Vista's fault?

[nate22]

My self built computer has not been in working condition for just about a month now. It was been collecting dust in the basement because i got frustrated and decided i needed to just chill for awhile. I ready to get down to the bottom of this computers extensive issues now. I have no idea What is wrong with it, and the computers stats are in my profile. I need help.
 OK i have installed Windows Vista more than double digit times. It works for awhile then the files seem to just become corrupt and slowly the fancy bars and clocks start to fail. After the failure of those the entire OS fails. I then start the reinstall. I know that it may be vista, yet its most likely my hardwares fault. I have the Windows 7 upgrade disc. I upgrade to Windows 7 and it fails in the same manor as vista. They are both 64-bit Os's. As of now the computer has vista installed but wont boot.
Any ideas? Any things i may need to do to troubleshoot?

If no one can help i am going to take it to a local PC repair shop that i get some of my computer parts from.
Thank you everyone for your efforts and time

[Dairyman]

Have you cleaned out the insides of the computer? You can find more information on that here.

Do you remember installing any software or hardware before this happened?

Do you use a virus scanner and scan regularly? And if so, what is the name of the software?

[nate22]

I installed GTA IV and use AVG but i format the disk every time i reinstall.

[patio]

Memory issues:
MemTest.

HDD issues:
DLoad and run the FREE diagnostics from the drive manuf. site.

Power issues:
Borrow a known good PSU and swap it in there.

[nate22]

You know the PSU fan has been rotating slowly. So slow i can about watch the blade spin around. Luckily it has a 5 year warrenty. I have no power supply that i can barrow thats powerfull enough to power my machine. I will mem and HDD test. Thanks i will reply with results when i get them.

[nate22]

My hard drive passed all the tests that i put it through using the seatools from seagate. I'm having trouble find a memory tester. I found memtest86 but i don't have any cd-roms to make the bootable CD. Any recommendations?

[patio]

Yes.
Get a CDRom disk...they're about 30 cents apiece...

[nate22]

All i have around is CD-R. Ill go to the store tommarow and pick up a case of CD Roms. Is that what will be on the case? CD-ROM?

[killerb255]

No.  CD-Rs are fine.

Basically, you need a blank CD.

CD-ROMs are NOT blanks CDs.  CD-ROMs are CDs that already have stuff written on them and sold on shelves.  Examples of this are PlayStation games, early PlayStation 2 games, and music CDs bought from your local Best Buy or wherever.

The two types of blanks CDs are CD-R and CD-RW.

CD-R: You can write data to them one time (except with multisession, but I'm not going to get into that).  You screw up, you wasted a CD.  It's now known as a "coaster."

CD-RW: You can write data to them multiple times (1000 is usually the advertised number, but crapper CD-RWs crap out after far fewer re-writes).

So, all in all, you have CD-Rs.  Use it to burn your Memtest86 .iso to.  If you need a program, ImgBurn is free.

[nate22]

Alright i got a CD made and booted it up on my machine and ended up with a 42% pass. I have no idea what that means. I used memtest86 and all i did was boot it and didnt choose any options i just let it run its course. Im running it agian. After the second run is done i will run the windows RAM test.

[killerb255]

When you ran Memtest 86, did you see any red on the screen?  If so, you have bad RAM.

When it got to 42%, did you start seeing red on the screen?  If so, you have bad RAM.

Did Memtest go through multiple passes without any red on the screen?  If so, then RAM is most likely not the problem.

[nate22]

I left Memtest run for 1 hour and 44 min. and no red on the screen. I know for sure it made it through one entire cycle. Does that mean my PSU is bad? If so i have a 5 yr warrenty from corsair.

[patio]

There's no way to tell which is why i suggested borrowing one to see...
It should be of the same or greater wattage.

[nate22]

I don't have access to larger power supply.

[quaxo]

Well, if the fan is spinning slow enough for you to actually watch the spin, there's probably something wrong with it. It should be spinning anywhere between 15-30 times a second. There might be dust jamming the fan, a power issue, a motor issue, or something deeper. There's nothing user serviceable inside the power supply and in no case should you try to open and clean it, as it retains a charge strong enough to cause severe injury or even kill. Considering the PSU is under warranty, the best thing to do would have it replaced under that warranty, citing the fan as a sign that things are going south with the PSU. At least after getting it replace, you can determine if it's the PSU that was causing the issues.