Whats wrong with my computer?

Tellox · 21-10-2003 2:51am #1

Gather round and I shall tell ye a tale.
Whenever I played a high-end game,such as generals,my monitor would show me nothing but black, my sound would stop, and nothing would respond,numlock ect not doing anything, and I'd have to hard reboot my machine. This happened at regulary random times, could me 5mins, could last an hour,mightnt crash at all(rarely). So I decided to hand it into PCWorld, and see if they could make sense of it, although I was fairly sure it was a RAM problem, and mentioned that to them before I handed it in.

So 3 days later, they told me I had a faulty power supply, and that my computer was slightly overheating,so they threw in an extra fan. They also said I had a few virii on my system that were ****ing around with things (dont know how I got them), and they said it was fine now. The bill came to about €100 or so, excluding a new HDD.

So I bring it home,and Im playing the fifa2004 demo for about 2hrs, and the computer gives me the same crash/lockup. ****. So I hide all the porn ect again,and hand the PC back in. Im told they're going to give the computer a format this time, clean install of windows ect ect, so I say fine, and I back up everything important.

So 2 days later, I get my PC back(and Im billed for it too, only €15 so I didnt complain),and I've just finished getting back everything I held dear, been playing the fifa2004 demo for a good while, everything seems fine. So I go for a quick game of Q3... I get to about 3 frags on nightmare anarki, and guess what happens! yes,its gone and freaked out on me again,forcing another hard reboot. Now Im just being tested.

So I have to hand in my PC, again. Im really clueless as to whats wrong. Surely they checked the RAM since they mentioned they were going to have to remove one module, try a different one ect, and that I mentioned RAM when I first handed the PC in. Does anybody have any idea on what else can be wrong that hasnt been discovered yet?

seamus · 21-10-2003 8:26am

Heh, so PC World have twice had your machine, charged you for it, and there's no significant difference?

Can you give us a spec? My machine used to lock up when playing powerful games, and yes twas a RAM problem (old RAM, new computer, bad combo). I still have trouble the rare time from the fact that my sound is onboard, and 100% software driven. It eats up ridiculous amounts of RAM and clock cycles when playing games.

zAbbo · 21-10-2003 12:49pm

Run memtest,

http://www.memtest86.com/#download0

Have you got spare h/w u can switch in to verify if something is faulty.

Driver Issues?

{edit}
ur a wee ****, apparently:)

BigEejit · 21-10-2003 2:46pm

I'm guessing it may be heat related ... get a program like motherboard monitor and see what cpu temps and northbridge and case temps you have while running memtest in burn-in mode ... also put a finger on your graphics card heatsink to see if it burns ....

If everything is cool (literally and figuratively) then post your hardware specs and OS and drivers ....

El_MUERkO · 21-10-2003 3:53pm

I'd go with mobo or gfx drivers, as was said get a mobo temp monitor also try getting the newest drivers for everything you have and if you already have the latest ggfx drivers maybe go back a few versions or download the defaults from the card manufacturer.

Matfinn · 22-10-2003 2:10pm

Microsoft have a memory test program that you can use to test your memory. I had the same problem as you on my self built machine that was about 3 years old. Generic ram was put into that machine because memory back then was so expensive. Update all your hardware drivers and let me know if you still have trouble.

Matt

po0k · 22-10-2003 2:22pm

Check the heatsink on your cpu.
More than likely has a thermal pad on it instaed of thermal paste, or was applied badly.
And don't pay PCWorld another cent until they verify that it works under heavy load conditions.
Wtf did they replace your hard drive for?

Kali · 22-10-2003 2:24pm

Memtest or prime95 are your friends here.. they'll crucify any little problems in hardware... until they run perfectly your pc won't... process of elimination and a few reboots later you should find the problem

RicardoSmith · 23-10-2003 1:22am

Strip your PC to the minimum and see if you are still having problems. If not add the components back until the problem reoccurs and you will have found your problem.

Yavvy · 23-10-2003 9:51am

I dont know much about PC's but I have learned that Graphics, Memory and processor are the most important when it comes to gaming

so is your graphics card good enough ?
Do you have good/enough memory
and is your processr fast and cool enough ?

I reckon the answer could be in there.

RicardoSmith · 23-10-2003 10:52am

Originally posted by Alany
I dont know much about PC's but I have learned that Graphics, Memory and processor are the most important when it comes to gaming

so is your graphics card good enough ?
Do you have good/enough memory
and is your processr fast and cool enough ?

I reckon the answer could be in there.

People with the very best of gear still have problems. You have to find the problem and resolve it. Its a specific problem and it has a specific solution. You have to methodical and track it down.

Tellox · 23-10-2003 10:58pm

sorry, computer specs are:
AMDXP2000+ @ 1.67ghz
2x 256mb DDR
GeForceTI4200 64mb

I just tried the process of elimation with my RAM,and q3arena still crashed (black screen,no sound ect, same error generals gave me when I played it), on both sticks of ram on their own.

So what now?

RicardoSmith · 24-10-2003 12:04am

Well its not your memory so.

What make of graphics card is that? Have you another one to try?

Where are you BTW, you might be able to borrow one to test in your PC and test your graphics card in another PC.

Tellox · 24-10-2003 11:38pm

I had my PC out in my dads (only the tower), and I decided to try out the RAM one more time out there. I tried both sticks of ram on their own,then both together...and it didnt crash any of the times. Even with 8 nightmare bots going to 300 frags on q3, It didnt crash,wheras against a hardcore anarki, my computer would usually die after 10-20 frags.

Theres no huge differences in our workstations, bar the fact that I was using his monitor and cables..

anybody got any ideas?

RicardoSmith · 24-10-2003 11:47pm

Well I thought you'd already determined it wasn't the ram. Why don't you swap the GFX card?

malico · 25-10-2003 12:15am

Set your bios to failsafe settings after flashign the bios. Update your windows M/B drivers and all devices on the system. Patch up your OS with windows update.

I had this problem and it was that my m/b drivers were'nt up to date, so worth a shot.

if not, AMI diags is your best friend

http://www.amidiags.com

RicardoSmith · 25-10-2003 12:26am

Originally posted by malico
Set your bios to failsafe settings after flashign the bios. Update your windows M/B drivers and all devices on the system. Patch up your OS with windows update.

I had this problem and it was that my m/b drivers were'nt up to date, so worth a shot.

if not, AMI diags is your best friend

http://www.amidiags.com

If it were me I'd isolate the problem before making a rake of new changes that could introduce as many new problems than it fixes.

malico · 25-10-2003 1:29am

Just my advice, as somethign that worked for me with the same sympthoms, that and 7 years working in IT Tech.

Whats wrong with my computer?

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