Help, problems here!

So, I had recently recommended to a friend to purchase an AMD system with an EVGA card.
-AMD 64 X2 3800+ Socket 939
-ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
-Antec P-180 Case
-OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum Memory
-Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
-EVGA 7600 GT KO 256-P2-N554-AX
-Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply
-Other accessories are a DVD burner and a floppy.

Ok, on to the problems.
Windows can install perfectly. BUT, when attempting to update windows through Microsoft update the computer locks up and needs to be cold booted (turn off the psu switch.) I thought that the problem could be the RAM, so I ran a few different types of memory test on it and it all checks out perfectly. Then thought it could be the motherboard, so I had that RMA'd and got another brand new one and still the same problem arises. I have so far ruled out the motherboard, RAM, and the EVGA card. Do you think that the power supply that I had chose was good? I would have thought that the Antec Truepower 2.0 would be sufficient enough to run the equiptment in the computer. I will be testing the processor on my computer to rule that out. But the system would run fine for about 15 minutes then completely lock up. It cant be an overheating issue, but it is just really aggravating how this system does not work. I had also tried using a pci ethernet card to see if the nvidia drivers for the network were bugged, still the same problem.

Please help me and give me some input on what I can do about this!

Any help is appreciated!

I'm assuming you've checked out the temps either in BIOS or with a 3rd party temp reader yes?
So did you say you DID try the cpu on your computer and it locked up? Or did you say that when doing anything on his comp, it'll lock up after 15 min? (besides doing Windows Updates) What kind of tasks are you doing when it locks up? Does it lock up even if you're just sitting idle?

If it locks when you're idle, its most likely not the RAM because it passes RAM tests and most of the RAM isn't used when idle.

If it locks up when doing ANYTHING after 15 min, it seems like its totally a heat issue to me. The cpu slowly heats up, then freezes/throttles itself off to prevent over heating. And perhaps the only reason it will start up after switching the psu off is its giving it time to cool down?

If not heat, then I'd think its the PSU. That PSU should be more than enough to run the hardware. Can you try throwing in the PSU from your personal computer into his and see what happens?

*Edit* OK I forgot I'm an idiot...Forgot that Windows installed perfectly. If your cpu was overheating, it would've done so during the install so nevermind the heat theory. Did you try just re-installing Windows? Perhaps there was a hiccup somewhere

I would try and isolate your possible hardware problems from your windows install. A good start would be The Ultimate Boot CD since it has memtest, prime95, and lots of other diags. Boot it up and run memtest for several hours and see if you get any errors.

For the system burnin, I like to boot up knoppix since it is a full version of linux. here is an old post that describes how to run prime95 in a terminal session. I would run two sessions since you have dual core. The best part of knoppix - you can run firefox to surf. Beats staring at the the memtest screen

If you have memtest errors, double check our BIOS timings with your memory specs. Maybe your vmem is a bit low? Depending on the mobo used memtest will put the timings it detects as it is running so that can also be helpful.
If you have problems with knoppix (or prime from ubcd), but not memtest, it's narrowed down to the psu / cpu / mobo at this point. Maybe check the BIOS voltages and compare to a voltmeter / dmm could be off. Honestly I have not seen a bad antec truepower in a while, but that doesn't mean you can't get a lemon... If it's good it should be plenty of power for your system requirements. Double check the cpu hsf installation make sure it's not overheating.

If everything is good for several hours each and you get windows installed try to get the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package since it is the entire SP2 downloaded for off-line installation. To get offline updates post-sp2, there is a security patch rollup called autopatcher you will need the august FULL installation (not update) and the following september update. The torrent or cachefly.com mirror works well for me.

Ok, I got his computer to work on for hours at a time now... But on two occasions, once yesterday and once today, the monitor just went blank and unresponsive. Anyone have a solution to this problem? All components are up to date along with Windows software. I am going to be running a few benchmark stress tests to see how the computer handles to a decent load. Also, he is able to play games now, before they would lock up after a couple minutes.

If you think you may have a solution to the video feed randomly going in and out of responsiveness please let me know. Also the cables were connected firmly.

Thanks again

It looks like a great thread, unfortunately, the things that did seem to go along with my build were not the case. Thanks for the reply though.