Implementor Volgathras Posted April 22, 2016 Implementor Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Hey fellas, So the last time I came to you guys for help, about my cat's chronic renal failure, the consensus was put him down. He's happy and healthy kicking the shit out of everyone else's cat. This time it's about my computer, but if you tell me to put a shotgun to it you're only confirming my suspicions that you want to see the world burn. The issue is the computer will lock up, sometimes going blue screen of death before shutting down and rebooting. It'll freeze when working (I have two instances of Word Processor open, firefox browser with a few tabs, and translation software), and when gaming (primarily League of Legends). I have an intel i7, AMD Radeon HD 7900 x2 crossfire, 16 gb ram, running a fake version of windows 7 (I do not condone theft, I literally had no other option). I've had it checked by three different IT teams, which have given me three different diagnoses. Ultimately nothing came from it (the second group told me my amd card was bad, so I splurged for a THIRD and the problem still happens. fuckers) I've defragged, sys checked, checked registries, etc and nothing fixes the problem. I'd rather eat a revolver than send it off to another group of brainless turds who are only going to deny me my work computer for a week and then tell me nothing's wrong. For those of you who have had similar problems or are part of the IT field, give it your best shot - consider this a challenge. As an aside, the HD inputs for my cards do not appear to work, and before I could dual-monitor but now it won't recognize it. Just some extra info, dunno if it's related. Thanks guys, v Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naruthiron Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Are you using an SLI bridge? Are your video card drivers up to date? When did this start happening? Did you make any changes in the days leading up to the first time this issue occurred? Most likely it's a driver issue with your card. Your driver may be corrupted, or it may not be recognizing that the port on your card is active. Can you verify that the issue persists if you revert your driver to an older version? What is the version of your video card driver? What's the error code generated by the BSOD? By "does not recognize [dual monitor]" - Displays nothing at all, or displays the same thing as your main monitor? Are both cards having the same issue with the HD port? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ithric Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 I used to work for gateway and also run a computer repair business of my own. Generally blue screen results from hard drive failure and rarely video card failure. If the problem is persistent try connecting your monitor to the motherboard video slot. It runs independent from your purchased card. If no problem, it's not your video card. Reformat your computer and reinstall windows. If you have errors during install it's your hard drive failing. If the problem persists after install it's 90% your hard drive needs replace 10% your motherboard is failing. A new HD will cost $50-150 wwe.newegg.com. if you purchase a new HD and the issue remains it's the motherboard. Unfortunately there isn't an exact science to determine which part is failing. It's more of a trial and error in narrowing down which part is causing the conflict. By taking these steps I can tell you which part is bad based on the outcome. Keep me posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celerity Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 (edited) Just to be clear, check out the software-side as Naru has already suggested first. If you think it is a hardware issue: It could be as simple as some RAM going bad. Random errors are often attributed to the power supply and memory. You can easily and freely check your memory using this tool: http://www.memtest86.com/ Testing the power supply is a little tougher, and lacking electrical tools or another swap it out with, just bring it to a shop and they'll probably test it for you for free. That's what I ended up doing in China to eliminate my power supply as an issue (turned out to be my GPU). You basically want to make sure you are getting a steady (and correct!) voltage. If you are lucky, you might spot something strange by looking at voltages in your BIOS screen. You can test the HDD(s) for free using: http://www.hdtune.com/ You can be pretty sure it isn't the GPU because you've swapped it. That leaves the motherboard/CPU which are also very difficult to test outside of swapping them. I'd test the memory, then the HDD, then try the power supply if it comes to that. There are other signs to look for as well. For example, check out temperatures using http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/ and also just clean out your fans (case, power supply, and GPU fans). It could just be something laughably easy as cleaning the fan. For instance, many video cards automatically shut down (causing a blue screen) if they can't regulate a safe temperature. If you are having heat problems, then you are much more likely to have a CPU/motherboard problem. If you don't, those are quite unlikely. Of course, this is assuming it is hardware and not just a driver issue. It seems to have trouble under load, so again, check out your memory, HDD, and temperature/fans for free first. If you are over/underclocked (RAM/cpu/gpu), reset that stuff to standard. Oh, and another thought--> If you bought the machine/components in China, check to make sure they are what is printed on them. You could be having problems because you have drivers for something you think you have, but you don't. Edited April 22, 2016 by Celerity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortal Zoichan Posted April 22, 2016 Immortal Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Did you try turning it off,waiting 30 seconds, then back on again? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naruthiron Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Video card errors can most certainly result in BSODs, Ithric. No disrespect meant. Hard drive failures actually occur far less than other causes of BSODs, and would not result in Volg's other symptoms. More often than not, a bad driver is put out for the GPU, and auto-updates. The driver (being crappy) fails and generates stop errors or unhandled exceptions, and Windows terminates to protect its system files from corruption. Alternatively the driver file may just need to be removed and downloaded again due to corruption. Hard Drive failures would present a whole slew of other failures - and most likely would have resulted in total system failure by now. Files would be unreadable or missing, Windows components (like updates and indexing) would fail. The paging file would be flagged for errors because its no longer the proper size. The MBR would become damaged, settings would be lost. Generally speaking, it would make itself known by now. But the only evidence to support the notion of a hard drive failure is the BSOD itself, which is not specific to HDDs at all. Bad memory would most often result in a POST failure. Memory checks are standard. It could be the motherboard, perhaps a damaged capacitor or something along those lines. Most likely not the CPU, I can count the amount of times I've seen a CPU go bad without tanking the whole system on one hand in 10 years of working service desk support. Again, none of these (outside potentially the motherboard's slots failing...but you'd also see a ton of other problems) would cause a hardware failure in the video cards (like your HD port failing to recognize). 99% of the time, its a small, simple fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magick Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 If it's freezing up on you, try some thermite. Thaw it out quite quickly. In fact, thermite can solve pretty much all of those problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmm Coffee Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Get a Mac. Run windows via Vmware Fusion. All current and future problems resolved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Why not reinstall your windows? It's a bit cumbersome, but as someone earlier mentioned, hardware failures don't occur that often so my guess is on the software side. Starting fresh seems to be the least time consuming options IMO, since in the end you can sped a few days checking every little bit and still can't pin point the problem. At least if you fresh install and the problem keeps occurring you will know for sure its a hardware problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Implementor Volgathras Posted May 12, 2016 Author Implementor Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Thanks for the hlep guys. Had everything checked, ran a temp check, checked the hd, redid drivers... still same problem. Guess I'm just going to have to buy a new version of windows when i get the cash. I'll check in again once I've done that. Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Voodoo Doll Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 did you blow on the cartridge? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mali Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 I'm with Foxx. Get an external hd and boot the computer in safe mode. Back up your important files. Then, format the hd and reinstall windows. This happened to me after a virus infected a registry file. Malwarebytes (which sucks) removed the registry file. A reinstall of the OS fixed it. I use windows defender and hitman pro now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 Oh and by the way, never use an antivirus program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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