Hi! I am having this major problem and i would appreciate any help given. Recently my computer had some problem and wouldnt start up, it said "ERROR loading operating system" on the start screen and wouldnt go any further, i FORMATED it and that solved that one problem. However ever since i have formatted it the computer has been undergoing numerous problems, two of them are that whenever im on the internet, running 3D apps such as Halo, media player it restarts. On the internet it restarts after sometime but when playing halo or windows media player it takes mere seconds for it to restart. I SUSPECT my graphic card to be the source of the problem but the thing is that it restarts even when i leave it idle for a long time. I have tried updating my driver for the graphic card but the problem is that since my graphic card (ATI RADEON 9250 128MB) is old the driver (Catalyst 6.11) on the ati website wont support it. Secondly whenever i install some applications i get the error "Error continuing setup. Error may be due to Low memory or corrupt cabinet FILE". I bypass the problem by installing the application in safe mode but it works for some only, for example i had to install halo in safe mode, but i couldnt install .NET framework in or out of safe mode because i get the same error.
My pc is custom made so i think it also could be that my motherboard is not compatible with my graphic card, the Motherboard is Asus P4S800 and the Graphich card is ATI RADEON 9250.
Please help, many of you might know how horrible it is to have a comp and not be able to use it for games or movies!!! Help please! My system specs are lsited below
Operating System : Windows XP PROFESSIONAL SP2
BIOS: Award modular BIOS v6.0
Processor: Inter(R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 512 MB Ram
Page File: 326MB used, 923MB available
Directx: Directx 9.0cMost common problems for causing shutdowns are the following in no particular order:

Heat.
Open a side of the case and use a small desk fan pointed at the CPU/Vid card to test this.

Faulty RAM
DLoad and run MemTest from a bootable floppy. Let it run a few hours. Any errors is no good.

PSU.
The best way to determine if it's the PSU is to swap it out with a new one. Don't buy a cheapo they are nothing but headaches.

Vid Card.
Unfortunately again the best way to test this is by swapping in a known good card to see if yours is failing.

Best of Luck to you and keep us posted.sorry for the late reply, the comps causing a lot of probs, i came to two conclusions and i stablized my comp a bit, the first thing is only ati driver version 6.5 tackles this problem more effectively than others, it desnot solve it but stablizes it enuf for normal functionality. Secondly now that its stablized i messed around with it a bit to isolate the bigger problem and i found that in the BSOD it says Thread Stuck in Device Driver which means that the driver for the video card is the source due to this report however once the comp restarted to my load up screen and there it said that the CPU hung for an improper speed, my PC is overclocked, so i guess it might also be a heating issue. I checked the temps and the PC temp at idle is 35C while playing games like NFSMW is 46C, on idle the PC fan runs at 2445...so any ideas? what do u guys conclude from all of this? The ram isnt causing problems.

Overclocking is the best and quickest method to be in the market for a new machine...

I'd replace the vid card and reset your CPU to the default settings.

After all if OC'ing is designed to give more performance but the machine won't run what have you actually gained ? ?Overclocking would have been a key bit of information to have included in the first post. I wonder why that was neglected? Not relevant?

If you can't get it to run at the recommended specs, that is a different issue. With this.....all bets are off.  true but the thing is that everything worked fine until i formatted it, i had this problem before but somehow i fixed it and it worked, i played halo, C & C generals, Mst wanted, underground 2, everything, movies would run with no problems but after i formatted it nothing seems to work, thats why i neglected to post hat it was overclocked because i dont think its really causing a prob since they programs ran before and the cpu temp is pretty acceptable (44C). i am gonna take it to the shop i had it built in this weekend, any suggestions to what i might have tweaked there? and any suggestions that might help me not make the trip? Thanks for the quick replies, really appreciate itDon't overclock anything and see if it functions.well i know the graphic card isnt overclocked, only the processor is, i was thinking along the lines that i might get another fan installed or something else...i dont intend to get any hardware changes that day until and unless its really necessary because im gonna get a new comp soon anyway but i have to get this one up and running but what would u advise me to get the techs look into so that the next time i format it this prob wont happen again. thanks again for the help! Quote

Don't overclock anything and see if it functions.