computator troubles
polycounter lvl 18
Okay, so I know the real problem here is that my computer is four years old (which is about 110 in computer years), but I don't have the money to replace it right now.
It's been acting weird lately. A few days ago, it started to not recognize the soundcard, and almost every time I booted up I would have to reinstall the soundcard drivers. I figured the soundcard was dieing, so I removed it and used the motherboard's sound instead. That solved the problem temporarily, but now it's having another problem. Every time I boot up now, my monitor doesn't get any signal. I thought maybe I had knocked my videocard loose, or maybe my monitor was slowly dieing, but I came to find out that it was something to do with the RAM. If I take out my RAM, and then rotate which slot each stick is in, everything starts up as normal... but I have to do this EVERY time I start up my computer.
After I do this, everything seems to work as normal, but I have some serious concerns about what's going on. What the hell would cause something like this? It doesn't make any sense to me that I just move my RAM around and it starts working again, but it works. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?
It's been acting weird lately. A few days ago, it started to not recognize the soundcard, and almost every time I booted up I would have to reinstall the soundcard drivers. I figured the soundcard was dieing, so I removed it and used the motherboard's sound instead. That solved the problem temporarily, but now it's having another problem. Every time I boot up now, my monitor doesn't get any signal. I thought maybe I had knocked my videocard loose, or maybe my monitor was slowly dieing, but I came to find out that it was something to do with the RAM. If I take out my RAM, and then rotate which slot each stick is in, everything starts up as normal... but I have to do this EVERY time I start up my computer.
After I do this, everything seems to work as normal, but I have some serious concerns about what's going on. What the hell would cause something like this? It doesn't make any sense to me that I just move my RAM around and it starts working again, but it works. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?
Replies
Sounds like your motherboard may be slowly dying... do you know anyone with a spare compatible mobo lying around that you could try your CPU and RAM in?
Sounds like your motherboard may be slowly dying... do you know anyone with a spare compatible mobo lying around that you could try your CPU and RAM in?
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That's what I was thinking. I think my roommate may have an old Socket A mobo lying around (which is what this is), but I haven't bothered asking him if I could borrow it yet because I don't want to go through the hassle of putting everything in a new mobo. I have thermal paste on my CPU, so I'd have to clean that off (and I don't have any more paste lying around, so I wouldn't be able to reapply it).
I guess I should do that sometime soon, though. I only hope that my computer doesn't have a major meltdown before I'm able to buy a new one (which is going to be a while). Poor old guy, he's had a tough life
maybe your soundcard has an irq conflict !!!!!!
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But would that cause the problem with moving my RAM around? I don't have the soundcard in there anymore, but it still does the strange thing where the monitor gets no signal until I move the RAM around to different slots.
So I'd try replacing the battery before you swap the motherboard. The battery is just a standard 3volt lithium button cell battery. Usually model number CR2032, you can find them in Walmart and radio shack for like $3-5
http://images.google.com/images?q=cmos%2...sa=N&tab=wi
without warning, i will get a blue screen of death. it just pops up, and i cant get out of it without restarting. any sound playing at the time will loop the same small portion infinitely. it also says something along the lines of "dumping memory" or something and a countup, starting at 0 and going on to whenever i restart. i have no idea how to recreate the problem, sometimes it happens several times per day. sometimes it will happen thne i restart and then it will happen again immediately. other days it wont happen a single time. any help?
I've also got a 45 degree elbow adapter between my fan and heatsink, this supposedly negates a turbulance that normally forms just under the fan. I'm pretty hard core about cooling.
The devices obviously work fine. Re-install whatever OS you are using to validate if it's hardware vs software. If it's still a problem, you know it's the mobo. 2 devices going off and on at random is less likely than teh middle man being the issue.
gimme the mobo specs and i can find a cheap new one for you perhaps.
Also mop, on board sound stalls game performance by about 10 percent. I read an article on it somewhre, somethign to do with bus traffic. just fyi i guess.
There was an issue around the time your motherboard was probably made, where some ass stole a formula from the cap company he was working for, and took it to another company. He then sold the formula to many other companies. The formula that he stole, was wrong though. It builds up hydrogen gas and eventually blows. It can happen instantly, or years down the road. I've had two motherboards with this issue this year. I've replaced the caps and one works great now. The other one had too much damage when the caps went bad (blew some FETs).
You can find info about it online pretty easily. It's not to say that it's your problem, but it could be. Sounds like your motherboard is failing, the question is why.