Thanks for your suggestion - video specs follow:
I did check for all device driver updates - found zilch.
I also did not find any relevant ASUS mobo flash updates. Surprisingly I do
get a few comments on a possible power supply issue - mine is 700 watts - on
harddrives - I have two WesternDigital 500 meg drives - I ran memory tests
from the Vista CD repair options - nothing.
I probably need a hands on repair service but at this point I'd rather use
the money to go with another system. I'm attracted to the iMac - I've never
used anything but a PC since 1990/windows 3.0 & from a reliability
standpoint my research indicates much can be said for the Mac.

Blithe

[ NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS ]

Video Adapter Properties:
Device Description NVIDIA GeForce 8600
GTS
Adapter String GeForce 8600 GTS
BIOS String Version
60.84.32.0.10
Chip Type GeForce 8600 GTS
DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC
Installed Drivers nvd3dumx,nvd3dum,
nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2um


"trouble" <fac_187********.com> wrote in message
news:OWJHiaq%23JHA.1252@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
>I do not think this is a software problem.
> The most frequent software cause of your problem is a corrupted video
> driver, which is easy to download and reinstall.
> If you listed your video card I missed it. If you are using multiple video
> cards, ATI or Nvidia, a problematic configuration may be causing your
> issues. Take the second one out and see what happens.
> I suspect problems with your power supply more than anything else. The
> specs of your machine otherwise are very good and unless you are an
> ultimate 3d gamer you will not see any usable speed increase with i7
> hardware.
> You can download software to test the hard drive and your RAM. In my
> experience dying hard drives and defective RAM are rapidly detected by
> software tests.
> As the problem could be your hard drive I would back it up now while you
> still can.
> If you are unable to troubleshoot hardware issues, which appears to be the
> case, use a repair service.[/color]