Topic: Computer trouble

[idolminds]

At least I can still use it for the web and stuff...but I'm having game troubles. It seems every time I do something even remotely 3D demanding, after about 5 minutes the screen blanks, the monitor tells me "no signal" or some such and just stays off. Rebooting right away brings me back to windows no problem, but I dont think I can ctrl-alt-del the 3D app and get back to windows that way.

It didnt happen before, then one night we had a storm so I turned off the PC completely (including unplugging the system from the wall). I've done this before, so no big deal. The battery in my mobo must be dead because whenever I remove power like that I need to go into the bios and save the settings again. I dont change anything, just go to "Save and quit" and let it save the defaults. Probably not the best way to run a system, but ti seems to work fine. Also, the time in windows is always messed up when I do this stuff.

So anyway I did all that and the next time I ran GalCiv2 it ran for a while (I was customizing a civ with the spinning 3D ship) and then the screen blanked. If Im remembering correctly the music kept playing but I couldnt do anything. Reboot. When it came back up I tried something less demanding but still spacey: Weird Worlds of Infinite Space. Well, they use some 3D as well and it eventually konked out.

Neither of those things were all that demanding, so to really try it I decided to run Guild Wars. And...I played for like 2 hours with no ill affects. I did that a couple times yesterday and it was fine. Now, without turning the PC off at all overnight (which is the norm for me), today I go to play a little GW and it blanked on me.

I opened the case to make sure the fans were working, and everything seems to be running fine. I don't think its overheating, but the symptoms would indicate that, right? What else could it be? Its a 9700 Pro so it might just be fucking old and dying, but I would hope to hold out on a card until I build my new system.

[Quemaqua]

It sounds like a heat issue... but my heat issues have always resulted in straight-up crashes, not like stuff with audio in the background.  Still, it does sound like heat.  That would be my guess.  Did anything look caked in dust?  If you remember, I recently solved my heat problem by blowing out the crazy dust that had collected in my heatsink and fan.  That may not be your problem, but I guarantee you it's the first thing I'll be checking from now on, heh.

Somebody with more knowledge can hopefully help.  All I can say is yeah, it sort of sounds like a graphics card overheat.  But is there any way to check your GPU temp?

EDIT - Try opening the computer up and putting a moderately powerful fan facing toward the inside.  See if that helps.   Play a game for several hours or keep the CPU/GPU stressed for a while and see if the problem persists.  If it doesn't, you may be able to isolate it as a heat issue.  If it happens anyway, chances are good it's something else.

[idolminds]

I recently dusted out my PC, so there is very little dust inside.

Not sure how to check GPU temp. I should look online for a program or something.

[Quemaqua]

Probably no way to check your temp according to this.  Maybe try that fan idea... it's worked for me in the past.  Otherwise it looks like you'll have to buy yourself an actual heat probe, and that probably isn't something you want to spend money on.

[idolminds]

I should ask my dad, hes probably got a heat probe already.

*EDIT*

The problem is so inconsistent. I just played GW for half an hour with no problem. Gah...

[scottws]

This is what I would do in that situation, in order, until it was fixed:

1)  Check the GPU's heatsink/fan and make sure there is no dust caked on there and blow out if there is.

2)  Uninstall the drivers for the videocard and reboot.  Then install the newest Catalysts and reboot again.  Even if they were the already the newest, I would uninstall and reinstall them.

3)  Upgrade to the latest motherboard chipset drivers.

4)  Upgrade to the latest BIOS.

5)  Install the newest DirectX (even if you have 9.0c, they have updates like June 2007).

6)  Reseat the videocard.

7)  Buy a new videocard.

[Ghandi]

[scottws]

So idol, how did this ever work out?

[idolminds]

I haven't really messed with it much. Downloading the Mythos beta which unfortunately can not be paused, so I have to do it in one long go and cant afford to take the system down until its done. However, since opening the system and rooting around ti hasn't done anything, and I played a little GZDoom at high res, tried out a 3D worms/space game thing, and even did some Guild Wars for an extended period. So maybe it just needed me fidgeting with it.

[Ghandi]

Oh yeah, I got the Mythos beta email recently. I need to download it.

I had major problems with the Alpha. All the character textures were missing except for weapons and cloaks. It was odd. I'm hoping that the beta will fix those problems.

[W7RE]

It didnt happen before, then one night we had a storm so I turned off the PC completely (including unplugging the system from the wall). I've done this before, so no big deal. The battery in my mobo must be dead because whenever I remove power like that I need to go into the bios and save the settings again. I dont change anything, just go to "Save and quit" and let it save the defaults. Probably not the best way to run a system, but ti seems to work fine. Also, the time in windows is always messed up when I do this stuff.

This sounds kinda like my computer. Every so often it will get what I think is the modren BSOD. The screen goes blue with some error text on it, then quickly reboots. This resets my BIOS, underclocking my CPU, enabling my A drive (I have no floppy, and nothing assigned to drive A or B), and setting my clock back to like february 2002 or something. Also if there's a storm and the power goes out, the same thing happens. I'm not sure if this happens from just a normal shut down, because I never do that, partly because of a monitor issue...

If I turn off my computer, letting my monitor shut off, or even just turn off my monitor, it won't come back on. For a while I would reset my computer, wait for the HD activity light to stop, the rest again. After 5 or 6 times the monitor would work. I just switched to a spare monitor becuse I think it finally died completely.




Anyway, sorry, I don't have any advice for your computer, I was just reminded of my weird BIOS issue reading about yours.

[PyroMenace]

Well Idol it sounds like a video card issue. I used to have a 9600 pro and from what you describe is exactly how my video card died. It ran windows fine, but any 3D video game would cause that same black out problem. I fiddled with drivers and settings like crazy, nothing worked. Eventually I just bought a new video card.

[scottws]

So idol, whatever happened with this?  Are you just not playing games right now?

[idolminds]

Seems to have worked itself out. Ever since I opened the case and looked around inside nothing has happened, and I've been playing tons of Guild Wars.

[Cobra951]

Something on the vidcard seems to me, maybe something as simple as the molex plug being loose or the fan being stuck until you jarred things around inside?