Curse

sacred_petra · Dec 01, 2010, 01:36 AM // 01:36

I've been looking to get back into guild wars after two years of due to computer trouble, so I recently bought a new laptop. I'm not the most knowledgeable about computers or a hardcore gamer, but I bought the one that seemed like it should be able to handle the type of gaming I do with no problem, but I can't get any of my games to install on the new computer. I'm planning on taking it back, but I'm curious whether y'all think this sounds like a software issue or a hardware issue, especially as that will change my apporach with the store.

The computer I bought is a Toshiba Satellite A665-S6094. Its got an Intel Core i7 processor, Windows 7 64-bit, with a Nvidia GeForce 310M.

Whenever I try and install games (Guild Wars and Spore so far) it blue screens, tells me there's a: system_service_exception then it runs a crash dump and requires me to force restart it.

Does this sound like a hardware problem, a software problem, or did I just buy a computer thats not going to be able to handle gaming? I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
Thanks

Stoney Malloney · Dec 01, 2010, 02:55 AM // 02:55

Well, your PC should be able to run most games well, the graphics card is a rather decent one, not outstanding but most certainly it should be able to easily process this game's graphics. Moreover, a bluescreen is something I usually encounter together with defective hardware (read as in broken memory and/or broken hard disks). It could be a software issue but you can easily check this by trying a different hard disk and or checking your memory. Usually people have 2 or more memory chipsets in their PC, just remove one, see if problem persists, if it does, change to other, see if it persists, if it does it either means both of em are defect or it means the problem is elsewhere.

However, always update your video cards driviers & direct x, this might sound a bit cheesy, but it might fix a problem every now and then.

But, from the way I look at this issue, bluescreen + crashdump -> hardware defect.

My friend had his laptop, he had small collision with other cyclist, his laptop took a hit, the moving parts in his hard disk permanently damaged his actual 'disks/moving parts' and it gave bluescreens every now and then (but still far too often to not be bothered by it), when I put my HD in his laptop, the problem was gone...

See if you can fix this problem by swapping parts between laptops. Or you can just take it to the store. However it may be useful to pinpoint problem exactly, my experience with repairs done by stores is that you have to tell them exactly what to do otherwise itll take three times for them to fix it right anyways...

Don't do anything that voids your warranty though, it's always a better idea to take it to store then, better safe than sorry aye?

Elder III · Dec 01, 2010, 01:50 PM // 13:50

If you bought it from a store then they ought to fix or replace it at no cost to you, providing it is still under warranty. Of course they might take 2 weeks to 2 months to actually fix and get it back to you, so I would try whatever I could without voiding the warranty first.

Quaker · Dec 01, 2010, 03:39 PM // 15:39

I agree with the general consensus here. First of all, that laptop is more than capable of playing games. Secondly, if you can install non-game apps, like Firefox for example, with no problem, then the problem is probably either with the video driver or the video hardware. If the drivers are properly installed, then it's most likely a hardware fault and I suggest you take the laptop back to where you got it and exchange it for a new one, if it's still under warranty.

Btw, if you can't install Firefox or other non-games apps either, than the laptop is definitely screwed up. I'm not ruling out problems with the system install, though, so make sure that you have installed the OS and drivers properly.

sacred_petra · Dec 01, 2010, 05:00 PM // 17:00

Thanks for your help y'all. The computer is only a few days old so its definitely still under warranty, and since we paid extra to get a laptop that had been tested and updated by the store, I'm going to ask that they replace the computer, rather than mess with repairing it.

Malice Black · Dec 01, 2010, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Reinstall GPU drivers and run memtest.