PC keeps crashing??

Hi all, sorry i dont know if this is the correct thread to place my post in it but im having trouble with my computer constantly crashing... im coming to you guys because i need some help to figure out why AND how to fix it...getting tired of it all and need some help


Anyways, i have two types of crashes that are happening....

One: I get a BSoD that has something called Memory Management.
Two: The screen either goes completely black or has some type of vertical bars showing up on the screen then completely reboots itself and thats it. This also happens almost always when playing PC Games such as Starcraft 2, Madden 08, and Call of Duty 2....i play other games like CoD4, Civ4, age of empires etc etc and have no troubles...but those 3 games specifically crash all the time.

I get windows popups that say its trying to find a solution but never does..

I dont know what else you would need but PLEASE someone help me and let me know what information you would need in order to figure this stupid mess out..

Specs: Custom Built Desktop
CPU: 3.2 GHz AMD Dual Core Black Edition
RAM: 4 GB DDR3
GFx: ATI 5770 HD 1 GB DDR5
Win 7 64 bit professional

anything else you would need please by all means let me know so i can help you guys help me

 

okay thats fine, is there a way to get it without having to wait for another BSoD? can i look in event viewer for any information? let me know to make things easier for you

 

Look for the minidump files in the C:\Windows\Minidump\ folder. Upload them as an attachement. It may well be that minidumps arent turned on in which case unless it BSODs again you are out of luck. Turn on memory dumps then wait to see if it BSODs again.

 

here are the most recent minidumps...thanks again!!

 

Your dumpfiles all point towards hardware fault. How old is this build? Will post some more trouble shooting suggestions tommorrow on my lunch as Im about to go to sleep now.

 

no problem man...the computer is about a year old...yeah im thinking its corrupt hardware...damn it lol dont have that kind of money...okay keep me posted and let me know what you can come up with.

 

OK first thing is it could be absolutely any piece of hardware attached to your system that is causing the problem. What is more dificult is that there is no regular pattern to your BSODs. So here is my suggested approach.

Find out the exact date of purchase. If you are about one year then you may be covered under warenty in which case phone up the vendor and log your issue with them and try and get a refference. Tell them that you are working on identifying the faulty component and you will return it in due course. I have heard of cases where a fault has been identified within the warenty period but by the time the diagnosis was complete the warenty had expired and the retailer refused to exchange. If the retailer cant help register your indiviual components with the manufacturer and tell them that you have a suspected hardware fault (Back it up with emails)

Can you please download speccy and post a log of your hardware (make sure you remove your windows serial from the log before posting).

Detach any non essential PC components (internal and external). This includes optical drives secondary HDs (if possible), non critical PCI cards, all USB components (including wireless NICs). You should only have motherboard, RAM, CPU, GPU, Primary HD PSU, monitor, mouse and keyboard. Download and burn the memtest86 iso image to CD and bootfrom that (try googling instructions but let me know if you get stuck). Allow it to run overnight. This will test your RAM

We will also need to test HD and possably PSU but until I get the speccy log I cant go much further... This should get you started for now.

Once RAM, HD and PSU are tested and the system is proven to be stable the you can gradually re-introduce your other hardware until the system BSODs again.

 

thanks for all the help...attached is my speccy log.

As far as downloading and burning memtest...i dont have any spare discs...can i just run it while i am logged into windows? or wil that not test it properly?

 

No you will have to burn it to CD as it is a bootable disk. Incidently you have to burn it with an ISO burner software like Active@ ISO burner.

Once you have run that over night and it is confirmed as running error free download WD Data Lifeguard from here Read the PDF instructions to see how run the diagnostic. If that comes back clear too then post back

 

You may be able to usb if you can boot from usb but I have never tried.

 

sounds good ill give it a shot man

 

Thinking about it a bit more, im not sure how you can burn the image to USB, I think Active@ will only see optical drives as a burn target and just copying the ISO onto usb will not work. may have to go with CD

 

just ran the test on windows...and it came back with errors right away when i started to test 2000 MBs.....only problem is i dont know what ram stick it is now... >.> could that cause all the trouble..including the black screens and reboots?

 

Which test? I dont believe you can run memtest from windows, so I am going to assume you mean Data Lifeguard. If DLG will let you save a log then post that. DLG tests your hard disk not RAM. You should get memtest from here. you may be able to use USB if you download the floppy installer and pretend your USB is a floppy drive... might work but not sure

 

yes i was able to run memtest on windows...it worked and automatically picked something up...im going to do the other test soon enough and try and get you a log but so far it seems like one of my RAM sticks is bad...yipeee lol..

 

ok. the good news is that ram is the cheapest care component, however im not sure i would trust memtest if it was running from windows. it doesnt have dedicated access to your ram as windows will still be using it. you may want to confirm by using a bootable cd...

ps the memtest that i linked to doesnt have a windows version so im not sure you are using the right version either. might be cheaper to spend a couple of $ on a cd to make sure ram is bad before replacing ram?

 

this is true..it is the cheapest haha...once i can get a CD or two to just burn it and run it over night...but i got the feeling that its the ram...i can send you more minidumps if you would like? also i ran the HD testing and everyrthing came back positive with no errors or anything...so tahts good...


As for the black screens that crashes and reboots what do you think? could my graphics card be bad as well? i do happen to look in my event viewer and notice a couple critical errors pop up that say something about a northern chipset etc...let me know what you think or whats the next step for troubleshooting.

 

try running it with just one stick in. it is prob only one stick or one socket that is bad.

 

how do i figure out which is the bad stick though? plug and play??

 

yeah. assuming that you have 2 memory sticks and two sockets plug stick 1 into socket one and try it. If you still get errors try stick 2 in socket 1. if you still get errors try stick one in socket 2 then stick 2 in socket 2.

If one stick is bad in both sokets then you have a faulty stick. if both sticks are faulty in one socket but fine in the other you have a bad socket. if both sticks are faulty in both sockets the we're screwed!lol (Only joking, but it doesnt tell us much)

 

hi sorry i havent posted a reply been very busy...i ran the tests like you said from a boot disk and the memtest came up clean!! 100% no memory problems...now what do i do i need to figure this out for black friday so i know what new parts i need to buy!!! :O

 

Next I would try Western Digital Data Life Guard. This will test your Hard disk for disk errors. Also open command Prompt and run Chkdsk c: /f /r. This will look for some disk errors and correct them.

Also have a look coretemp and download that to monitor your CPU temperature. I dont think it is over heating but it is possible

 

done and done...all the tests came back negative and nothiogn showed up whatsoever...HDD is working plenty fine..chckdsk came back clean...im really stumped...i keep getting a crash at a brown screen with vertical bars coming up every so often and of course the total crash with just a black screen ..

 

My next suggestion is PSU. Unfortunately the only way to test is with another good PSU. If you dont have one look for an online retailer with a good no questions returns policy and order a new one. If it doesnt fix the problem send it back and get a refund.

 

psu has been tested already and the same problem continues to happen with a different PSU...is there really any way to completely know what the problem is ? or is it basically all we can do is plug and play/guess and check?

 

Have you ruled out over heating?

Unfortunately it is a case of looking at the symptoms and ruling out components.

It might be worth trying a barebone set up. Take all your components out of the PC and set up the bare minimum components. Motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU, PSU and HD. Put set them up on a non conductive serface like wood or Cardboard. Run it for a while and see how it goes.

 

yeah its not overheating..ive been watching monitors etc and it doesnt move much so its not that...as far as bare bones...thats all my computer is to be honest...nothign else but the bare hardware...the only time it crashes is when its running pc games...when im on regular desktop or web browsing it NEVER crashes...only when running computer games...

also i was looking into my specs of my gfx card and stuff and i noticed that i think my grpahics card needs 450W in order to run...is this true? ati radeon 5750 hd...turns out my PSU is only like 505W or something along the lines of that...could it really not be producing enough power which means its crashing?? also what does those vertical lines on my screen mean when it crashes? the more and more i think about it the more and more i think that it could be not enough power which is causing it to crash or that the graphics card is bad...but how do i test it?? i dont have enough money to go buying another graphics card and testing it...what do you recommend?

 

That would do it. 450W for your card and only 505W PSU. Not much head room there at all.

Gaming is when your GPU will draw most power.

 

well i installed a new power supply with more wattage..and it still crashes..so THAT wasnt the issue at hand...now what? lol..

 

any ideas guys?? christmas is around the corner and i need ideas :O

 

did you try the bareboot outside the case?

 

hey all! sorry to post up and reactivate a old thread but considering its mine id like to continue to work on it...

updates. everything in the computer has been completly replaced. new CPU, new mobo...all brand new! i still crash from time to time. dont know what seems to be the problem >..> where should we start? lol./

 

some new minidumps

 

noone has anything to offer on my issues at hand? lol. please help.