Curse

Maakaan · Jul 07, 2006, 02:15 PM // 14:15

Ok, a couple of years ago my brother bought a computer. At the time, i believe it was considered to be a decent piece of hardware, although I do realize that it's getting old. However, about 1 1/2 years ago it started acting wierd. My current game that I was playing was Neverwinter Nights, which was a very buggy game. At first it was only the game that crashed, leaving this windows message telling me to send an error rapport to Bioware (The producer). Then, later, it started crashing more seriously, f. ex. the computer just restarting, or the screen going black.

Now, for about half a year (The time I've been playing GW), the most annoying types of crashes has all happened to me. I'll explain shortly what happens.

1: My screen freezes, and I wait for a few seconds. THen the screen 'restarts, and the game starts running again. A message appears telling me that my video driver has been restarted or something like that.

For this I have tried to update my video drivers, but it doesn't seem to help.

2: My screen either freezes, or is set to stand-by, without getting back to normal.

I don't know anything about computers, so my only solution to this is to restart.

3: My screen is set to stand-by, and this mechanic sound appears in my speakers, sounding like the 'wrong answer' sound on Jeopardy (The question-program on TV)

Again, don't know anything about computers, solution is to restart comnputer as fast as possible before the sound drives me crazy.

4: My screen is filled with stripes, either vertical or horizontal, with lots of colors. The mechanic sound also appears in my speakers.

5: Guildwars continue to run normally, except that the screen is covered in vertical stripes. Although transparent, they are very noticable, and annoying. Also, The screen is divided into two parts. The large part is what would normally be on the left side of the screen, but that is now moved to the right. The part that would normally be on the left side is moved to the right. It is still possible to play with this crash, but only long enough that you can find an outpost or so and restart.

I am out of options. I turned the computer in to a local computer shop, and they searched it, but didn't find anything wrong with it. I have defragmented it. I have ran virus checks and anti-spyware checks on it. I don't know what to do.

My video card is a 'ATI RADEON 9600PRO (256mb)'
My sound card is a 'CREATIVE SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital'
My mainboard is a 'NVIDIA K7N2(delta Series) MS-6570 (v1.X) ATX mainboard'
I know nothing about what processor I have, other than it is a 1.8GHz one.
Not sure about the RAM either, but I know it's 512mb.

One thing that just crossed my mind was that it is a ATI video card and a NVIDIA mainboard, but if they weren't compatible, the comnputer wouldn't start, would it?

Please help, I need it...

Maakaan.

Samuel Dravis · Jul 07, 2006, 02:40 PM // 14:40

Yeah, you should make sure your onboard video is disabled in your BIOS, and then I think you should switch out your video card with a friends or something to test if it's that.

Homeworld2 is a sweet game.

cannonfodder · Jul 07, 2006, 02:46 PM // 14:46

Ok, where to start.......

PC shutting down is possible a heat related problem, graphics card and/or processor is getting too hot, and shutting down to protect itself. Download and use Everest http://en.utilidades-utiles.com/download-everest.html

there is a sensor option that will detect your temps.

The noise you have is from the cpu, it is either a) dying, or b) overheating.

The graphical gliches are also either of the above, 9600pro dying or overheating.

You could go to the manufacturers site for ATI card, motherboard chipset, directx and update your drivers, but in my opinion heat is your problem, try cleaning the dust from inside your case, re-apply new thermal paste on you processor, add more or new case fans.

Also the last point you make about an ATI card and nvidia motherboard, this is fine whatever anyone may have told you, they are 100% compatible.

Good luck, or it may be time for a new *POOTA*

EDIT- If you can take it to another shop for a second opinion

Skuld · Jul 07, 2006, 03:01 PM // 15:01

Looking at the title my advice was going to be "go to bed then"

GloryFox · Jul 07, 2006, 03:09 PM // 15:09

Did you try a different monitor?

nomercy · Jul 07, 2006, 03:13 PM // 15:13

"2: My screen either freezes, or is set to stand-by, without getting back to normal. "

I remember this happened to me not long ago (hardly a month ago), my monitor kept saying "Power saving enabled, the monitor will shut down in a few seconds." After that, my monitor went in standby mode and there was NO way it would get out. And the comp itself was still fine, seeing as my music was still going on (comp. didn't froze) and I could hear the MSN sounds of someone saying something.

I bought a new Motherboard/Processor and it worked again. It was most likely the Processor but I needed a new Motherboard anyway, mine was 6 years old

.

Gorebrex · Jul 07, 2006, 03:18 PM // 15:18

I also wouldve said it seems heat related. Bring up display properties, click on Settings tab, then click Advanced, go to ATI Tab(been awhile since I gad one, IDK what its called), then see if theres a place that shows cards teperature. Also, ask your brother if he's overclocking the card. If so, set it back to defaults. If there's no overclocking, check ATI support page (heres some links https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...asp?deptID=894 (general questions), https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...ge&folderID=27 (drivers) https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...ge&folderID=27 (reporting problems))first, if it doesnt help, contact ATI supportl, tell them the symptoms, that you have latest drivers, the system info you posted(find out what kind of processor and memory you have also, thats real important), and are unsure as to cause.

Maakaan · Jul 07, 2006, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Okay, thank a lot guys. I will follow all your advices (Trust me, after all this time i will try anything to make it work properly), and hopefully some of them will work.

One thing, though... You, gorebrex, are talking about 'overlocking'. I don't know if this is a language problem I am having because of me not having english as first language and therefore not understanding it that well, but I actually have no idea what that is... Not to be rude, but could you please care to explain? Also, I tried what you said about entering the Desplay properties, although it doesn't appear the way you talked about. When i click on the ATI tab, all I get is a shortcut to the ATI Catalyst Control Center. And I can't find any place showing temperatures there.

As for the RAM and Processor, I can't find the boxes and manuals for them, and I haven't get the guts to open up my computer and touch anything (Afraid I might break something), but I did to go the 'show system information' on 'My Computer', and there it says I have a:
AMD Athlon(tm)XP 2500+
1,83 GHz, 512 mg RAM

i don't know if RAM and processor is the same device, but at the moment (Until I talk to my brother), this is as much information as I can manage to provide you.

And yes, homeworld 2 is a great game!

Thorinfire · Jul 07, 2006, 04:56 PM // 16:56

That machine isn't that bad and should run GW with no problems. If you can't figue it out maybe its best to take it into a shop because some thing is obviously wrong with something or else that machine would run GW fine.

I have that same processor (AMD FTW!!!!!!) and a much older 128K video card and it runs GW just fine.

Alias_X · Jul 07, 2006, 04:57 PM // 16:57

If he brought the computer to a store and got it checked, I bet they checked the parts for heat damage. Sure, this problem sounds like it might be related to overheating, but lets no push the all too happy overheating button too soon.

What sort of tests did they run on the computer?

Ram can cause a lot of weird problems and crashes, so it is hard to tell if this is the problem or not, but I would like to think overheating isn't the problem, to narrow down our option, and this is our next step. Download a freeware memory testing program and run it for a while, see if it finds any errors.

Alias_X · Jul 07, 2006, 04:59 PM // 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorinfire

That machine isn't that bad and should run GW with no problems. If you can't figue it out maybe its best to take it into a shop because some thing is obviously wrong with something or else that machine would run GW fine.

I have that same processor (AMD FTW!!!!!!) and a much older 128K video card and it runs GW just fine.

He already took it to a shop.

cannonfodder · Jul 07, 2006, 05:49 PM // 17:49

What he described is most likely overheating, graphical artifacts, either overheating or card dying, ie card dying due to overheating maybe. Case alarm before shutdown most likely will be cpu failure, probably due to heat. And no I am not a "overheating" fanboy

. As the OP is not familiar with overclocking that probably aint the cause. Testing the memory is a very good idea, but bad memory would not cause artifacting to the extent he describes. Most memory problems result in a blue screen and restart.

The PC is quite old, so it may have accumulated alot of dust in the fans inside, first port of call would be clean up the insides and update the drivers.

erick5876 · Jul 08, 2006, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Heh. First mistake: you took it to a repair shop. I hate to say it, but after working in the industry, I have found that unless you know what you're talking about when you come to them, they will do their very best to screw you over. Many of my co-workers quit jobs because their employers wanted them to completely screw customers. If you can't get it fixed with a bit of help from the people on the forum, I'd ask a friend. Or a friend of your parent's. Anything but a repair shop.

Overclocking is a modification you can make to your processor to make it faster. You trade off this increased performance for an increase in heat. I don't reccomend it if you don't know what you're doing. If you are interested in reading a little more about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overclock

Don't be afraid to open up that box, and see what makes it tick! Computer's aren't as fragile as they're made out to be. The main thing you need to worry about is static electricity. Unplug the computer from the wall, and ground yourself by touching a piece of metal (such as a door-knob) before opening it up, and you should be fine.

The problem sounds to me like a hardware issue. If you took it to the shop, and they were honest with you, and didn't find any problem, it very well might be the monitor going out. I doubt the main system is over-heating. Your graphics card might be though. Try running it with the computer case open. You may be able to feel where the heat is coming from. There should be a square grill-looking thing that might have a fan on top. That is the Heat-sink which is over the processor. The 4-5 inch long circuit boards that are held in by pinchers on either end are the ram. The video card is what your monitor plugs into.

The last thing I can think of is bit-rot. It's what happens to computers as they age, and wear out. Sometimes formatting the hard drive, and re-installing Windows can help the problem, but I'd leave that as a last resort.

Gorebrex · Jul 08, 2006, 05:33 AM // 05:33

I doubt its bit rot, as he said his brother bought it only a couple years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorinfire

That machine isn't that bad and should run GW with no problems. If you can't figue it out maybe its best to take it into a shop because some thing is obviously wrong with something or else that machine would run GW fine.

I have that same processor (AMD FTW!!!!!!) and a much older 128K video card and it runs GW just fine.

Yeah, thats MUCH older! Whats it from, the 60's?