Crashes 'n other problems.

Firstly, I sincerely apologize if this isn't the correct forum for this. But from what little I know (admittedly, almost nothing at all; hence why I came here to begin with!), I suspect it just might be a hardware issue of some sort. Then again, I could be (and probably am) quite mistaken. ANYWAY, on to what little I know about the problem.

As far as I can remember, the problem first cropped up out of the blue and without warning while I was playing a game (memory dictates it was Fallout 3, but I can't recall exactly). The culprit was the game freezing and my computer utterly failing to respond, while the speakrs made a very annoying buzzing noise. After that, my computer failed to start up at all; it would just "hang" after I turned it on, never even getting to the actual startup process. I can't recall how I fixed it (I think I might have removed the little battery thing on the motherboard), but after I did, it seemed to work fine....for a while.

Then it started giving me bluescreens, more crashes of the same sort I mentioned above, as well as spontaneously restarting. It happens randomly as well, and sometimes the crashes will happen DURING a bluescreen, while the memory is being dumped/whatever it is happens then. (Can you tell yet I am not computer savvy at all?)

The problems will escalate and decline at random, seemingly, sometimes going for a few days without happening, other times happening a dozen times in as many minutes. It's really got me concerned and just a bit frazzled. The only real evidence I've been able to get is that it may be a hardware error, though I've found things stating it could be the video card, RAM, motherboard, power supply, or a potato stuck in the fans (figuratively s peaking, of course).

Of course as far as I know, it could just as easily be some nasty virus or some such that I know nothing about, or a BIOS error/improper settings, or anything else. I'm at my wit's end, as I have no way of fixing this on my own, and have not the means to get it fixed professionally. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Also, any information that might be needed about the computer itself....beyond the basics, you'd probably have to help me along to gather what I need. I barely know how to figure out the OS I run, and so I am in quite a bind here.

 

have a look at c:\Windows\Minidump for the minidump files. If there are any in there please attach them to your reply and Ill debug them for you.

If ou are worried about a virus make sure you have an up-to-date antivirus installed. Microsoft Security Essential is a good, free solution. Also download and install Malware Bytes Antimalware. Run a full scan. If they come back clean then you should be fin on the malware front.

Have a look at your CPU Heatsink and ensure it is clear from and dust. Sometimes the fins get clogged which causes overheting

If all of that comes back OK then we will go on to test yo RAM and HD but but we can look at that once you have ruled out the above.

 

Firstly, thanks for the assistance.

I looked in the minidump folder....and it seems to be empty.

I also ran a scan with an antivirus and Malwarebytes, both came back clean.

Gave the heatsink a once-over and it seems to be clear.

 

Right click on my computer and chose properties. click on advanced tab and under tje section marked wrote debugging information select small mini dump. Next time you get bsod you should get amini dump. Attach thos to a reply. ill post more tomorrow.

 

I haven't had any bsod's as of yet, but I have had a few of the random crashes and restarts. The most recent one, just a few minutes ago, was....different. When I managed to get my computer booted up again, the screen was flickering slightly; there were small lines and dashes like the blinking _ cursor on the screen, and it seemed like it was frozen, and after a minute or so it did freeze.

Aside from that, everything is still pretty much the same as it was. I'm no expert, so I may be wrong, but.....is this a problem with my video/graphics card or drivers?

 

Download and bur a memtest86 cd image then test your RAM with that.

What make and model HD do you have?

 

from what you say it sounds as if it might be your graphics card or at least a graphics driver issue

to eliminate a driver issue uninstall the graphics card drivers and run it for a while with no dedicated driver windows should automatically revert to a default display driver

if everything goes ok after running for a while install the latest drivers for your graphics card

if the issue continues with windows native drivers i would say it's the graphics card
the give away is the artifacts you have been seeing ( small lines an dashes ) it's a classic sign of bad memory on the graphics card
the other thing that can produce artifacts is a bad graphics card overclock

 

I'm still in the process of testing with memtest86; having a little trouble getting it to work.

As for the hard drive, this was all I could find: WDC WD2500AAKS-00V6A0
Apologies if that's no help.


On the subject of graphics drivers; I tested that, and it seemed to make some improvement, but it didn't fix anything really. I haven't had any more of the artifacts, at least, but the crashes and freezing is still there.

 

Thats fine. It tells me that it is a Western Digital Drive. Download Western Digital Data Life Guard from there site to test your HD.

I agree with Cosmica's diagnosis below that it is GPU but without swapping out the card I dont think there is any way to test so I suggest testing HD and RAM first to rule that out, as there is no cost associated.

The other possiblity is PSU but again you would need to swap that out to test.

 

Hi i'm having a problem with my computer, every so often the screen will go black and the fan will start spinning at full speed (the speed difference can be heard clearly). It doesnt seem to happen when the computer is under intense load just at random times.
Any help would be great,
Thanks Tony

 

Oops sorry for the mix up guys