Computer problems

[RangerPL]

Whenever I try to play any game, my computer goes to the Blue screen of Death. I can play online browser games and browse forums but games make my computer go to hell.

It started on Friday, and any game not installed after friday crashes after some time playing it.

My PC also runs very slowly and though it boots quickly, it has many problems. I also received a "file corrupt" error on Saturday, but it's gone now after running a disk check. It seems that some data on the hard drive is corrupt or fragmented badly.

What should I do? I have the Windows XP CD, so I can wipe the drive and do a clean install. I can also perform a repair install.

 

[liber]

Maybe best option is to full format hard disk and install new windows.

 

[RangerPL]

Can the blue screen of death also be a result of fragmentation? Because I have to admit, I haven't defragged this computer in a while.

 

[liber]

Doubted,I didn't defragment mine for a long time and it's working OK.
Maybe you got some virus or something,maybe you have dust on cooling fan and high temp. block PC while you gaming,CPU go to 100% while gaming.
Don't know,get everest and monitor the temperature of CPU and VGA.

 

[Bill LeClere]

I'd just reinstall XP--after, of course, backing stuff up.

 

[RangerPL]

I don't really feel like wiping the drive.... i have nowhere to back the files up to.
On tuesday, I can take it to a professional, but I'm wondering if there's a quick fix. I'm defragging right now to see what it might do.

 

[Jarvitä]

No need to delete everything right away. First, as always, run some virus, malware and other system scans. I doubt it's because of the fragmentation, if it was that bad you wouldn't even be able to move large files around. Based on your description, the culprit is most likely the graphics card - you might want to check it's operating temperatures, maybe reinstall the drivers, run some tests, if all else fails try to replace it, or, if your MB has an integrated graphics card try running with just that one.

 

[liber]

Split disk into partition,than you could have your files on disk and still be able to install a fresh copy of windows without loosing any data.
You could alway make windows backup with paragon or similar program.
Only take's 15 minutes to back up and restore.

 

[Jarvitä]

I fail to see the point of reinstalling the OS from scratch if the problem may be in hardware or could be solved a lot easier.

 

[reverend]

Sounds like your video card drivers are corrupted - hence the BSOD when switching into 3D mode... I'd start with video driver updates. Something must have caused them to get corrupted however, so I'd do multiple full disk checks to determine if you've also got a faulty hard drive. Do more than one to determine if sectors are going bad between checks. If so, replace hard drive. It may not be video drivers themselves corrupted either, it may be windows system files, like DirectX. Perform an OS repair.

If you say it worked fine up until a certain point, try the System Restore Tool provided with windows that will let you roll your drivers back to a certain date that you know everything worked OK.

 

[RangerPL]

My HDD is brand new. As for the video card... i might look into that but it works in some games like Sim City 4 (the only one I tried). GTA San Andreas and CoD4 both go to the BSoD.

I think there might be an overload problem. All this has been occurring since Friday, when I logged onto RuneScape. Long story short, a player was dropping 34m worth of items. The game was already laggy and when the hundreds of items appeared on the screen, it went to the BSoD. I've been having all kinds of problems ever since.

Oh yeah.... my machine won't even boot anymore.

 

[dbeachy1]

Since the machine won't even boot anymore, it sounds like (in order of likelyhood) a bad RAM stick, a failed power supply, a failed motherboard, or a failed CPU. I have seen bad RAM cause file corruption as well, since data in RAM can become corrupt before being written back to disk.

Here is something you can try:

1) Download Memtest86 here (it is open-source and the download is free): http://www.memtest86.com/
2) Burn Memtest86 to a CD and boot from it.
3) Let the memory diagnostics run for at least several hours.
4) If you get an error, remove one stick of RAM (if you have more than one stick) and repeat step 3.
5) If the error goes away, swap the RAM stick with another stick and repeat the test using only one stick at a time until you find the problem stick.
6) Replace the defective stick.

If you do not find a defective stick, it is still possible that you have a defective RAM stick: I have found that memtest86 usually catches the problem, but I had one occurrence where the system failed in Windows but not in memtest86. If you can get Windows to boot again, what you can try is this:

1) Download Orthos from here (it's free): http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138142-orthos.html
2) Run Orthos under the default "blend" setting to test CPU and RAM.
3) Let it run for at least 30 minutes. If you get an error, shut down the computer and remove all RAM sticks except one. Then repeat steps 2-3.
4) If you get an error with just one stick, swap it with another stick and repeat steps 2-3.
5) If it runs OK with one stick but fails with another stick, it is very likely that you found the defective stick.

If memtest86 passes, see if you can boot off of your Windows CD into the "Recovery Console." Let us know how it goes.

[EDIT] I assume you are not overlocking your system, correct?

 

[RangerPL]

I'm not overclocking. My RAM is fine. Everything worked and suddenly it just... broke.

I'm going to bring the computer to a professional on Tuesday.

 

[tl8]

I'm not overclocking. My RAM is fine. Everything worked and suddenly it just... broke.

I'm going to bring the computer to a professional on Tuesday.

Did you smell smoke?

Look inside the case, are the capacitors (The round tall things) around the CPU bulging?

 

[RangerPL]

Did you smell smoke?

Look inside the case, are the capacitors (The round tall things) around the CPU bulging?

Nope, no smoke, nothing. The capacitors are fine. It appears to be an overflow or something.... maybe a hard drive problem.

 

[RangerPL]

Ok, it turns out my hard drive has gone kaput. A new one has been ordered and my computer will be fixed by tomorrow.