Computer Spec Help ! (crashes randomly)
polycounter lvl 9
Whats up polycount people !!!!!!!
I know very little when it comes to computer specs so bare with me, any feedback would be amazing please and thanks !
background info... got a virus on the computer - thing had pop ups and freezing troubles to the point that it wouldnt even get past the windows xp loading screen with the blue bar, so I had the entire thing wiped clean and everything reinstalled from scratch, still had issues with it freezing at startup but everything else was back to normal, sent it back to the guy who built it, he said power supply was faulty, got it replaced and now instead of freezing at startup it waits and randomly freezes in the middle of whatever im doing, example this is my third time trying to post this (only having firefox open) but other days it will run with maya working for a few hours before cutting me off.
I was away at school while my computer was at home awaiting the new power supply, so now im done college and in need of this damn computer so I can get a job lol
before I send it back to the guy who built it (a friend of my dad, not some random) I was wondering if anyone here notices anything obviously wrong with it or had any ideas of what the hell is going on :P
(any other specs you need let me know)
System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3
Processor: AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor 2.50 GHz
RAM: 3.25 GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Power Supply: ATX-JV650W
I know very little when it comes to computer specs so bare with me, any feedback would be amazing please and thanks !
background info... got a virus on the computer - thing had pop ups and freezing troubles to the point that it wouldnt even get past the windows xp loading screen with the blue bar, so I had the entire thing wiped clean and everything reinstalled from scratch, still had issues with it freezing at startup but everything else was back to normal, sent it back to the guy who built it, he said power supply was faulty, got it replaced and now instead of freezing at startup it waits and randomly freezes in the middle of whatever im doing, example this is my third time trying to post this (only having firefox open) but other days it will run with maya working for a few hours before cutting me off.
I was away at school while my computer was at home awaiting the new power supply, so now im done college and in need of this damn computer so I can get a job lol
before I send it back to the guy who built it (a friend of my dad, not some random) I was wondering if anyone here notices anything obviously wrong with it or had any ideas of what the hell is going on :P
(any other specs you need let me know)
System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3
Processor: AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor 2.50 GHz
RAM: 3.25 GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Power Supply: ATX-JV650W
Replies
If yes, the first thing I would have checked is the RAM, using the program:
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
Second thing is to perform a System-Check on you Hard-Drives, right click on you HDD, properties, tools, error-checking and enable "Scan for Bad Sectors..." if you get an error telling you to dismount your HDD, just restart your PC and windows should do the checkup just fine.
Other then that, I have no idea what the issue could, did the freezing start RIGHT after the clean install or did it happen after something else?
Trying to think of what else it could be but it most likely isn't your power supply, especially if you're have different problems in different situations. Especially seeing as how it began with that annoying virus
Maybe someone else has had a similar problem?
If you ever notice anything different on your PC, I'd recommend using the system restore point feature...but obviously you couldn't even get to that once you got the virus so...
G3L - good to hear about the power supply, if it was the graphics card wouldn't that just cause the heavy programs to crash and not the entire computer? (ctrl+alt+delete doesn't work either btw, the mouse and keyboard become non responsive)
either way thanks guys for the feedback and especially so fast, if nothing comes up with the RAM or HDD's i'll probably go ahead and reinstall windows but this time wait before i rush into installing my programs
It pretty much cleans out any viruses you have on your HDD, USB's, keys, etc...although that shouldn't be the case considering you formatted...
Did you insert an USB keys which MIGHT have been infected?
Also, if the graphics card was damaged or faulty, it could maybe cause behavior like that, but it being a little older wouldn't. An 8500 GT isn't old enough to have major problems anyway.
update all drivers
control panel - administrative tools - event viewer - system - see if they are any 'errors' and google what those mean, and how to fix
check ram (memtest) run over night
disk check
temp check
(I used to get random bsod - not freezing - it came down to replacing the heat sink paste, not to mention home builds tend to be a shit storm of wires inside - bad for airflow)
If you have access to another computer put swap vid cards (etc), and see if the problem happens on the other one.
If all hardware comes up clean (unlikely, but perhaps possible) back up files, and clean wipe, reinstall windows.
Good Luck
following it up by running System-Checks on all the Hard-Drives, and re checking to update my drivers
Neavah - what would i do for a disk check? and "put swap vid cards"? you mean just switch them out and see what happens?
thanks guys - very very helpful
each pass is going to get MUCH longer :P your in for a looong wait
by disk check I meant scan the hard drive for bad sectors etc. (CHKDSK)
If you have access to another comp/video card you can swap it out, update the new driver and see if the problems still occurs.
you can do this with other untested components as well. (a bonus that your freezing happens so frequently, you can tell sooner)
Basically I would isolate/test every piece of hardware until you find the one causing the problem.
Which reminds, is your graphics card fan spinning? There are some viruses which have been known to hook onto your Graphics Cards Control Panel and screw around with the settings.
OMG is this for real? Can't believe a virus would do that
not sure if i should be happy that i haven't found anything yet or worried that i still haven't found anything yet... but im pretty sure i will just ask the guy who originally built it to look over it again before i start swapping out parts
not much more i can do without ripping apart different components and just so i dont screw that up its time to give the guy who built it a call and hope for the best, only problem now is how long will this take
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP
1) i reinstalled windows and formatted everything etc and the freezing continues, but not as often... its frozen on me while installing maya and the adobe programs, but that was basically it for the past few days then today i decided to use ZBrush the only real program i got installed (i uninstalled the others due to it freezing mid way through) and it seems to crash after a few mins of fooling around with Z - there is that and when i change the material on the model it looks different (darker and sometimes way off) vs the preview of it, but that depends on the model like the default rhino model all the materials look next to black and the default dog they are all a lot darker but not as much so as the rhino
anywayyyyyyyyyys i was hoping this could help narrow down the problem to maybe graphics card? (and no i don't have a spare to swap out, so i wanna ask you guys before i go and buy one) also i took the case side off and it still crashes so its not air flow
2) anyone know how to delete old posts? i know you can edit them but i wanna full out delete them? ..thanks everyone
http://www.troublefixers.com/free-graphic-video-card-benchmark-programs/
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/72255.aspx
Oh and dont worry about deleting posts, gives us all something to read
anybody have any suggestions for a good graphics card? i recently read that some of the higher end "gamer cards" are not necessarily the best cards to use with 3D software (which i had no clue) soooo considering i don't really play games on my pc other then Diablo II and eventually Diablo III
**side note: if my computer still keeps on freezing etc thus ruling out the graphics card as the issue, i will be returning the card to save my money for when i absolutely need to upgrade :P
updated specs:
System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3
Processor: AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor 2.50 GHz
RAM: 3.25 GB
Graphics Card: " ____________?"
Power Supply: GX 750W
Also, you might look at dropping another $50-60 on 4GB of ram and upgrading to an x64 version of Windows if you haven't already. Win7 is proving quite stable, has better support for current hardware and has some nice features that make day to day tasks easier. That combined with 8GB of ram would be a nice performance increase for the investment.