Alienware Desktop Crashes

Okay, bare with me for a long story: I bought this computer a little over a year ago, since I bought it, it had randomly crashed during movies, or games maybe once every 2-3 weeks. Now the computer does so on a much more frequent basis, as in like 2-3 times a day. The computer ONLY crashes when a demanding program is running, such as any number of video games, or playing music/movies in WMP. By crashes I mean freeze/reboots/or BSOD (rarely bsod) : most frequent is auto reboot, then freezing I have downloaded: 3dMark, HWMonitor, SpeedFan and a few other computer monitoring programs in the past few days trying to solve this issue. Now for the good stuff: STEPS TAKEN TO CORRECT PROBLEM: Step 1: Several hours on the phone with Alienware tech support from … I was able to spike my graphics cards temperature to 90 C, and at that temperature Alienware automatically assumes it is the source of problems, and they quickly replaced it with a brand new geforce 8800 GT, installed no more than 6 days ago. After the installation of the new card, the computer continued to crash in the above mentioned ways. So, it is NOT the graphics card? Step 2: Several more phone calls, and visits to WhatTheTech irc, led me to try the RAM. I took out one stick and ran the computer with only 1 GB RAM (1 GB removed) and it ran sluggishly, but after 17 hours of no crashes, i figured it was fine (since the computer normally crashes after 2-3 hours of pushing it). Swapped sticks, and the other stick performed equally well, allowing me to use the comptuer crash free, with only 1 stick of RAM in it. Tried both sticks in different slots, etc.. etc… Also ran MemTest: 5 Passes, 0 Errors So, it is NOT the RAM? Step 3: Using SpeedFan we discovered my voltage reading for the 12V was only 8.40V! Problem? Suggestion, replace the Power Supply? Did that today, replaced PSU from a 700Watt, to a new Antec 850Watt…. SpeedFan results??? Still 12V = 8.40V?? So, it is NOT the PSU? Now here I sit, stumped, and wondering what do I replace next or what is wrong with it =/ For the BSOD, this is one that popped up most recently: STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x82854F88, 0xA293EB80, 0x00000000) Other info: Comptuer was formatted on both Vista Home Premium and Windows XP Professional (crashes occur in BOTH) Currently installed: Vista Home Premium RAM = 2GB Gfx = 8800 GT HD = 3 HDs internal, 80 GB, 160 GB, 500 GB 1 external: 320 GB 2 DVDs nvidia 590 SLi motherboard Any help would be great, thanks ~Mystery

Did that computer come with a PC Health/ Temperature program? What are your CPU and motherboard temperatures? Is the interior clean of dust and dirt? Since alienware/Dell replaced the video card, you should call them up and tell them that did not fix it. You could have a bad motherboard. If you are overclocking, don't and see what happens.

Yes, it is clean of all dust, I've had the thing opened about 50 times in tha past few weeks =P I use HWMonitor, and SpeedFan, but all my temperatures are in the green, and well below what is recommended. I never overclock.

Then I would call tech support back and tell the card is not it.