Random sudden shut down, then BSOD on restart, now loads but filled with problems

kurotsuru

Reputable
Aug 8, 2015
3
0
4,510
Hi,

*Please redirect me if this is not the appropriate section to post this and I'll have it moved within 3 hours. *

Quick background information (if it helps)
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Build:

Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68

PSU:
FirePower ZX Series 850W 80Plus Gold Fully-Modular High Performance ATX PC Power Supply

RAM:
Patriot G2 Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 9-9-9-24

CPU:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W (Was OC'ed to 4.3GHz before the problem, down clocked it to 3.3GHz for now)
+
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus

GPU:
EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16

EVGA GeForce GT 630 01G-P3-2631-KR 1GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

Hard Drives:
Western Digital Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III

Running 3 screens, so I needed another GPU since the 500's series didn't support 3 screens.
Win 7 Ultimate OS
AVG + Malwarebytes
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Problem/Background:

No problems with my computer recently. I keep the drivers up to date when possible, run anti virus/malware checks often. Hardware is usually fine as I dust it often with a electronic duster when needed, and have good airflow; so temperatures stay around the low 40's on average use.

A few days ago, I went to sleep with my computer on, and when I woke up, I found that it was at the log in screen; which it wasn't. I thought it was just another update that had a restart.

Today, as I was using it, I turned around for a moment and heard my PC shut off abruptly. I thought it was a power outage since it's summer and I live in California where it gets hot. When it turns back on, only 1 monitor is working, the images are at a lower resolution and has some red pixels scattered all over.

I forgot what happened next, but then it BSOD with something like startup registry error. It restarted afterwards.

Windows 7 still runs, but the resolution is capped at 1280 rather than 1920, those red low opacity pixel blocks are still scattered all over, my mechanical keyboard that uses the usb 3.0 ports isn't recognized (using a wireless keyboard backup), only 1 monitor displays, and sound initially did not work.

My own progress:

I've been troubleshooting this for a few hours now and am stuck, so here's what I have done so far and some added information.

Windows does boot and I can log on, access the internet, and all my files. Initially, some programs would not start up or load, including games. I don't recall all my actions, but now games do load but some programs will fail after a period of time, like when I run my AVG tune up scan and then clean up my PC (scan fails after 50% and halts the whole program). I am determining if it is the hardware's fault right now, I only have my RAM and the GTX560 GPU to test.

I don't know how else to further check my MoBo and CPU health status. Temperatures look fine, I can enter BIOS and can still change the settings there, all my hard drives are recognized and my previous settings are stilled stored inside the BIOS settings.

I'm not sure if my MoBo is partially malfunctioning or if it is indeed my Window's which is causing the problem. When I tried using another hard drive with Windows 7 on it, the home screen also had the same problems as my OS. Both OS's would not shutdown completely and would freeze near the end; where I would have to then force shutdown. (Over 2 minutes of frozen animation vs my usual few second shutdown)

That test would point more towards the Motherboard, but from the Resource and Performance Monitor, it says "Abnormally Terminated Services Check" failed, "Hardware Device and Driver Checks" failed (Controller Device Configured Fail Count: 11 - 1 - controller devices, Video Device Configured Fail Count: 6 - 1 Video Devices, PlugAndPlay Device Configured Fail Count 198-3-PlugAndPlay Devices), along with service reported with an unexpected error code and a few tv ConfigMgrErr's (31, 10, 24 - some repeat).

I have also tried to use this method

(http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/corrupt-registry-root-cause-in-startup-repair/f77d5355-b8be-41d6-af24-cae994e1768f)

Note: In that linked process, I was denied from copying due to those registries being in used; and anything I used that scanned for registries, would freeze.

I have had this build for 3 years and for the most part, have not seen many problems with it. I do my best to take care of it (regularly dusting, scans, updates, removing usb safely).

There have been a few blackouts while I was on my computer, but I never experienced any problems on rebooting after the power comes back. Now after this one it appears that I had some broken/bad registries or driver/configuration manager problems.

I can't figure the big problem that is causing all of this, whether it is software or hardware; a single problem or multiple sources causing it.

If anyone can enlighten me, please do; even if it is a small suggestion.


I haven't touched too much on the software side yet as my last backup was a year ago which I do not want to have restore to that point unless its the only way, and I am not too familiar on debugging something like this.

* Please redirect me if this is not the appropriate section to post this and I'll have it moved within 3 hours. *

**Update: GTX560 is capping at 1280x1024 and causing the scatter red dots all over the screen. Not sure if actually card's fault or driver absence. Will check soon and update **
 

kurotsuru

Reputable
Aug 8, 2015
3
0
4,510
After some more testing, I think my graphic's card may be damaged or has straight up died.

On another computer, it wouldn't get to the windows log on screen; with only the problem card attached, I would have said display errors/format, and now booting both of them up, I get BSODs unless in safe mode.

Now the question is, is the problem with my GPU due to a hardware malfunction or software? It worked before and now that it isn't working, it kind of looks like it is not being read properly or something. I'm not super knowledgeable in this, so any clarification would help; and feel free to use high level explanations, I'll try my best to comprehend it.