[cbell]

Hey all, I'm new to this forum, so I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum or if I'm giving too much info.

My comp started crashing occasionally about a month ago. The screen would go black, and the comp would be frozen (I couldn't put it to sleep or get the HDD's to do anything, as far as I could tell). It always happens while using windows media player, and I'm pretty sure always when it's switching between full-screen and windowed. Strangely enough, it always seems to happen around midnight, but I'm just chalking that up to coincidence right now. I changed from Catalyst drivers to Omega drivers, and the problem happened less frequently after that, but still occasionally.
Last night, it did the same thing, except this time it wouldn't turn back on. The monitor doesn't recieve any signal. At first I assumed that it was the video card, but I don't get any 'beep' at POST. The optical drives spin up if there is a disk in it, and the HDD light flickers a little, but no POST and no 'beep' at all.

I don't know where to start diagnosing this, since I have no extra components to swap in, and nobody I know has a rig that I can test my components in. Anybody know what my first step should be? My first thought is to do a jumper-reset of my BIOS. Any reason I shouldn't?

My CPU is overclocked from 2.4 to just under 3.6, but it never crashes at high loads, only when it's using windows media player, and the CPU is pretty much idle. All my temps are within safe limits, at least last time I checked.
If resetting the BIOS doesn't help, then I'm at a loss as to where to start diagnosing. Thanks in advance for the help; any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz running @ 3.55GHz
RAM: 2gigs Dual Channel DDR2 Team Xtreem PC6400 @ 4-4-4-8
Hard Drive: 2X Seagate 320GB 16MB cache 7200RPM in RAID0
Heatsink: Big Typhoon
Case: Ultra Aluminus
Power: Ultra 550W Modular Powersupply
Graphics: ASUS ATI X1950 Pro
Optical: BenQ DW1620 & Pioneer DVR-111D
Moniter: LG 20.1" Widescreen L204WT

Update:
So I cleared the CMOS by removing the battery and switching the jumper, and it doesn't seem to have helped anything. I still get nothing on the monitor when I power on, and there is no BIOS 'beep'. I have no idea where to go from here. Has anyone got an idea of what I could try next, or what component might be failing?

[Jase123]

Do you have a graphics card or do you use onboard? If you use a graphics card, try booting with onboard.

Take your ram out, blow the gold remnents of any dust, and then put them both back in and try booting into Windows.

Regards Jason

[cbell]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I tried cleaning off the RAM, but no difference. I have an ASUS Radeon X1950 Pro video card. I can't try it without the video card, since my MOBO is designed to use one, and does not have on-board video. I tried booting without the additional power cable to the video card, which should generate an error beep, but still nothing. I'm thinking that, since there is no BIOS 'beep', that the problem likely lies in the motherboard or the power supply, since it should still attempt to POST and generate an error if the CPU, RAM, or video card wasn't working.

[Jase123]

Yes, it may be down to your motherboard. But, your going to need a known working motherboard.

Have you tried taking all ram out and see if you get any error beeps?

Regards Jason

[cbell]

Good call... I tried booting with no ram, and got repeating sets of three beeps. There's still hope! Not sure what to try next though

[Jase123]

That's good news.

Now try with one stick of ram in and see if you can boot up. (Try for each stick of ram).

Regards Jason

[cbell]

Thanks Jason, the problem was the RAM. It appears that one of the chips died, since it'll boot with one of the DRAM in, but not the other. That was espensive ram too... I wonder what would have caused that. If I just buy another 1 gig chip, will it work properly in dual channel with the other one that I still have?

[Jase123]

Glad you've got it working.

Provding there the same, then yeah. Just don't get a slower speed (try to get the same) as it will run at the lowest speed.

Regards Jason

[cbell]

Guess that's the risk I take by overclocking. Ironically, my RAM was the least overclocked component. Maybe it's under warranty.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. If I buy another PC6400 1 gig chip that has the same CAS latancy, will it work properly in dual channel, even if it's a different brand? Or should I try to find an identical DRAM? I only ask because it's very difficult to find this ram sold individually, it usually coming in a pair.

It's gonna be frustrating working with only a gig of ram... guess I won't be doing any gaming for a while. But thanks again for the help... I had ruled out RAM as a issue in my head, so I may never have thought of trying that.

[Jase123]

Yes, you can run different brands, but I'm not someone who would, as anything can happen.

If I was you, I'd have a look on Ebay, or just buy 2gb of new ram lol.

Yes, you will be missing some gaming, something I cannot afford to lose lol.

Regards Jason

[cbell]

Haha, yeah, I just looked on tigerdirect... the 2 gig pairs are selling for the same price as the individual sticks lol.

I'm glad it was the RAM that went though cuz my computer can still compute with only one DRAM... if anything else had failed, I'd be sittin here with nothing, since everything in my room uses my computer for something. I can't even watch my tv without my comp lol.