Computer Restarting Randomly

I did diagnostic testing on my RAM and it has several bad spots. At first I thought this could be what is causing the problem. After talking to a friend he said it seemed like it was software though.
I am running XP with a Athlon XP 1800 or some bullshit like that on a Soyo K7ADA motherboard.
Recently problems are increasing, my computer no longer has sound (I was using the motherboard chipset, no sound card), my computer loves to restart at what kinda seems to be random times, and sometimes it refuses to boot up.
The computer seems to restart more while running certain programs and doesn't seem to be related to the CPU usage at all.
It seems to me like the motherboard is going bad but I am not sure of this. What can I do to find out the exact problem?

 

Just an idea, have you done a virus scan, trojan scan, worm scan and adware scan? There was a worm called Blaster which did something similar to this. (Probably NOT Blaster, but it might be a Worm or Virus.)

 

tried all that

 

it seems like somekind of bug it seems you already scanned for virusses and stuff...
what type of anti virus/malware do you use
update your definitions and before scanning remove your connection to the net. Another way to check is to run a scan at panda online antivirus scan only possible with ie or pccillin housecall.
After that check with spybot adaware clean up your harddisk.
Another approach is to run a system diagnostics test in order to check and fix system errors i use system works, UBCD also has nice diagnostic features for linux and windows and antivirus software in order to scan before booting up.

 

I use McAfee, and my I use Spybot
I'll try that Panda Online thing

 

do you get a blue screen when your system boots up?
or what error message(s) do you get....

 

none, but sometimes it has to ask for my boot device
the main thing that is kinda making me think it is a hardware problem, is sometimes it won't start at all, the computer power LED will comed on, but the monitor won't respond, and sometimes when you go to try again, the restart nor the power button on the computer won't work and you have to turn it off by power surge

 

hmm... maybe a flat cable is damaged or a cable on your main board is not connected propperly if it is try to run a system diagnostics check you could try system mechanic it is free to try .....
or try booting directly from your hdd(change your bios settings) ....and see what it does.

 

download, or have a friend, a copy of knoppix.

boot from that cd, see if you can get sound and see if your random restart problem persists.

knoppix is a free linux distro, and just always a good thing to have around anyway

 

I fucked around with some files and ran some tests and stuff and magically the sound returned.... not sure about the restarting thing yet

 

Its the power suply garentee you!!

 

A agree.. My work computer would do that and after about 2 weeks.. the power supply blew and after that was replaced it was fine.. (but now its doing it again only a year later)