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Problem and Error cake: Deluxe version


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#1
Coeco

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These last few weeks have been a pain in the [bleep] for me in regards with my PC whom is having several doses with different kinds of bugs. It all started with me getting a screen-scramble followed by a blue-screen, I immediately thought the g-card to be the culpit so I replaced it with my old one, it worked fine. I installed the old one back in after a successful start and It started working properly again but after some usage It would randomly crash and/or hang, For example, i could play a 7 hour gaming session, exit it and go watch a video before it hanging my pc all the time it having nominal temperatures.

Being confused over this, I contacted the manufacturer of my G-card (an ATI HD Radeon 6970) explaining what just happened and they told me that faulty memory is most likely the problem so I ran a 4 hour long memory diagnostic with Memtest which they linked me and It came up with zero errors. I contacted them again for more things to diagnos and they suggested checking my HDD's which I also did and came up blank.

In the midst of this, I was also experiencing other errors such as, "bootmgr is missing", failed computer bootups, failures to launching windows, repeated beepings on startup indicating that I have a loose cord without actually having a lose coord and many other things even with my old g-card installed.


I have thoroughly checked for any kinds of malware without result and have experienced zero slowdowns before the incident having all my hardware be brand new. Ideas?


Update: It recently wouldn't start the POST until i disconnected external drivers and when I did, It hanged on windows starting followed by running a failed windows repair which told me something related to BadDriver, localeid 1033


Update 2: Been running on my old graphics card stable for over 10-20 hours straight now, thinking of plugging the new one back in.

Edited by Coeco, 18 July 2011 - 07:17 PM.

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#2
Digerati

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I generally recommend testing RAM one stick at a time, and letting it run for several passes, or even over night. And note Memtest and the other testers are good, but NOT conclusive.

How did you test your HDs? I would run chkdsk /r on them, or the diagnostics as found on the drive maker's site.

Finally, I always want to verify I have good power. If me, I would swap in a known good PSU, or have yours professionally tested.
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#3
Coeco

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I already did test the RAM all together (8 gig) and one at a time. As explained before, all my hardware is next to new, especially the PSU and by using two different HDD's, I'm certain that storage Isn't the issue.
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#4
Digerati

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Understand that electronics typically either fail when new, or when really old. So while your hardware is new, that does not rule out that something could be bad. Until Man can create perfection, there always will be some products that fail.

Side note - please do not go back to old posts and edit them, especially if there have been replies (except for minor spelling errors or the like). We do not get notices of edits.

Been running on my old graphics card stable for over 10-20 hours straight now, thinking of plugging the new one back in.

Keep us posted.
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#5
Coeco

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I know that new hardware can fail as well but I have been running hardcore games for 7 hours straight without any electrical output problems with the new graphics card (My PSU has a roughly 500WATT overkill) I'm thinking drivers?
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#6
Digerati

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I am lost now. You tried your old card and it ran for 10 - 20 hours with no problem. Now you are running with your new card and it has been holding for 7 hours. Does everything work now?

Yes, drivers could be an issue and swapping cards forced Windows to completely reset all setting to the new card. In fact, sometimes when I have hardware related issues with graphics, sound or NICs I will uninstall all drivers, install an entirely different card to force the reset in Windows, then swap back.
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#7
Coeco

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I was basing off your theory of electrical output error. The entire PC can run on 100% performance without any cut-off or overheating/insufficient supply of electricity but can crash from other simple graphical tasks.
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#8
Digerati

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And how are you running the entire PC at 100% for hours on end. That is not an easy task, and generally requires some benchmarking software designed to stress test the computer. If that is what you are doing, and it passes, then that "suggests" your motherboard, CPU, PSU, and case cooling are good.

Simple graphics tasks? Like what? That would suggest a graphics card, or a system RAM memory location to me. Updating the graphics driver may help, but if two cards fail the same way, then it is hard to point fingers at the cards.
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#9
Coeco

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I did some minor benchmarking and performance testing using specified software along with long periods of heavy gaming using the old card and nothing came up so far.

Gonna keep the PC running a bit longer, do another complete sweep of my graphics drivers and then plug the new one back in and see if something blows up.
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#10
Digerati

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Sounds like a plan!
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#11
Coeco

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Now the computer blue-screened with the OLD graphics-card as I tried changing a game-resolution, Might have been the games fault since It's in beta. I put the new card back in after re-deleting all my graphic-drivers and the PC would just spur up a second and die, see update.

Getting really difficult to narrow down this issue seeing how I benchmark tested the card shortly before the blue-screen..



Update: Might have solved the issue, Dug around in my electricity cables and found tons of transformators connected to cell-chargers, camera-chargers and god knows how many things, all of them being red-hot without even having devices attached to them. Removed all I could find and the PC would start successfully afterwards. Now back to testing.

Edited by Coeco, 22 July 2011 - 05:54 PM.

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#12
Digerati

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Huh? What were all those devices plugged into?
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#13
Coeco

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Mostly surveillance equipment that was lying dormant under my table. But the PC just hanged again so I'm wondering if you guys have any sensors that will 100% display the temperature of my new graphics-card? (ATI HD Radeon 6970)

I'm also wondering what the typical temperatures are for this kind of hardware because it gets quite hot at the touch after some gaming even when i have an AC for 800 bucks dedicated to cooling it.


Edited by Digerati: Offensive language removed.
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#14
Digerati

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I get nervous when CPU temps reach 60°C. GPU, on the other can run very hot, and often touch 90°C and higher.
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#15
Coeco

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Mine runs on around 55 max, 60° If i really push it for a huge lapse of time without cooling and my supplier says 80°C Isn't rare so heating Isn't the issue I take it.

I'm still paranoid in regards to cooling for my gfx card though because I tend to play for LONG hours. Is there any list of available VGA coolings available for the 6970? Our electronic stores are really vague about compatibility so a reference would be nice.
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