Constant crashes and problem booting up

[Guest]

I'm going frantic. About a month ago my pc suddenly started crashing,
constantly. It takes about a dozen attempts to boot up. I'm not very
experienced but have tried many things. I am running XP. I havent added any
new software or hardware recently. The error message I have had is Graphics
Device Driver. I followed instructions to move the hardware acceleration to
NONE. I have downloaded the latest NVidia driver. (I have tried to repair
with my windows XP disk but it says a newer version is already on my pc, I am
presuming this is something to do with the sp2 pack installed). Most of the
time it crashes in the middle of doing something but I don't know if this is
a clue....it ALWAYS crashes within a couple of seconds of opening Microsoft
Publisher?? Its driving me mad!

 

[Rich Barry]

Dixie, a dozen attempts to bootup is indicative of a Flaky Power
Supply. You could try Motherboard Monitor.
It's free and it will give you a readout of your 3.3v, 5v and 12v lines.
They shouldnt drop more than 5 %.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311