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General discussion

a tough computer problem.

Aug 10, 2005 10:36AM PDT

no one -- and i mean no one, can figure it out, so now i turn to you, the internet masses.

my computer, a sony vaio pcvrx660 was behaving perfectly until i decided to install a stick of ram.
since that fatal installation, my computer no longer works.

the first problem i had was loading windows after i removed the faulty ram... i had a problem with my video card drivers, and windows (xp home) wouldn't boot. i swapped out GPUs, and windows loaded. 5 minutes later, the blue screen of death. [incidentally, the error message changes each time.]

re-downloaded all of my drivers. swapped back in original video card. windows loaded. 5 minutes later the computer turns off.

this is the problem. the computer just turns off, probably about a minute or two after loading windows. i can be loading photoshop, or running firefox, it doesn't matter, after a small amount of time the thing just turns off or crashes.

whats wrong???

its not: a heating issue. the problem persists with an open case and fans blowing directly onto the board.
a power supply issue. the problem continues even with power disconnected from all peripherals.
a software issue. i threw in a new (clean) harddrive. i installed windows with no problem, but once i tried to run it, the problem came back.
a ram issue. ram diagnostics show my original (undamaged) ram as a-ok.
a motherboard issue. windows loads. i can load programs. it just doesn't stay on.


what in the world can it be???

please, ask any questions, help would be most appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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thats a pickle of a problem
Aug 10, 2005 11:57AM PDT

that sucks, sorry for your problems. i too have had problems with upgrading sony ram. it worked on the newer vaio (2.8GHz p4) but not on the old one (1.8GHz p4).

the computer wouldn't boot except, i took out the ram, and all was fine.

wow, you installed a new hdd with clean windows and it came back? jesus, i'd say it has to be with your mother board. maybe you shorted it when replacing your ram?

the second problem, which i'd say is the most likely, is the power supply. i would swap it out with a friends or if you have a spare lying around.

how is your bios? did you do anything in there like change the timings (well maybe not on a sony but still)i'd look around the bios for anything that seems out of place.

konny

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not the problem (i dont think)
Aug 11, 2005 1:45AM PDT

If my mother board were shorted, would I still be able to load up XP at all?

The BIOS hasn't been touched. Just in case, I previously resetted it to all of the Defaults, but nothing was changed.

Without a spare power supply, how do I check it? I already disconnected both optical drives, the secondary harddrive, the diskette drive, anything that draws power. And if it was a power supply issue, would I be able to boot up at all?

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Ouch, it shoud be OOUUCCHH!!!!
Aug 11, 2005 2:28AM PDT

For that price you CAN build your PC with Dual core processor. John