P6N Diamond: Problems, Issues, or just trials & tribulations?

Question

P6N Diamond: Problems, Issues, or just trials & tribulations?
I've had some issues with my new pc (see my sig). I initially finished it about a month ago. It was running just fine
until 10 days ago. On 11/10, I finished the evening by adding 2 gb of material to Oblivion & then defragging w/Diskeeper 2k7
(the 3rd defrag that week). The next morning I turned the pc on & it posted normally but then the screen went blank,
except for the words "missing operating system". I restarted the pc a couple of times, which didn't help, I then checked
the bios, & the drive was properly listed. Next, I tried to repair the boot record w/Vista's Recovery Console (RC), however the
RC didn't see an OS, even after loading sata drivers. While pointing the RC to the drivers, I tried to access the C:, the RC
said that drive needed to be formatted. I took that to mean the drive was toast, so I ordered the Seagate (still tried to
fix the boot record through the command prompt using Dos repair commands-no luck), which arrived on 11/15.
That evening I loaded the new hdd & then Vista, after which came the vista updates, drivers, then some of my other basic
programs (diskeeper, firefox, foxit, etc.) & then I defragged. One thing that seemed odd to me about this new install was
that the 'bubbles' screensaver seemed sluggish, that is, less energetic than the first time through. After defragging I was
going to shutdown when another vista upgrade popped up, checked to see if it was important or recommended-it was important.
I clicked to install & it started to install & then the pc got hung up. I tried C-A-D, but it didn't work so I hit the reset
button, got back to the windows desktop, everything looked fine, so I decided to put the pc to bed & do the rest the next
day, the pc turned off gracefully.
11/16. I turned on the pc & it posted properly, but then went to a blue screen. I don't remember what the message was, something
about windows being unable to start, I think. I then hit C-A-D & then loaded the RC. The RC was able to see an OS this time,
so I clicked on it & the repair started. After a couple of minutes the repair finished & asked to restart, which I did. The
pc posted just fine again, but then went to another blue screen, but with a different message, as I recall. I did the RC thing
again, though this time  after the repair was going for a few seconds, I was asked if I wanted go to an earlier restore point,
which I did. I was asked to restart again, I did & the pc booted all the to the desktop. I spent the rest of the day checking
out data corruption & diskeeper 2k7, I did find some forums where that was discussed. Though there was also mention of bad
memory causing data corruption as well-more to think about. The pc shutdown gracefully at bed time.
11/17. When I turned on the pc this day I didn't pay close attention, since I figured my pc problems were over, however when
I looked the screen it was black, no messages or anything. A point to the good was that the fans were running & the stylized
light on the XiFi card was lit. Still, a big '' was bouncing about in head. It seemed the pc didn't post. What was wrong:
the motherboard; the videocard; the ram; or, maybe the new hdd? So, I thought about the situation for while. Should I go to
a pro? Should I test my other, unused, ram stick? And, where did I put that damn diagnostic bracket that came with the mobo?
After a couple of hours, I decided to start the fixing process by hitting the reset button. Perhaps the pc did post earlier,
or at least partially, because the pc performed a partial post this time, with the message 'checksum bad' under the partial
component list. At the bottom of the screen was 'press f1 to setup.' I pressed f1 & got into the bios. In the bios, I
noticed several differences, particularly the sata controller being disabled & the boot list was messed up. I corrected
those & saved & exited. I then loaded the RC to see if any more repairs were needed, but none were. I restarted the pc &
it booted & loaded into vista quickly & cleanly. The pc has continued to boot cleanly the past three days while I've been
watching for hardware problems, mainly ram or cmos battery errors.
11/20. So, now what? I'm seriously considering reinstalling vista once more. I think my hardware is alright, I suspect
Saturday's problem was a conflict between the restore point & the bios. I'm ambivalent about diskeeper, I've bought it,
but I didn't buy it to beat myself over the head with.
If you've read this far would you do me the additional favor of telling me your opinion? I've noticed a fair amount of wisdom in this
forum & I think I could use a little extra input. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you all,
tryggvi

Answer 1

...The saga continues...
11/24. PC posted & went right to vista. I decided to test a different set of vid drivers so I installed th geforce 169.12 betas to see if that would eliminate the screensaver sluggishness I mentioned above-it did, the driver has been stable but I haven't pushed them either. PC ran fine all day & it shut down normally at the end of the day.
11/25. PC posted & went right to vista. I installed several programs (including auslogics defragger) & attached 3 sata (1 optical & 2 ext.hdds). Defragged in the middle of the afternoon & pc ran fine the rest of the day & shut down normally that night.
11/26. PC posted but the I got the "missing operating message." Damn! So, now I'm thinking defrag corruption, bad sata controller, or failing cmos battery. I tried to fix the vista install w/recovery console, but it couldn't even find an os. I also checked the bios during this time, everything was fine except that the time was off by a couple of hours. I did a clean install of vista again on a lean machine & then some basic programs. I turned of the pc a couple hours later and added 2 sata drives, the pc posted & loaded vista just fine.The pc shut down normally at the end of the day.
11/27. No apparent post. I hit the restart button, the pc then posted w/a 'checksum bad' message at the bottom. I got into the bios & found the following entries changed: time & date; full screen logo display; boot sequence; on board sata controller; and, boot from other devices. I reset these entries & saved & exited. The pc booted into vista just fine & ran normally the rest of the day, shutting down normally as well.
11/28. No apparent post again. Repeated the immediate above, the same entries were changed, so I reset them & the pc posted & vista loaded just fine. With the same changes happening 2 days in a row, & all the bad things happening after the pc being off over night, the problem seems fairly certainly to be a bad or failing cmos battery, especially since I haven't tried to flash the bios or shut down the pc improperly. In my research of cmos battery problems, it was recommended that you try to recharge the battery by leaving the pc on 24-48 hours before replacing the problem, so I'll leave the pc on until the evening of the 30th.
11/29. 36 hours plus & the pc is doing fine. Sorry for the journal, but it helps me think & gives others a clearer idea about what's been going on. Does anyone have any other ideas? My cmos battery is a 'KTS lithium cr2032', if need be can I replace this w/any other cr2032? Especially since I can't find a KTS one.
Thanks all,
tryggvi