Big time stability issues

Just the other day I have started experiencing some rather bizare stability issues on my machine. Here is the background:

I have been using my system without issue for about half a year now. I haven't made any configuration changes in months and have only installed the occasional game (this machine is a dedicated gaming machine).

The system is an Asus A7N8X delux (bios version 1004)with an xp2100+ and corsair xms pc3200 memory. I have a WD 80gb hd and an ati radeon 9700 pro. I am running win XP home.

For the last few days my machine reboots randomly only minutes after booting. When it reboots it almost never is able to get past the post check. I will usually get the Post speech reporter to tell me the system failed the memory check. Only after shutting the system down for a time can I get the system to boot again(if I do not wait then the display goes out right after powering the system on and it just sits there). When it does boot the speech reporter says it had problems due to cpu overclocking and forces me into bios to make changes.

Several times when I attempted to boot I received an error saying that there was a bios checksum error. I flashed to 1004 bios version but that did not solve the problem. I have also reset my cmos several times. I have ran the system in safe mode and that also did not solve the problem. The system is not currently overclocked at all. Temps are about 19-20c when the system crashes. Voltages are all right where they should be.

I am suspecting that the issue is my motherboard but I can't say for sure what exactly could be wrong. When I have the time I intend to start swapping other parts in to see if anything corrects the issue. Any ideas straight off the bat of what it could be? Has anyone else run into this bios checksum issue?

I don't have an answer to your problem, but I have had BIOS checksum errors every once in awhile. Usually seems to happen when I poke around in the case. If I just kill the PSU and reboot it always boots fine, but I'm not thrilled about this happening, as this is a bad sign. One day I just know it's gonna crap on me. BIOS flash didn't help any as well. So......your not alone.

most likely one of two things.....mobo, or ram..... i think id lean more to the ram though

If you are running a rev 1.06 or below...this might just be a VDD voltage issue...

glock19owner said:

If you are running a rev 1.06 or below...this might just be a VDD voltage issue...

Click to expand...

My board is a rev 1.04. I hadn't heard this before but does this board have issues keeping stable vdd even at stock voltage settings?

I have spare ram tucked away somewhere in my house so first chance I have to test it I will definatly pop some in.

Thanks for all your help so far guys!

If your VDD voltage is having problems at stock...then it defiently is a VDD issue...VDD is the northbridge voltage...

A7N8X VDD Mod Thread

glock19owner said:

If your VDD voltage is having problems at stock...then it defiently is a VDD issue...VDD is the northbridge voltage...

A7N8X VDD Mod Thread

Click to expand...

Not sure I am understanding your logic? Since it might be a vdd issue it definatly is a vdd issue?

When you try the ram, you need to completely remove all the old ram. A tech once told me that a bad ram chip can "transport" problem on to a good one making both bad.

Well of course leaving any part in your machine that you suspect might be causing the problem would be pointless if you are trying to test if it is causing the problem.

Today I began my systematic swapping out of hardware trying to find the issue. Before I began I decided to run the system with everything in it 1 last time to make sure I could replicate the problem. Well all of a sudden the problem seems to have resolved itself as my machine has been running for about 2 hours without skipping a beat. I am simply mindboggled over this sudden change to almost 100% instability and then back again several days later...