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PC Meltdown
Grundlestiltskin
Behind you!Registered User regular
Behind you!Registered User regular
The denizens of the PA forums have always come through for me with regard to tech issues with my PC. Thus I reach out to you again.
We'll go back to when I started noticing problems. I think it began around the time that the WoW background downloader began downloading patch 2.1.0, thereabouts. Probably unrelated, but you never know. Anyways, at some point my sound started cutting out after I had been playing for a while. I was using onboard sound at the time (Asus A8N SLI Deluxe mobo), and figured my onboard sound was dying. To rectify this problem, I went out and purchased the Soundblaster X-Fi card.
Around the same time, I started experiencing bizarre graphical distortions while playing WoW. I would see pixels flickering randomly (green flickering dots all over the sky, texture-colored flickers on the ground), which progressed to seeing whole wire mesh texture tiles flashing green at one point. I installed the latest driver for my video card (Geforce 6800 Ultra, I have two installed but SLI is disabled), which seemed to resolve that issue.
I soon began crashing periodically while playing. Not just WoW, my whole system would lock up and the sound would start stuttering like a CD that was skipping. I guessed that it might have something to do with having two sound drivers installed, so I disabled onboard sound and that seemed to solve that problem.
Patch 2.1.0 goes live. Aside from patch day woes, it plays just fine. However, I start to notice that as I periodically alt-tab out of the WoW client, performance starts to nosedive. I figured that 2.1.0 was causing massive memory leaks or something of that nature.
Finally we come to last night, seemingly judgement night for my PC. The flickering pixel problem is back. The flashing wire mesh tiles problem is back. The crashing is back, sometimes after less than 10 minutes of play and less than 15 after rebooting. I figure shit, I guess 2.1.0 is hosed.
I download 3DMark to benchmark my PC and make sure it's not a hardware issue. By the 3rd test, I'm seeing the flickering pixels. In the middle of the 4th test, my PC locks up. I reboot and run it again, same thing.
I clean out the inside of my PC, getting dust out of my heatsink and the fans on my video cards. Problem persists.
This morning, I decide to run error checking on my HD. I check off to fix errors as they come up and to recover bad sectors. It insists that I reboot my computer and it will run then. I do so. Everything seems to be going fine, I get to the "Windows XP Professional" loading scrollbar, it finishes loading.
And then nothing. Just a black screen.
I reboot, same thing happens. Again, same thing. I leave it on the black screen for 5, 10, 15 minutes, no change.
I put in my Windows XP CD and boot from it, and go to the recovery console. I run chkdsk, it tells me that there are one or more bad sectors on my HD. I run chkdsk /R in an attempt to recover them, the process runs to 65% and then randomly decides to reboot.
Loading Windows XP. Black.
I finally remember how to boot in safe mode. I get the DOS scroll of loading suchand such partition etc etc, and then nothing. I'm just staring at loading code and safe mode refuses to load.
That's where I am. I have no idea wtf is going on, I just want my PC back. Please help.
We'll go back to when I started noticing problems. I think it began around the time that the WoW background downloader began downloading patch 2.1.0, thereabouts. Probably unrelated, but you never know. Anyways, at some point my sound started cutting out after I had been playing for a while. I was using onboard sound at the time (Asus A8N SLI Deluxe mobo), and figured my onboard sound was dying. To rectify this problem, I went out and purchased the Soundblaster X-Fi card.
Around the same time, I started experiencing bizarre graphical distortions while playing WoW. I would see pixels flickering randomly (green flickering dots all over the sky, texture-colored flickers on the ground), which progressed to seeing whole wire mesh texture tiles flashing green at one point. I installed the latest driver for my video card (Geforce 6800 Ultra, I have two installed but SLI is disabled), which seemed to resolve that issue.
I soon began crashing periodically while playing. Not just WoW, my whole system would lock up and the sound would start stuttering like a CD that was skipping. I guessed that it might have something to do with having two sound drivers installed, so I disabled onboard sound and that seemed to solve that problem.
Patch 2.1.0 goes live. Aside from patch day woes, it plays just fine. However, I start to notice that as I periodically alt-tab out of the WoW client, performance starts to nosedive. I figured that 2.1.0 was causing massive memory leaks or something of that nature.
Finally we come to last night, seemingly judgement night for my PC. The flickering pixel problem is back. The flashing wire mesh tiles problem is back. The crashing is back, sometimes after less than 10 minutes of play and less than 15 after rebooting. I figure shit, I guess 2.1.0 is hosed.
I download 3DMark to benchmark my PC and make sure it's not a hardware issue. By the 3rd test, I'm seeing the flickering pixels. In the middle of the 4th test, my PC locks up. I reboot and run it again, same thing.
I clean out the inside of my PC, getting dust out of my heatsink and the fans on my video cards. Problem persists.
This morning, I decide to run error checking on my HD. I check off to fix errors as they come up and to recover bad sectors. It insists that I reboot my computer and it will run then. I do so. Everything seems to be going fine, I get to the "Windows XP Professional" loading scrollbar, it finishes loading.
And then nothing. Just a black screen.
I reboot, same thing happens. Again, same thing. I leave it on the black screen for 5, 10, 15 minutes, no change.
I put in my Windows XP CD and boot from it, and go to the recovery console. I run chkdsk, it tells me that there are one or more bad sectors on my HD. I run chkdsk /R in an attempt to recover them, the process runs to 65% and then randomly decides to reboot.
Loading Windows XP. Black.
I finally remember how to boot in safe mode. I get the DOS scroll of loading suchand such partition etc etc, and then nothing. I'm just staring at loading code and safe mode refuses to load.
That's where I am. I have no idea wtf is going on, I just want my PC back. Please help.
3DS FC: 2079-6424-8577 | PSN: KaeruX65 | Steam: Karulytic | FFXIV: Wonder Boy
Grundlestiltskin on
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CHESS!
I'm just wondering if the heat issue is connected to the installation of the sound card. It was a bit cramped because both video cards take up two slots, and I have a wireless card installed as well. The sound card is probablying about half an inch from the video card and its fan.
The CPU also runs really hot. At peak it hits around 55 degrees celsius.
Current thought: Still thinking heat issue, not sure how extensive/permanent the damage from that is. You said "both video cards." If you're on an SLI/Crossfire setup, try pulling one of the cards and yank the PCI soundcard for now to open up the airflow in the case and see if one/both of the cards crapped out. Hopefully that's all it is (as opposed to the entire system taking a crap) and you can go to town fixing the heat issues in the system if that's what's actually going on.
CHESS!
I was going to swap the cards and see if that fixed it, but I couldn't seem to get either card out of its PCI-E slot.
Currently my setup is Wireless card PCI, Sound card PCI, empty PCI (videocard takes up this space), video card PCI-E, video card PCI-E. I think the topmost videocard is the one with the monitor hooked up, and that's not the one that's cramped by the sound card. I'm at a loss.
If the cards are bridged I think either card can blow and cause problems, not just the one hooked to the monitor. I still say try pulling one card, then try the other if it still won't boot up. What's giving you trouble with removing the cards?
Edit: I'm going to class! Post system specs and stuff at this point, could be helpful in troubleshooting the problem.
CHESS!
There seems to be some sort of release on the motherboard that I can't figure out. It's like a white plastic clip.
This is the mobo
It's also probably worth mentioning that my chipset fan was causing problems a few months ago, so I disconnected it.
Also, looking at that picture shows me what I was missing about the release. That helps.
...
That was probably not an excellent idea.
So..... uh.. Since it's been 9 hours, any luck swapping out cards n' stuff?
CHESS!
I'm currently running a virus scan on that drive. I'm also trying to find a Western Digital Diagnostic that's actually useful.
A fried chipset will explain why the video is off, the sound was going bad, and your Windows installation appearing to be bad.
Sounds like its time to get a new motherboard. You may want to look at a new case that has better cooling too.
So I ended up setting up windows on my backup HD. I went and installed the latest drivers for my videocard and chipset and rebooted it. After XP loaded up the monitor shut down. When I rebooted, it wouldn't recognize my keyboard. This is all on the new HD. I finally got it to recognize the keyboard and load under the last known working configuration, but this is a bit alarming.
I had unplugged the chipset fan because it was broken and mkaing a ton of noise, and that was the advice I got on this forum at the time. Would putting in a new motherboard be a huge issue? Could I move all of my components without a fuss? Using a ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe right now, socket 939.
Newegg has that model of motherboard open-box for $60, or you could shop around and get a brand new board that's compatible with all your gear for around 100-150. (disclaimer) No guarantees, however, that this will fix the problem, it's just what people on an internet forum think might do it. (end disclaimer) If you decide to try it, some of us here can probably help you with any tricky bits that come up.
CHESS!
Yep, now windows won't even load. Sweet.
Try booting with bare bones devices (removing any network cards, sound cards, video cards if your motherboard has onboard video) etc. This can sometimes help you pinpoint the problem.
Sorry if some of this was covered above, I skimmed and wasn't sure what was still relevant based on what you'd done.
Put the mobo back in. I took the old chipset fan off, added new thermal paste/tape to the chipset, and stuck a new fan to the board.
It's running fine now, and the graphical distortions I was experiencing in WoW are pretty much gone. I was still crashing though, which I've since attributed to two audio systems (card and on-board) trying to run at the same time. I removed one and haven't had any problems yet. Crossing my fingers.
Now? Every few hours my sound cuts out completely to a high pitched whine. It doesn't go away till I reboot.
O_o