Asus EEE PC 1000 unknown hardware failure

My trusty Asus EEE PC 1000 netbook I been using for 3 years had turned back on me.

In the beginning the EEE did crash just now and then and even kind of got better in between but right now I am struggling to start it up at all. Sometimes it just doesn't start (the LEDs turn on and there is backlight on the screen but nothing happens beyond that) -- and the other times when it starts, it either hangs halfway through loading XP, or if I am lucky enough to boot into Windows, then most likely it will crash when typing, or just moving the computer a little. The crash itself is sudden with screen freezing or turning black. Afterwards I have to hold the power button long enough to switch it off although sometimes it's enough to press it once and the computer switches off instantly. A few times during a failed startup I got the BSOD message that IRQ of some device is wrong -- but that doesn't help really as I haven't been adding any new devices since I bought it. Also the SDD light goes out with the crash but I suppose that's normal unless it is a cause itself.

Because the crash is touch sensitive I reckon it's a hardware failure but what exactly could it be? The fan noise is pretty terrible as if it was dying, but the temperatures are normal, and I also cleaned it recently. Could it be video chipset?

Even if I don't fix it, I really need to get the data off SDD, and the only way to do it for me is to get it running long enough (the SDD is some kind of internal card).

Any advice much appreciated!

 

Does it work on an external monitor?

What is the exact model number?

 

It is Asus EEE PC 1000, and unfortunately I don't have external monitor but it's definitely not a panel issue (although might be gfx adapter's).

Actually I been delving deeper into this and disconnecting one peripheral after another with no success.. However when I put it back together, it magically loaded up the XP again for the first time since days. Not for long though, on average crashing each 5 minutes, yet somehow I managed to backup most of the important stuff.

It's mostly just black or frozen screen but there had been 2 BSOD too:
"DRIVER_CORRUPTION_MPOOL"
"IRQ_NUMBER_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

Also, it reported bad BIOS checksum a couple of times, proceeding to scan USB media for 1000.rom.. Which I force-fed a bit later by ALT+F2 -- the update was unsuccessful though, giving me a screen full of colourful DOS characters, really reminded me of ZX Spectrum

 

OK, so after a longer run of Memtest86+ the errors started to pop up.. and the plenty of them. Running for 22h now and there are 384k errors!

 

Does it have 2 sticks of RAM or only 1? You can swap the RAM out with another compatible stick or remove one module at a time to test.

 

Well, just one slot, just one stick, so I guess I will be ordering a new one.. Test still running btw More than 24h now and over 612k of errors!

 

So I changed the memory module and ran the test again -- still full of errors. I managed to boot once but the computer froze in some 10-15 minutes. It doesn't ever freeze while in the memory testing mode but it shows errors on this supposedly tested (I bought it used) module.. Does this mean the memory controller might be broken?

 

The motherboard is the suspect at this point. :-/