[philthomas]

Dis you try running the machine for a few days with just one stick and seeig if the USB problem still existed ? ..... and again with the other stick ?

[simple stu]

No I just did it for a few minutes but shall do each one for a few days when I get the chance.

[philthomas]

Well .... the idea is to try to isolate the bad Ram stick (if there is a bad one).

So if you run the machine with just one stick and the USB problem goes away, the stick you removed is the culprit.
If the USB problem persists, swap the sticks, still keeping to one stick and if the problem then goes away, the removed stick is again the culprit.

Although software to test Ram (like memtest) is good and it will often pick up bad Ram, it wont detect if Ram is incompatible, so physical removal is a better option.

[simple stu]

Hi Phil,

I removed one stick at a time and tried uploading some video footage and in both instances the PC started beeping and would have crashed had I not unplugged the camcorder to stop that unbearable noise.

It also beeps when I have a lot of applications open. The CPU usage shoots up to the 90s until I close everything to prevent a crash.

Have you got any suggestions?

Cheers,
Stu

[xactly]

It sounds like the CPU is overheating, try cleaning it with a brush.

Did you ever check the CPU temps like I asked you to?

[simple stu]

You're bang on xactly!

Thanks for your help amd thanks philthomas. No doubt I'll have more simple (hence the name) questions in the future!