Maybe my computer is just dying

BouncingSoul

Stranger Than Fiction
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In the last two weeks I've posted a few threads dealing with some specific issues. First my hard drives were too hot. Then it seemed my processor was overheating. I had a fan blowing on the hdd's until my new cooling units showed up, they are now installed the fans are all cleaned out and everything SHOULD be great. It doesn't seem that way however.

Shortly after installing everything I started playing Oblivion, completed a couple of quests, saved and everything froze. Rebooted played a few more and it froze again. This time however the monitor seemed to shut down, but the system still seemed like it was working. By that I mean the monitor was off (amber LED on most, mine has a flashing green LED) but I could still hear the game from the speakers. The only thing I could do was power off. I went to bed but tried it again tonight and still get weirdness. First time I played I got really bad blocky video, that looked like a checker board. 2nd time I got the freeze and monitor shutdown thing.

The hdd coolers are working and very well, my cpu doesn't seem like its having any problems. Could it be my semi new video card? I just got it in November. Is there any way to test that out or does anyone have any other ideas? Thanks once again!
 
do you have the latest video drivers??

I could be completely off but sounds like video card issue to me, do you have it OC'd?? If so it could be causing the GPU or Memory to overheat (although my guess would be memory since that was the problem I had with the same symptoms as yours--Mine was OC'd). If not then I would guess it might be overheating on it's own. As for solutions in that case I don't know what to suggest, take the sides off your case, try having the fan blow onto your Video Card or buy a third party cooler. You might be able to try underclocking the card and test it like that but that will probably void the warrenty.

Someone else might have a better idea though.
 
i would say it's a ram problem, however the last part where you said that your monitor shutoff but you could hear the game in the speakers, that would say video card is messing up.

possible that your previous overheatings caused long term damage?
 
Techno Child said:
possible that your previous overheatings caused long term damage?

I hope not. I removed the cover and it seemed to help. I really don't want to leave it off full time. I think I'll see if i can find some mod tools and put a ton of tans in there.
 
I guess I should have specified that by memory I meant Video RAM, i really doubt it would be system ram as the symptoms just don't seem to fit what I normally experience with System Memory Problems, of course that doesn't actually mean that it could not be the problem, easy way to find out if it is system memory would be to run memtest86 though.
 
jpom said:
easy way to find out if it is system memory would be to run memtest86 though.

Already ran that. Let it go for a good 8 hours and it never found a single error.
 
i know what you mean by video ram, however his system did have over heating problems in the past, which could affect his sys memory... and the fact that the first time everything froze, not just the screen. after that is when he could hear the speakers,

so there was a problem with the system the first time that was not entirely video related.


psu ok? do you have a way of checking it? ... they can cause strange problems now and then
 
PSU was replaced in January. I don't think its that, also its on a battery backup so its not stressed by anything. I'm gonna play Oblivion all night tonight, if it doesn't crash with the cover off I know its still a heat issue.
 
sounds like it.... you know that fan thing sounds ridiculous however, when i built my sys, i didn't have enough left to buy proper cooling devices, so i had mine open witha box fan blasting it :laugh:


-it works
 
Make sure VPU recovery is turned on in the ATI control panel. Then if the video crashes it will restart the 2D engine and you can do some diagnostics. there is also an ATI fault log somewhere I think.

The x800xl is one of the cooler running cards. Heat should not be an issue unless the air flow to the card is inadequate. (An adjacent card blocking the fan maybe? Loose GPU cooler?)

Check the RPM the fan is running at and the settings for fan speed up. You can use atitool.exe to force the fan to 100% RPM all the time.

The x800xl does not overclock well. So if you are trying, stop.

To check if the video card is hosed or if it's the CPU or MB do a ctrl-alt-del, wait 20 seconds, then Alt U then Alt R . If the system reboots then the kydb, cpu, ram, mb are pretty much still functioning.
 
Have you checked your Video cable? That would be one of the first things I would check. Since it's fairly inexpensive to replace. Also, try cleaning out all of your video card drivers and then reinstalling the latest ones. If that doesn't work, I would check your airflow to your video card, it may not be getting enough which would cause a problem with overheating and your card.
 
LeeJend said:
You can use atitool.exe to force the fan to 100% RPM all the time.

Did that. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be running at here but .... With the little 3d window open it's reporting 71 | 51. I don't know if thats Celsius (God I hope its not) Cause if it is thats got to be WAAAAAY too hot.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
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