Windows XP SP3 when USB Drive is connected to system. ( it does state to only flash that BIOS if you have this issue ) so that being said do you have anything connected of the USB flash type.

[Big Beere]

Hi all :-)

Thanks for the speedy replies! Well, i turned the system off last night after it being on for approx6/7 hours, worked fine. Just turned it on now and it asked for the date/time again, so im guessing i need a battery, im guessing i can get a CMOS battery from Novatech...

As for the case and the inside, its quite clean considering its been out of action for some time, what i want to do it take it all out this case (Thermaltake Armor) and put it into a smaller case, as wow it takes up some room!

As for the BSOD i havent had one yet! touch wood i wont....

Thanks again for the help, really is much appreciated!

Keep you updated,

B

[faccjd]

Your motherboard battery is most probably a CR2032 lithium cell (20 mm diameter, 3.2 mm height) and sold almost anywhere (Tesco etc.)

[146Kilos]

And that PSU is on borrowed time, I'd swap it out before it enters self destruct mode & takes the rest of the rig down with it in one almighty bang.

[Big Beere]

hi all,

well ive swapped the CMOS batttery but it still seems to keep asking me for the time and date when i turn off the system and turn it back on ?! 146kilos why would the PSU be on its way out?

cheers!


B

[system7]

hi all,

well ive swapped the CMOS batttery but it still seems to keep asking me for the time and date when i turn off the system and turn it back on ?! 146kilos why would the PSU be on its way out?

cheers!


B

Er, you have entered bios setup with del or F2 and entered latest date and time?

Otherwise it doesn't know what day it is, if you follow. :D

[Big Beere]

haha yeah system7 i have done just that ;-)

B

[146Kilos]

All PSUs are more prone to fail with increasing age.
The Legend has it that with a Hyper it doesn't have to be old & that it has an increased chance of taking the rest of the PC down with it.