time to fix my PC (if I can)


I have a PC that has been unstable for about 3 years.
It is a custom PC order on the internet with the
following description:

CPU: (754-pin) AMD ATHLON64 2800+ Processor [+0]
MOTHERBOARD: (754-pin Socket) GigaByte GA-K8NS Pro
nForce3 250 Chipset AGP8X w/LAN,USB2,IEEE,&Audio
VIDEO: nVidia GeForce FX 5700 256MB 8x AGP w/ TVO, & DVI
MEMORY: 1024 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR MEMORY
2ND_USB: STANDARD 2 USB PORT CONNECTORS
CAS: ALUMINUM Z-ALIEN CASE W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display 450WATT
CD: 56X CD-ROM
CDRW: SONY DWD-22A DUAL FORMAT 16X DVDR/RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 6in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK + 3 EXTRA CASE FANS
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
HDD: IDE 40 Gigabyte
HDD2: IDE 40 Gigabyte
KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD
MOUSE: PS2 INTERNET MOUSE W/ WHEEL
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY - Linux installed by user
SOUND: Creative Labs SB LIVE 24.bit 7.1
PCI card: USB 1 and IEEE1394
PCI card: ethernet



In general, I have not been able to install most versions of
Linux because along the way something usually crashes. I
did get one version of Kubuntu (debian based) to install
and it worked for about 6 months, but during that time,
the system never ran for more that 48 hours without hanging
up. When I tried to upgrade the release, the install hung
up, maybe about 30 times before I gave up. So now it is time
to try to fix the PC.

I pulled out a copy of "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott
Mueller and found that it does not really address my issue,
which is to isolate where the problem is in the system.

My suspicion is that the motherboard has a timing problem.
But rather than jump to step of replacing the motherboard,
I'd like to rule out less expensive options first.

I booted up the PC and only hardware tests I found were
memory tests. I'm not sure exactly what these tests are, but
I ran them for 72 hours before I aborted. During this period,
roughly 75 tests were run with different test patterns and
there were no errors. It looks like the memory is probably ok.

I have run the hard drives on other PCs so I'm reasonably confident
the hard drives are ok, although there is potential timing problems in
the hardware interface to the drives.

I'm think about swapping out the video board since I'm pretty sure
I relatively new spare video board in basement someplace.

So to my question first question. What is the plan I should follow
to try to fix my PC. Assume I have no equipment to test individual components, so I'm limiting my self to swapping components.

Here is my list:

1) check memory (done)
2) swap hard drives
3) swap video board
4) swap mother board

My second question: Are there any software programs available that can
help test hardware on the system?

My final question: What are the changes of the problem being an
interface problem between boards on the PC versus a problem on
the motherboard, or some other board. I suspect it is very unlikely
that it is an interface problem, but maybe someone with a lot of
hardware knowledge can offer an opinion.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Jim Anderson

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