problem with booting up

Hi,

Two weeks ago, my 2 month old computer decided not to boot up. The computer starts to boot up, but within a few seconds it shuts down, no lights, no sign of life. Sometimes it does not turn on at all, I can see the monitor light is on, but the tower is dead.

I called tech support and after two hours of various testing, he had me remove and reinstall the memory cards. This took care of the problem. He told me some story about carbon deposits that occur with memory cards, especially when a computer is not used often (we use ours at least 12 hours per day), and that removing and reinstalling the cards loosens up the carbon deposits. What??? I've three other computers in my life and never once did I need to touch the memory cards.

Well, that was fine with me until the same problem started happening every 2 to 3 days. All it takes to get the computer to run is to remove the memory cards and reinstall them. I don't even bother doing it anymore, my 14 year old son takes care of it (his computer).

Before I call Dell Tech Support again, I thought maybe I could get some input from you knowledgeable users.

Either one of both memory cards are malfunctioning. Either one or both slots are defective.
Can anyone think of anything else which may be causing the problem?

My system specs are:

Pentium 4 Processor 530 (3.0GHz) w/HT Technology and 1MB Cache
1GB DDR 2 SDRAM at 400MHz
128MB PCI Express x16 ATI radeon X800 SE
400Gb Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Intel Pro 1000 Integrated PCI NIC Card
16X DVD-ROM and 12X DVD+RW
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 THX
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
19 inch Monitor
Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1 Speaker System

Thanks