Help, my computer is taking a shit on me.

H

Heimdal

Veteran XX
I've been having this problem for around a month or two now where games I am playing lock up suddenly and cause my screen to flicker, then show a crazy amount of artifacts and various glitches. I am forced to turn my computer off to which I am greeted by my BIOS being very glitchy and showing multicolored symbols and such. This is usually followed by a BSOD trying to load Windows. Then I will usually run the Startup Repair and let it do it's thing, and typically Windows will load fine then.

Before today, on the two other occasions this has happened, I would uninstall my drivers and get a BSOD while trying to do so. It still uninstalls the drivers, but I have to run the uninstaller again to remove the other crap that comes with them. Then I reboot in safe mode and run Driver Sweeper and such to make sure it's all nice and clean, then reboot and reinstall the drivers. This usually fixes my problem, and it will not happen again for at least a week.

Today it seems that it just doesn't care anymore, and continues to do it even after this. As it stands I am in Safe Mode because Windows simply BSODs when attempting to start up normally.

So I am reaching out for help. I have two ATI 3870 HD x2 that I have tried with the same result. Both of them have been used before throughout the last 2 years or so. Both give the same results. I want to hope it's that somehow they are both just messed up and I need a new card, but it seems like that may not be the case.

Anyone have any suggestions, or know what it sounds like it is?
 
it sounds like some sort of conflict between drives/devices... how long was the system stable before it started doing this, and what changed around that time?

also, have you updated your bios?

edit: post entire system specs, with links to the hardware.
 
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You might want to check your memory as well. Try removing some of your memsticks and see if the computer feels more stable. If not, could be your mainboard going...I'd say video card if it was just glitching and artifacting, but you're getting BSOD.

Ugh.
 
does your motherboard have two pci-e slots? if so, try the 2nd one. i know you're not suppose to for optimum performance, but it could rule out a bus/physical issue with that section of the motherboard.

until you give us your entire system specs and answer some general questions (like the ones i already asked), we can't say much other than try different/new drivers...
 
also, does your motherboard have on-board graphics?

if so, pull out the graphics cards, completely remove all the drivers, and run on that for two weeks and see if it happens again. if it does - i'd start looking at mobo issues. if it doesn't, then you've found your answer (kind of).

also, have you tried reformatting? from the sound of things your system could be so trashed from the BSOD's and windows 'system repair' stuff that you stand no chance of actually finding the real problem...
 
^ In addition to all that, run a CHKDSK and see if you've got bad disk sectors fucking up your file system.

Usually artifacting is because of a video card failure of some sort (from overheating to just bad device drivers)... in my experience.
 
at first i was kind of mad because he posted this and wont answer questions. i enjoy solving these problems


then i realized his computer probably bsod'd on him and he's running startup repair again :lol:
 
Detox.enD said:
it sounds like some sort of conflict between drives/devices... how long was the system stable before it started doing this, and what changed around that time?

also, have you updated your bios?

edit: post entire system specs, with links to the hardware.
Click to expand...
I've had the system for around 2 years now I think, and it's never had any problems like this before. It just started doing this out of the blue. The last time I had any kind of problems with system stability was at least a year or so ago. I haven't changed any components at all.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz
nVIDIA nForce 790I Ultra SLI Motherboard
2x 2GB DDR3
ATI Radeon HD 3870 x2 (the brand is completely escaping me)
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Windows 7 64-bit

To add in there, I know that ATI cards and nVIDIA mobos aren't the best of friends, but I had the card on hand. It's been working for a very long time now without problems. Though I do want to get a nVIDIA card for my next one. Which may end up being soon.

ArchangelX said:
You might want to check your memory as well. Try removing some of your memsticks and see if the computer feels more stable. If not, could be your mainboard going...I'd say video card if it was just glitching and artifacting, but you're getting BSOD.

Ugh.
Click to expand...
The BSOD just seems random after the first one upon restarting. I was able to boot it up in normal mode, which is what I am on now. It's fine now, but I'm pretty positive running a game for a few minutes will fix that.

Also yeah, I just got my shit running normally, so I'm replying as fast as I can haha. Reformatting is probably on my next list of things to do actually.

*Edit to add my OS, because I forgot like a dummy.
 
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if your screen is messed up its

a) your memory

b) your video card overheating/thermal paste gone dry on the gpu or your memory on your GPU gone bonkers

C) check for bulging capacitors

Some stress tests you can run to find the problem fast

Download Hiren

get that burn the .iso to a image and run memtest for memory

or any of the stress tests for video, hardrive ect

if you dont use the mini XP version it runs completly in its own Kernal so no video drivers are intialized if you dont get errors then its a definite driver issue and you need to roll back drivers, or download new releases


also your motherboard supports Crossfire so its not that issue
 
Dust on the MB. Take all components out, and gently wipe them with alcohol. Do the same for the hard drive. People laugh at me for suggesting this, but I've had the same BSODs happen with my machines until I cleaned the hard drive PCB. I have a 150 PSI compressor I use on the MB and computer case. I gently blast the air from a foot away, and all the dust goes flying. I have a vacuum cleaner running as I do this. Then I take a few Q-Tips dipped in alcohol and wipe the hard drive board.
 
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