Le Ping and Cattletruck, you might just want to re-read the opening post para 5 and para7!

Sorry, looks like it was always broke to begin with.

Then it's defo hardware, usually MB but it could also be mem or cpu. I remember having a deeper look at someones computer that was randomly doing strange things at all stages of operation and it turned out to be some of the MB PCB wiring had detached from one side - threw the MB in the bin and brought a new one for her, problem solved.

I would use Memtest 86 to check your ram
I was having a lot of problems until I used this tool and found a faulty stick.

Sounds very like a duff M/Board to me.


I spent a lot of money on a high spec build about 8 years ago & it suffered from completely random issues like you describe, unrequested hot boots being the biggest problem, The OS was fresh installed several times, the memory, graphics, power supply & HDD's were all swapped out, but the problem persisted.


After much urinating about the board was replaced by the manufacturer & the problem was sorted - turned out to be a faulty batch of Intel ICH's that were fitted with their new "killer" chipset of the time - cant remember which, but It will pre-date your M/B.