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[zon]

As the title says, I have some real trouble getting this problem fixed and really need some help. It started happening four days ago and nothing I've done has worked so far. What happens is that my screen goes black and the sound loops the same half-second or so for maybe 10 seconds before it stops and the computer freezes. As soon as the screen goes black I can't do anything, the computer won't respond at all except for a reset/shutdown.

My computer could do this even when it was idle or when it was booting up at first, but now it only seems to happen when I start games.

These are my specs:

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (SP2)
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5E Deluxe
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC 2x2048MB DDR2 PC2-8500 1066MHz
Graphics card: Sapphire HD4870X2 2GB
Hard drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB + 2 WD Caviar Green 750GB
Power supplyt: Cooler Master Real Power Modular 1000W
Other components: Samsung SH-S223Q/RSMN and Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music

All the components (except the soundcard) is only 13-14 months old.

At first I thought it was a heat issue, I checked the cpu cooler and removed all the dust from it but that didn't help. I've also checked the temperatures on my cpu and graphics card when I've had a game running and the temperatures are normal.

I've tried to repair Vista but that didn't help either.

I've checked for viruses/malware/spyware. Avira found a trojan which I removed. After the trojan was removed my computer stopped having these crashes when it was idle, and now it only happens when I start a game. Instead of crashing/freezing when I start the computer, it might restart sometimes when it tries to load windows and says it could not start windows properly. But it starts up after a couple of tries and works fine until I start a game.

I've also checked my power supply, in case it somehow doesn't give enough power anymore, and saw this:

Is it normal that the +12V is so low?


Any ideas at all what to do? I have two things left I can think of to do, use memtest and then do a clean reinstall of vista, but after that I'm out of options. I really need some help to figure out what's wrong.

 

[RJT]

I was going to suggest a clean reinstall...

 

[godhandiscen]

Run furmark, it will test your videocard.
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Also, after you restart do you see a message telling you what was the problem with your PC? I have never seen a plain black screen.

Yes, try memtest86, and let it go for at least one pass.

 

[zon]

Run furmark, it will test your videocard.
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Also, after you restart do you see a message telling you what was the problem with your PC? I have never seen a plain black screen.

Yes, try memtest86, and let it go for at least one pass.

I get no message at all after I restart other than regular "the computer did not quit properly, choose a mode to start the computer in". It sounds like a typical case of overheating but I've monitored the temperatures for ages and they're always normal.

I'll run furmark and memtest tomorrow, if they can't find anything I'll do a clean reinstall of Vista. I'll post here to let ya'll know how it goes.

 

[Alts]

I had similar issues a little over a year ago (as well as some really garbled blue screens). It turned out that I had some bad RAM. Memcheck did not find it (after a few passes). I only came to this conclusion by removing things one by one until it stopped failing a particularly stressful task. Good luck.

 

[wolfmat]

My money's on bad RAM, memtest has been suggested already, so go that route ASAP

Also, try to find out which RAM module it is by testing them one after the other (take the ones out that you're not testing)

Edit: Be aware that memtest doesn't report correctly in some cases; it usually finds faulty RAM, the thing is that the reported address often enough isn't correct. So you really have to take RAM modules out and test them one after another. Just in case you didn't know this.

 

[brain_stew]

I had similar issues a little over a year ago (as well as some really garbled blue screens). It turned out that I had some bad RAM. Memcheck did not find it (after a few passes). I only came to this conclusion by removing things one by one until it stopped failing a particularly stressful task. Good luck.

Its something so obvious but its almost always the best way to diagnose a hardware fault.

Try booting with the absolute minimum amount of hardware hooked up. If it works, then keep adding hardware and testing until it crashes again.

As others have said Memtest is your first port of call. I wouldn't rule out a software issue either, so look into doing a clean install of Windows, its about time you upgraded to W7 anyway!

 

[practice02]

Driver updates?

 

[SundaySounds]

nvm. bad idea.

 

[zon]

I let memtest do 7 full passes, in total it ran for 6½ hours. It didn't find a single error, so my RAM is ok.

I tried Furmark but my computer went nuts as soon as I pressed the "Go!" button. Screen went black and the fan on the graphics card started to spin like crazy. It refused to do anything when I tried to restart it, it started up but the screen was black and not even the hdd light on the chassi showed any activity. I had to reseat the graphics card to get the computer working again. This really sucks if it's my graphics card that's busted, I have no income and the most expensive component in my PC breaks 2 months after the warranty is up.

I'll do a clean reinstall of Vista now, if this doesn't help I'm screwed.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

I let memtest do 7 full passes, in total it ran for 6½ hours. It didn't find a single error, so my RAM is ok.

I tried Furmark but my computer went nuts as soon as I pressed the "Go!" button. Screen went black and the fan on the graphics card started to spin like crazy. It refused to do anything when I tried to restart it, it started up but the screen was black and not even the hdd light on the chassi showed any activity. I had to reseat the graphics card to get the computer working again. This really sucks if it's my graphics card that's busted, I have no income and the most expensive component in my PC breaks 2 months after the warranty is up.

I'll do a clean reinstall of Vista now, if this doesn't help I'm screwed.

It might not be the card, but you should know that Sapphire has a 2 year warranty for all video cards, so if the component is only 13-14 months old as you stated then you can still contact Sapphire through email or phone call about an RMA. The only problem is that you'll have to wait a while to get your card back, since you send the card to Taiwan I think. It's around a month turn-around time.

FYI, the first 12 months is covered by the retail store that you purchased the video card from and the next 12 months is covered by Sapphire.

You might want to get a multimeter and test out your power supply. The voltage on the 12v rail is pretty low and it's close to going below the acceptable voltage levels. The software isn't accurate though. Only using a multimeter or looking at the bios monitor would give you an accurate reading.

 

[Struct09]

All games, or just one in particular?

 

[larvi]

Before doing a complete reinstall do you have any system restore points from the time it was last working that you could go back to?

 

[zon]

It might not be the card, but you should know that Sapphire has a 2 year warranty for all video cards, so if the component is only 13-14 months old as you stated then you can still contact Sapphire through email or phone call about an RMA. The only problem is that you'll have to wait a while to get your card back, since you send the card to Taiwan I think. It's around a month turn-around time.

FYI, the first 12 months is covered by the retail store that you purchased the video card from and the next 12 months is covered by Sapphire.

You might want to get a multimeter and test out your power supply. The voltage on the 12v rail is pretty low and it's close to going below the acceptable voltage levels. The software isn't accurate though. Only using a multimeter or looking at the bios monitor would give you an accurate reading.

Good to know about the video card, thanks. That's a big relief even though I would have to wait for a month (if it's the card that's broken). And I'll check in BIOS to know the exact voltage levels.

All games, or just one in particular?

All games, both new and old. It even crashes in Neverwinter Nights, and that's almost 8 years now.

Before doing a complete reinstall do you have any system restore points from the time it was last working that you could go back to?

I tried system restore before I did the repair thing on Vista, it didn't help.

Ok, now I'll start the reinstall, bbl.

 

[Malio]

Take out or turn off components one by one, do a restart and try to play a game. Disable the sound card in device manager, reboot, try to play. Uninstall your video driver, use standard vga, reboot, try to play, etc. etc. That way you can start eliminating devices as problems. RAM will be a little tougher, take out 1 stick, reboot, try to play. Keep going by process of elimination.

My guess is sound, video or RAM. It's usually one of those issues.

 

[zon]

Reinstalling Vista seems to have fixed the problem, I haven't had a crash since I reinstalled.

I'm so relieved right now.

 

[brain_stew]

I let memtest do 7 full passes, in total it ran for 6½ hours. It didn't find a single error, so my RAM is ok.

I tried Furmark but my computer went nuts as soon as I pressed the "Go!" button. Screen went black and the fan on the graphics card started to spin like crazy. It refused to do anything when I tried to restart it, it started up but the screen was black and not even the hdd light on the chassi showed any activity. I had to reseat the graphics card to get the computer working again. This really sucks if it's my graphics card that's busted, I have no income and the most expensive component in my PC breaks 2 months after the warranty is up.

I'll do a clean reinstall of Vista now, if this doesn't help I'm screwed.

Sounds like either the PSU or GPU to me, if its not a software issue ofcourse.

Reinstalling Vista seems to have fixed the problem, I haven't had a crash since I reinstalled.

I'm so relieved right now.

Seriously? Weird, but great news, and I should probably read all replies before I make my own in future!

 

[RJT]

Reinstalling Vista seems to have fixed the problem, I haven't had a crash since I reinstalled.

I'm so relieved right now.

Glad to hear that! We all love PC gaming, but dealing with hardware component issues can make you go crazy...

 

[zon]

Seriously? Weird, but great news, and I should probably read all replies before I make my own in future!

Yeah, I think it's a bit weird too but nonetheless I'm happy I managed to fix it. I guess the trojan avira found somehow corrupted windows or it got damaged when I removed the trojan.

Glad to hear that! We all love PC gaming, but dealing with hardware component issues can make you go crazy...

True, stuff like this can really ruin your fun.

On a less serious note, I can't understand why this stuff is never mentioned whenever a PC vs Console argument starts. All the weird issues you can have with a PC is the biggest drawback by far.


Thanks everybody who tried to help.

 

[zon]

Well... it started happening again. Things had been ok for 24 hours and then it started again. Ugh.


Checked the voltage in BIOS now and it was fine, the +12V was 12.2.