Media PC Woes --HELP--

[siross]

Just built myself my first HTPC but its not going well


On my third clean install of XP now, with service pack 2.

Spec of PC =

GA-MA78GPM-DS2H
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.90GHz
2GB Arianet Ram (DDR2 800MHZ)
1TB Hitachi Deskstar HDD
Antec Fusion 430 Case with 430watt PSU

Every now and again, which is proving quite often, the computer just hangs. The mouse is still responsive but nothing will happen.

Any ideas? Could it be something to do with the Bios? Anything obvious to check with hardware. I'm pulling my hair out!

 

[gecouk]

Possibly a RAM problem. Aria Ram is not the best, I presume you have 2 sticks try running with just one and then the other to see if the problem persists. If so send the faulty RAM for replacement.

 

[siross]

Just ran memtest and it comes out 100% with no errors...

I thought it might be ram too

 

[damage]

is the power supply a good brand as some of the cheaper ones do not come up to scratch and can cause some strange problems . also there can be issues with NVIDIA drivers and sp2 which can cause hang ups when trying to open applications

 

[siross]

I'm using ATI drivers, but that stalled when I tried to open that, not sure whether it was because of a wider issue or not.

If I were to leave out the ATI drivers, what else would I load up? Or would it be better to try them on VISTA?

 

[damage]

have you tried to run in safe mode to see if it hangs up as the video drivers would not be a issue.
also if its a psu issue you could remove power to optical drives to reduce the demand on the psu