AAAAHHHHHH!!! --rips hair out--

[8800GTocWOOT]

*** ING REFUSE TO DO (ANOTHER) WINDOWS REINSTALL!!

now, HELP ME DAMMIT!!

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

Sorry, idk why the rest of my message didnt come up. but here it is:


So, my computer is usually pretty good at running stuff (i.e. can run crysis all maxed out, no AA/AF at 23 FPS; can run L4D1 at around 150+). The other day, i'm playin some classic L4D, and my computer does a crazy shutting the screen on-off thing (looked like when you change inputs on your TV), then BSOD's on me. So i restart, and it will no longer launch any game whatsoever without doing this. Even when i turn games on that are windowed, my comp will just crash and burn (though I have a slightly better chance to salvage it before it BSOD's if it's windowed.)

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

So my question to you is: WTF IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?! is it my graphics card?? cause from the look of it, its almost as though my graphics card instantly overheats, or like i set one of my clocks FAR too high in a graphics setting editing program (I use EVGA Precision). However, if i turn all of my clocks (core/shader/mem) down to the bare minimum, there is no noticeable difference. Also, i'm going to sound like a gay n00b here, but could it be caused by software? I have some adware thats been plaguing my computer for some time now, and its starting to really slow *** down. but goddamnit, I ****ING REFUSE TO DO (ANOTHER) WINDOWS REINSTALL!!

now, HELP ME DAMMIT!!

 

[rsmith13]

Hey, it could be a power line glitch, a cosmic ray zapped your ram. who knows? The important thing is that you don't turn your computer off until the hard drive light goes out. You don't want to pull the plug while the drive is writing to the disk.

"Yes" you say, "but the &*%$ hard drive light won't go out!"

In that case, cross your fingers and pull the plug. Don't do a reset because you need to wait for the memory to die so there is no corrupted left over cache to cause a problem with a restart. Turn your computer back on and hope for the best. I would then run chkdsk.

It's just me but that is how I do it.

The last time I tried to overclock, I ended up doing a Windows reinstall. (Which is why I no longer overclock.) Wish I could tell you otherwise but you already know what you have to do.

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

Hey, it could be a power line glitch, a cosmic ray zapped your ram. who knows? The important thing is that you don't turn your computer off until the hard drive light goes out. You don't want to pull the plug while the drive is writing to the disk.

"Yes" you say, "but the &*%$ hard drive light won't go out!"

In that case, cross your fingers and pull the plug. Don't do a reset because you need to wait for the memory to die so there is no corrupted left over cache to cause a problem with a restart. Turn your computer back on and hope for the best. I would then run chkdsk.

It's just me but that is how I do it.

The last time I tried to overclock, I ended up doing a Windows reinstall. (Which is why I no longer overclock.) Wish I could tell you otherwise but you already know what you are going to have to do.

1.) hard drive light? idk what you mean

2.) definitely doesn't have to do with the HD or RAM. This same thing happens even when playing flash videos. Anything even moderately graphics-intensive, and the screen will do the little "switching input" thing for a while, then the program will crash, and if im lucky my comp wont BSOD. I'm just wondering whether my graphics card is DEFINITELY fried, or just PROBABLY fried.

also, I only OC'd it by like 25 mhz each, like 6 months ago! and since then I've been using it at factory settings. unless the sudden inability to compute anything is the collapse of a gpu that was on the verge of collapsing in the first place, I cannot see why it would suddenly die.

 

[elel]

If you really hate doing a windows reinstall that much you should get a copy of clonezilla (free live CD) and make a mirror of a fresh install onto an external HDD. If you install all of your drivers and updates before making the mirror image, restoring it is SO much faster and less painful than installing windows. It works like any live CD: shut down, set to boot from CD drive and select the right options from the easy menus.

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

If you really hate doing a windows reinstall that much you should get a copy of clonezilla (free live CD) and make a mirror of a fresh install onto an external HDD. If you install all of your drivers and updates before making the mirror image, restoring it is SO much faster and less painful than installing windows. It works like any live CD: shut down, set to boot from CD drive and select the right options from the easy menus.

lol thanks. but it isnt so much the pain of reinstalling windows, as it is losing all of your games and such. The amount of time it takes to reinstall everything is ridiculous, let alone the time it would take to make a list of, then (after the install) find, download, and install all of the miscellaneous items i have on my comp.

 

[vvhocare5]

Lets isolate the issue and rule some of your problems out. With this problem, always look at heat and power first.
Reinstalling the OS isnt the root problem you are facing.

Go get GPUz, launch a game and see what the temp is doing. You will want to log to a file other wise its dead too if it bluescreens.

I would also run HWMonitor in the back ground and see what else is going on - temp and voltage wise.

Go run Malwarebytes and any other program you like and get rid of the crapware bothering you. Its just one less thing to deal with.

Double check the connections, unplug the card and reinstall it. Whats the power supply - these things age over time.

If the card is hot, look for any issues (fans die), dust bunnies and if nothing else, remove and reinstall the cooler. With the cover off, look for obviously bad capacitors (silver cans). Reinstall.

Not hot, cast a wary eye at the PSU and buy a replacement (if not very good). May help, may not, but you will have a new PSU...one less thing bothering you....

Check the CPU/heatsink mounting by the way, those things loosen and as soon as the CPU heats up bluescreen is your new color....

Nothing works? Beg borrow or steal a friends video card to see if it is your system or card.

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

Best answer selected by 8800GTocWOOT.

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

Lets isolate the issue and rule some of your problems out. With this problem, always look at heat and power first.
Reinstalling the OS isnt the root problem you are facing.

Go get GPUz, launch a game and see what the temp is doing. You will want to log to a file other wise its dead too if it bluescreens.

I would also run HWMonitor in the back ground and see what else is going on - temp and voltage wise.

Go run Malwarebytes and any other program you like and get rid of the crapware bothering you. Its just one less thing to deal with.

Double check the connections, unplug the card and reinstall it. Whats the power supply - these things age over time.

If the card is hot, look for any issues (fans die), dust bunnies and if nothing else, remove and reinstall the cooler. With the cover off, look for obviously bad capacitors (silver cans). Reinstall.

Not hot, cast a wary eye at the PSU and buy a replacement (if not very good). May help, may not, but you will have a new PSU...one less thing bothering you....

Check the CPU/heatsink mounting by the way, those things loosen and as soon as the CPU heats up bluescreen is your new color....

Nothing works? Beg borrow or steal a friends video card to see if it is your system or card.

THANK YOU for the recommendation about the CPU heatsink!! I had never thought of that!

however, for future reference, I will answer the other stuff.

1.) I have EVGA Precision, and i regularly monitor GPU temp. as in, I always have it running when I game, since my card used to get up to 100C in Crysis (lulz)

2.) I ran Malwarebytes, came up almost clean. wtf's

3.) I just uninstalled and reinstalled the card the other day, had massive dustbunnies in it (hence 100C)

4.) PSU - good suggestion.

5.) In the process of removing my GPU, as i was closing up my computer, i took out my CPU heatsink, as it had also started to accumulate dust. Probably one of the stupider things ive done, now that i think about it. I probably need to go out and get some CPU glue now, its contact is probably drastically reduced now that there are (most likely) huge air pockets in the glue.

but thank you! i'll check my cpu temps, and get back to you!

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

alas, it was premature. My idle temps are rather high (around 50C), but nothing near the max 70C that my Q9300 can take, and especially nothing near enough to cause instantaneous crashes the second I try to launch a mildly graphics-intensive process.

so to clarify, it is NOT solved. damn, i wish you could undo that ***. but still, nice suggestions vvhocare5.

 

[elel]

I can't offer any better suggestions than vvhocare5 did, xcept that another free av removal tool that I like is spybot s&d. I don't know how closely you looked at the caps, but often the only sign that they have blown is a bulged cap or a crack in the pressure relief stamping. I had an old 5600 that I was borrowing blow a cap and it would have been very hard to detect if it hadn't also ejected some material. About clonezilla - I actually back up my system periodically (read: not as often as I should) and just keep a fresh install backed up in case I mess up something horribly. Again, vvhocare5 is right, this probably won't fix your problem. Hope this helps. Everyone looks better without a toupe.

 

[8800GTocWOOT]

I can't offer any better suggestions than vvhocare5 did, xcept that another free av removal tool that I like is spybot s&d. I don't know how closely you looked at the caps, but often the only sign that they have blown is a bulged cap or a crack in the pressure relief stamping. I had an old 5600 that I was borrowing blow a cap and it would have been very hard to detect if it hadn't also ejected some material. About clonezilla - I actually back up my system periodically (read: not as often as I should) and just keep a fresh install backed up in case I mess up something horribly. Again, vvhocare5 is right, this probably won't fix your problem. Hope this helps. Everyone looks better without a toupe.

So i looked at the vista crash logs... my screen blacking out and coming back on?? its my computer going into sleep and waking up constantly, until it crashes. um.. lol?

u no what guys, ill just start a new thread. this one is expired. thanks for all your help!