Vista Crashes, BSOD

[Blackbelt]

I built a new system a month ago:

4 gigs RAM, 2.4 gz 6600 Quad Core Processor, ASUS PK5c mobo

I'm running Vista Home Premium with service pack 1 and it was a fresh install on a brand new drive; this is not the first system I've built. This computer crashes hard 3-4 per week and it's become frustrating. The crashes happen without warning and don't seem to be related to any action. Sometimes the crashes happen without any programs or processes being used at all - just having the computer simply sitting there. I see a sudden blue screen with code all over it, and at the bottom I see a "beginning dump of physical memory" and some digits scrolling. Then the screen goes black and the machine reboots. Often during the reboot, the machine hangs over and over until it finally reboots successfully. Sometimes I see a bios message from American Megatrends that says "Overclocking failed," yet I have not tweaked or overclocked this machine in any way.

How do I begin isolating the cause of this problem so that I can correct it? I need to determine whether it's a hardware or software issue, then correct it so that I can stablize this machine. I know there are a lot of reporting functions in Vista, but I'm not up to speed on them. Any ideas on where to start?

[AnnMarie]

Random crashing usually indicates a hardware problem Blackbelt. You can check Problem Reports and Solutions in Control Panel but I am not sure how useful this will be if the problem is a faulty power supply or overheating for example.

You could try reinstalling Vista. If it still crashes after a clean install, you can be fairly sure that the problem is hardware related.

[Blackbelt]

Thanks AnnMarie. I'm inclined to agree that I have a hardware issue. I've been keeping an eye on temps and everything seems fine there. I sort of think it's either bad RAM or a faulty mobo but I'm not sure how to sort that out. And if I replace either of those items will Vista have any sort of PC rights issue?

[AnnMarie]

You will be fine as far as the RAM is concerned but Vista will have to be reactivated if you replace the motherboard. See here.

Hardware issues are not my area of expertise Blackbelt so I am transferring your topic to our Hardware Forum for more help if you need it.