Motherboard going out?

[Snake05]

I need help. Recently, I have experienced problems that make me wonder if my motherboard is dying on me. When I try to turn it on, it takes about an hour or more to get through all the post screens. We tested all of the components today, and I believe we have narrowed it down to the memory section. Do not know if it is the memory or the memory controller on the motherboard, but either way, it has me worried. I just purchased this motherboard a month ago from ebay in "perfect working condition" (ABIT AA8 DURAMAX). My friend is going to bring up some memory to test and see if it is just my memory, but I am worried it may be the board. Are there any other ways to test and see if the board is going out?

[Snake05]

This all started when I installed the update to iTunes and the new messenger update. I installed them, and they required a restart, so I let it do its thing. It froze on the "Windows is shutting down" screen for about 20 minutes. So, I decided to do a hard boot instead. Well.....from that point on, it takes about 3 hours to boot properly now, but when it does boot, it seems to be working alright. That confuses me when it comes to a hardware issue. If its a serious hardware issue, then wouldn't the computer not boot at all? I don't know what to do, and I don't want to turn it off again until I know of a possible problem and solution.

[JC316]

It sounds almost like the RAM is bad. It could be the mobo, but I have never heard of any problem like this before.

[Snake05]

Wow, do I feel retarded. Problem is solved. Apparently when I left my multi-card reader plugged in the back of my computer, my computer attempts to boot off of each removable drive on it, then finally goes to the hard drive. Although that fixed the main problem, it seems as though my computer is still very slow shutting down. As long as it wasn't a hardware problem, I don't mind.

[mullered07]

well i was going to say run memtest to determine if your ram has any errors, as for windows shutting down taking a long time i have had this problems on several occasions with previous computers and couldnt figure out what it was, i thought it was just xp getting bloated and slow after a while but i think its more to do with what other software you have installed onto windows to make it bloated and slow?

[Ben Clarke]

have you tried cleaning and defragmenting your hard drive to cure shut down problems?

[PuMA]

run some adware scans, and use one of those registry cleaners. Alltough those might help, but I've had some similar probs and only reinstall xp worked. ( u might find another way tough, cuz my cure for xp probs is reinstall.)