cant find the problem...

[Jhill1]

Let's start in the beginning:

Back in August i built my first computer with the following components:
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon X2 3800+
X-Fi XtremeMusic
nVidia 6200 LE TC
Antec TruePower 550w
2GB Corsair XMS
and used my 160GB HDD from my old computer

Well it worked fine for about 2-3 weeks, until i started to get an odd freezing problem, in which the computer would be completeley unresponsive for 5-10 seconds. At first i ignored it, but it got worse and more frequent. Thinking it was a software problem, i reinstalled Windows XP about 3 times but it did nothing. After that i thought it must have been a hardware problem, so i got new parts which is the computer im currentley using:
ASUS Crosshair
ATI X1900XT 256MB
NEW Antec TruePower 550w
NEW 2GB Corsair XMS
NEW 320GB Seagate 7200.10
SAME AMD Athlon X2 3800+
SAME X-Fi XtremeMusic

The freezing pretty much stopped after the new parts were put in, but now ive got a different problem. in no particular order or pattern, my computer wont POST or sometimes it will pass the POST but when it gets to the Windows XP loading screen the computer will restart, which leads me to my question.

Seeing as how ive changed every part but the sound card and the CPU, does the problem reside in one of the two? (im guessing its not the sound card) My birthday is comming up soon, and i can get a new processor then and see if it helps, but i think i should get some other advise first.

[Jhill1]

anybody?

[peterhuang913]

Well, first off, did you use thermal paste? Second, the CPU might be the problem in this situation. It might be glitched or messed up and is one of those lucky ones that might just be broken. But why did you buy a whole new system and did not troubleshoot earlier?

[Jhill1]

ya i used thermal paste...

and i did troubleshoot earlier, just self troubleshooting. then when i went on forums, nobody there helpful

but thank you

[nagasama]

did you uninstall the old drivers?
are you overclocking anything?
have you tried re-installing xp with your new components?

[Nick]

how much money did you have to spend?

[Jhill1]

yes to all three of ur questions

and total i think its cost me like $1200-$1300

[Nick]

wow

[bmxfreakrider]

is there any physical damage to the cpu? (pins bent, sratches, etc..) if not, i think you can apply for an rma thru amd, just tell them that youve had the problem since you have built it, just couldnt pin point the problem and have replaced everything but the cpu. that should apply you for an rma, if not, then just get a new cpu (which might just be easier if you have the money, but if your broke, rma is the way to go)

[Jhill1]

whoops i thought i mentioned it in my main post...

i did drop the processor 2 times, both of which resulted in bent pins... i bent the pins back (none broke off) and it fit back into the socket.

is this most likely the cause?