[a944porsche]

PSU: Earthwatts 680W
CPU: AMD Athlon X64 2 4200
VGA: GeForce 9800SE
Mobo: Asus S8N-SLI
RAM: 1 Gb
OS: Windows XP

This problem started about two months ago, and it's been really weird to say the least. The first issues started with my desktop locking up randomly (keyboard won't work, mouse completely frozen). A reset would usually work, but even after a while the computer wouldn't get past POST; there were a few odd times where it would move past it, and it would inform me that there was a boot failure. This, however, didn't last very long. Afterward, it just wouldn't get past POST at all. All of the LEDs, fans (cooling, CPU, VGA), both CD drives would still work, and I believe the HDD was spinning as well. After a few days I just got fed up with the computer, turned off the PSU and let it sit for about a month and a half.

Now, this is where things start to get interesting. Two weeks ago, out of the blue, I decided to start it up again. Voila, it booted up fine and without any issue; I even shut it down and started it up again without a hangup. I figured all my good kharma finally paid off (a few years back I accidentally spilled beer on my laptop, it stopped working for a week, then booted up fine after that). I backed up anything important and formatted the hard drive, and things seemed to be looking up again. Unfortunately, this was short-lived; after a few days the computer would lock up again. Hitting the reset buttons a few times seemed to resolve the issue but, lo and behold, there came a day when the computer just wouldn't go past POST.

A few quirks that may be worth mentioning: during the time when the desktop started working again, I found that leaving it alone, or doing basic things like surfing the web would cause it to lock up. Starting an application like a game, though, would prevent the lock up. I could exit the application and let the computer sit for hours on end without any further problems.

I have a feeling that the mobo may be the culprit here, but I would like to get some second opinions before I make any hardware investments. Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can render.

[Jonathon28]

try disconnecting any unnecessary hardware devices. e.g. cd/dvd rom drives, dedicated graphics card (if your motherboard has a built in one aswell - connect monitor to this), anything else installed in your PCI slots. Just leave HDD plugged in. There could be a hardware conflict. I had a similar problem the other day with my brothers machine, it just kept going round in circles for about an hour then just to boot up out of the blue sometimes. Figured out it was the DVD rom drive faulty.