Weird computer issues

I mean the whole OS.

I think the issues are due to hardware... that's why I figured I could perhaps clone what I have and see if the (intermittent) errors disappear.

I tried Acronis Migrate Easy but can't get it to work. The version that I have needs a serial (which is probably in the box that I discarded a year ago), and the demo version doesn't want to start at all.

Use the Windows System Image. It works like a charm.
Do you need instructions?

Quote from Wasser : Getting back to this, it is a cheapo home-built computer with an ASUS M3A78-EM with the 780G chipset running an AMD 5000+, at least that's what is reported. Not 100% sure since the 5000 apparently runs at 2.6GHz and mine runs at 2.2GHz atm. Graphics card is now a Radeon 6450. I ran MemTest86+ and it checked out, no errors. Running Prime right now.

This board came out in 2008 or 9. Get a good, bright flashlight and take the side off the case. Examine every capacitor on the board. Look for any and all capacitors that are not flat across the top. The ones that are rounded upward and showing bird droppings on the top are bad.

Here's a pic to show you bad caps -- it is not very clear, but you will get the general idea:

Quote from RockySosua : Use the Windows System Image. It works like a charm. Do you need instructions?

I think "Partition alignment" was the term I was looking for earlier. When cloning from SSD to SSD, do I need to worry about partition alignment?

Acronis finally decided to start up. Copied to new disk, played around some. So far so good!!

FWIW the disk I replaced was a Kingston SNVP325 64GB.

Thanks for the tip with System Image. Will keep that in mind.

Quote from Wasser : I think "Partition alignment" was the term I was looking for earlier. When cloning from SSD to SSD, do I need to worry about partition alignment? .

I don't think so. I do it all the time, although I use the Windows System Image and have never used Acronis.

Quote from callpocket : This board came out in 2008 or 9. Get a good, bright flashlight and take the side off the case. Examine every capacitor on the board. Look for any and all capacitors that are not flat across the top. The ones that are rounded upward and showing bird droppings on the top are bad. Here's a pic to show you bad caps -- it is not very clear, but you will get the general idea

Thanks! I checked and they are all metal capacitors, none of them look bulgy or leaky.

I think it might have been a flaky hard drive... knocking on wood like crazy.

Quote from Wasser : I checked and they are all metal capacitors, none of them look bulgy or leaky. I think it might have been a flaky hard drive... knocking on wood like crazy.

The ASUS M3A78-EM seems to use only solid polymer capacitors, which are very good for lifespan, even in high heat, and unlike the case with wet electrolytic capacitors, this seems to be true regardless of brand. OTOH it's unlikely the power supply is made only of polymer caps, partly because they don't work well at low frequencies.

As for the hard drive, never overlook a SATA cable connector being slightly crooked at either end because that's been the cause of all my HD-related problems.

I don't know if your RAM is bad, and I've never had any fail start failing only after years of normal operation, but it sometimes happens. However it's much more common for new software (even updates) to cause memory to be used in ways it never operated before and reveal defects that existed from the start, especially memory made from no-name or factory overclocked chips. Such chips are common on all but one brand of memory modules. Also no single memory diagnostic, even the best, can find all errors, so it doesn't hurt to try something different, such as Gold Memory, but even MemTest86 has been known to give different results than MemTest86+.

Other things to check are PS/2 mice and keyboards. Mice often develop bad cables or connectors.

Going to send the SSD back for repair... Last night I played around with different programs and stuff, and no more issues. Thanks all!

Quote from Wasser : Going to send the SSD back for repair... Last night I played around with different programs and stuff, and no more issues. Thanks all!

Glad it worked out for you.