Somewhat major PC problem

DestroVega

DestroVega

CAGiversary!
I have a Dell machine, one which I upgraded most everything I could because I wanted a computer that would never be slow (at least until it was just so old it had no choice but to be). when my brother first saw the specs, he said "What do you want to do with this thing, launch nukes?"

In any case, I'm only about two years into the machine, and I'm having a serious re-occurring problem and I don't know where to begin to look for a solution to the problem.

I usually leave the computer on, about 4 days ago I came back to my computer and the screen was all messed up, it looked sort of like an old nintendo game where you had to "blow into it" to make it work. So I went to move the mouse and a blue screen flashed on saying some files may have been damaged, windows was experiencing a problem and must restart.

Upon the restart it looked all messed up again, until the Windows logo came on, and everything seemed fine, except for the start up was MUCH slower than normal. I thought maybe it was over with, but after an amount of time the exact same thing happened, this time on restart it prompted me to attempt to repair anything that may have been damaged.

This has basically been happening now throughout. Turn it on, use it for a while, it works fine, leave it on, come back after a while. Messed up.

I have run a virus scan in both normal and safe mode, nothing found. I have system restored to a week before the problem started, problem keeps happening. I've done all the updates.

A few things worth mentioning. One time my McAfee Real Time scanning was off upon restart, I tried turning it on and it keep switching back off, leading me to believe I did have a virus. After going into the settings though, I was able to get it to stay on.

I originally thought it might be the video card, either separating from the board or something else. When in safe mode, instead of a screen saver it did read "no scree saver can be displayed, unless upgraded to Direct3D" or something along those lines.

I currently in the process of moving all my important things to my passport external hard drive in case the whole thing comes crashing down.

So, after all that, does anyone have any idea where I should go from here? It's been a very frustrating situation. Thanks for any help.
 
You say it happens after you leave it on for awhile, so does this usually happen after your computer goes into sleep mode. If so, check your power options to see what shutdowns during sleep mode. Perhaps some of your hardware is not coming back from sleep mode correctly. Also, be sure all your fans are working correctly and your PC is not in a hot area. If it is happening after awhile perhaps it is overheating.
 
I have turned off my screen saver and have been manually shutting off the monitor. it has yet to happen since doing this, I'm gonna try this out and look into your suggestion, thanks.

I did clean out the back with air can, and my house is quite cool and there's is a good amount of space to circulate air flow around the back of the PC. Tons actually.
 
Do you run a screensaver all the time or do you let your monitor go into sleep mode? I haven't ran a screensaver for years, but I just tried the 3d text one and I heard the fans on my graphics card rev up. It's possible you had a heating problem.

LCD monitors don't need screensavers. It's actually better for the monitor and your wallet in terms of power usage to have your monitor go into sleep mode. That way it will display a picture again quickly after you move the mouse or hit something on the keyboard. But you won't be using power to render those awesome flying toasters with the nice shiny environmental reflections.

As for the root of your problem it possible the graphics card, or maybe some RAM is going bad. Though having weird patterns like you described is normal a graphics problem or maybe an issue with your power supply not giving enough power to your graphics card due to the PSU failing.

It is normal for what happened when you were in safe mode. Safe mode doesn't load drivers for all of your hardware which is why it can run if you are having driver problems crash your computer.

It's possible the graphics card might have become loose over time, but unlikely. In any event shutdown remove it and reseating it will remove that variable. Also check to make sure everything is plugged in securely in terms of power cables, sata cables, etc.

You didn't mention trying to play any games after this problem occurred. Try firing something up and see if you can play for an hour or two. You can also grab 3d Mark and have it loop for a few hours to see if you can make your computer crash.
 
Maybe some key Windows files got damaged. Once you're done backing up your data, try reformatting. If the reformat doesnt work, then you'll at least know its one of the components in your PC. If that's the case, you could try the easiest thing, which would be breaking your PC down and re-seating everything.
 
It could be a lot of things. Kinda sounds like an overheating problem if it runs ok for a while. Or it's just a plain old hardware failure in the mobo, power supply, ram, video card, and/or hard drive. Hardware failure wouldn't be too surprising for a 2 year old Dell.

Have you tried running Speedfan to check the temps of your processor and graphic card?
 
[quote name='SScorpio']Do you run a screensaver all the time or do you let your monitor go into sleep mode? I haven't ran a screensaver for years, but I just tried the 3d text one and I heard the fans on my graphics card rev up. It's possible you had a heating problem.

LCD monitors don't need screensavers. It's actually better for the monitor and your wallet in terms of power usage to have your monitor go into sleep mode. That way it will display a picture again quickly after you move the mouse or hit something on the keyboard. But you won't be using power to render those awesome flying toasters with the nice shiny environmental reflections.

As for the root of your problem it possible the graphics card, or maybe some RAM is going bad. Though having weird patterns like you described is normal a graphics problem or maybe an issue with your power supply not giving enough power to your graphics card due to the PSU failing.

It is normal for what happened when you were in safe mode. Safe mode doesn't load drivers for all of your hardware which is why it can run if you are having driver problems crash your computer.

It's possible the graphics card might have become loose over time, but unlikely. In any event shutdown remove it and reseating it will remove that variable. Also check to make sure everything is plugged in securely in terms of power cables, sata cables, etc.

You didn't mention trying to play any games after this problem occurred. Try firing something up and see if you can play for an hour or two. You can also grab 3d Mark and have it loop for a few hours to see if you can make your computer crash.[/QUOTE]

Well I turned the screen saver off and it made it almost over a full day without the problem happening, only to have it happen again. It did go into sleep mode though. I checked all the cables etc. It's definitely something windows itself is experiencing.

[quote name='SEH']Maybe some key Windows files got damaged. Once you're done backing up your data, try reformatting. If the reformat doesnt work, then you'll at least know its one of the components in your PC. If that's the case, you could try the easiest thing, which would be breaking your PC down and re-seating everything.[/QUOTE]

ehhhhh. Reformatting to me is the LAST resort for me. I have little to no interest in doing that. Which sounds dumb? I guess, but that's a major pain in the ass and with how old the machine is, it would be crazy to me to have to do that.

[quote name='TLPRIME']It could be a lot of things. Kinda sounds like an overheating problem if it runs ok for a while. Or it's just a plain old hardware failure in the mobo, power supply, ram, video card, and/or hard drive. Hardware failure wouldn't be too surprising for a 2 year old Dell.

Have you tried running Speedfan to check the temps of your processor and graphic card?[/QUOTE]

How do I run Speedfan? I'll try it. I also think I might still be under extended warranty, I'm going to look for my Dell package that came with it. My last Dell ran almost 5 years without issue, it just gradually slowed to a crawl and then my wife got a crippling virus on it. She no longer uses my computers lol.


Oh, and I don't play games ever on it.
 
Go to your power options under the control panel and put the timer option on when your PC goes to sleep to "NEVER". I suspect your PC is crashing when it tries to come back after sleep mode. Do this and let it go for a day or whatever time frame you need and see if it still crashes. You don't want to leave this option on forever, this is just to see if that is the issue.

Also, as long as you have the recovery disk and an external HDD (which you said you did), reformatting isn't a hard process at all and is actually a good thing to do every once in awhile on a PC.
 
[quote name='TLPRIME']Download speedfan from here http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and then run the program. All it is is a fan controller and monitoring program. It's not going to fix your problem, but it might give you an idea of what it is.[/QUOTE]

is this legit? website looks pretty bootleg.

[quote name='AngryDragon888']Go to your power options under the control panel and put the timer option on when your PC goes to sleep to "NEVER". I suspect your PC is crashing when it tries to come back after sleep mode. Do this and let it go for a day or whatever time frame you need and see if it still crashes. You don't want to leave this option on forever, this is just to see if that is the issue.

Also, as long as you have the recovery disk and an external HDD (which you said you did), reformatting isn't a hard process at all and is actually a good thing to do every once in awhile on a PC.[/QUOTE]

Ok, set it to never, i'll give it the weekend to see what happens, thanks! I just need to backup my music and everything important will be backed up.

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone.
 
Speedfan is legit.


[quote name='DestroVega']ehhhhh. Reformatting to me is the LAST resort for me. I have little to no interest in doing that. Which sounds dumb? I guess, but that's a major pain in the ass and with how old the machine is, it would be crazy to me to have to do that. [/QUOTE]


If you've got your important data backed up, how is reformatting a pain in the ass? You put the Windows disc in, go through the options, then wait for 15-20 minutes. Seems like the simplest option to me rather than downloading dozens of programs and messing with hardware trying to diagnose your issue. If a reformat doesn't work, then you'll immediately know it's a hardware related problem.
 
SpeedFan is a great program, and that's certainly the website. It's best when you're overclocking a machine, and want to watch the temps.
 
[quote name='SEH']If you've got your important data backed up, how is reformatting a pain in the ass? You put the Windows disc in, go through the options, then wait for 15-20 minutes. Seems like the simplest option to me rather than downloading dozens of programs and messing with hardware trying to diagnose your issue. If a reformat doesn't work, then you'll immediately know it's a hardware related problem.[/QUOTE]

doesn't it erase everything I have installed though?
 
[quote name='DestroVega']doesn't it erase everything I have installed though?[/QUOTE]
Yes. It will erase everything on your PC and you will only be left with your OS and whatever apps it had on it from the factory. Like SEH said though, it takes much less time to do this than to try to diagnose some issues. If it still crashes after the reformat, you can be pretty sure it's a hardware issue. After you reformat, all you'll have to do is migrate your data back in from your HDD and reinstall your apps...not really all that time consuming.
 
I recommend opening up your machine, and blowing out all dust with compressed air. You may even want to consider removing all the cards and memory, blowing in compressed air, and then reseating them. Make sure and blow compressed air over the CPUs fan as well as other fans in your case and on your cards.

While my computer has never had any distorted video, it would get extremely loud because the fan was trying to blow air passed a layer of dust. After I blew everything away, it ran pretty well (i.e quietly).

If that doesn't work, then you can start trying things like running with one memory module instead of the other or running without/ with certain cards to isolate the issue.
 
As mentione below you might open the case and check everything inside of it. I've been an IT consultant for seveal years so here are a few things I've seen. Oh, can you also list your full system specs? It helps in diagnosis.

1. You mentioned that it looked like an old nintendo game... what do you mean by this? Did it look like it was artifacting? Random symbols that have no apparent meaning? If this is the case I would suspect it's your video card. If it's your video card just replace it and your should be good to go.

2. Check the thermal paste on CPU, if your comfortable doing so. I've seen the past dry out. One time i opened up a box that kept almost instantly overheating even though everything appeared secure. I removed the CPU can and all the thermal paste had turned into Thermal paper. It slid right off the CPU and I had to reapply.

3. If the machine is 2 years old it's unlikely that your hard drive is going bad. Hard drives have a life span of around a half life of a dog, 5 years or so. That doesn't mean however that it couldn't die sooner. Is the slowness you experience in games? General usage? While surfing adult videos? Where are you experiencing the issue?

4. Drivers? It's possible, I've seenit happen but you mentioned the nintendo effect and generally you don't see that with drivers. That being said it doesn't turn to uninstall all of your video card drivers and reinstall them for good measure. It only takes about 10 minutes. If you need help please feel free to ask and I can walk you through it.

Upon hearing your problems these would be the first few things I would check. If you have any spare hardware I would suggest swapping the video card to make sure that isn't the issue.

It's hard to really give you a perfect diagnosis without physically seeing the machine. It

[quote name='hordak']I recommend opening up your machine, and blowing out all dust with compressed air. You may even want to consider removing all the cards and memory, blowing in compressed air, and then reseating them. Make sure and blow compressed air over the CPUs fan as well as other fans in your case and on your cards.

While my computer has never had any distorted video, it would get extremely loud because the fan was trying to blow air passed a layer of dust. After I blew everything away, it ran pretty well (i.e quietly).

If that doesn't work, then you can start trying things like running with one memory module instead of the other or running without/ with certain cards to isolate the issue.[/QUOTE]
 
I had the same problem on my laptop about a year ago (the fan would get very loud and then the screen turned into a mosaic.)
I managed to snap a picture of it before I replaced the thermal paste:
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad214/jweaver64/DSCF0013.jpg
It typically looked like a corrupted picture file (lots of violet and green squares jumbled around the screen.)

I took it apart, replaced the thermal paste on the GPU and CPU and cleaned the dust out of it, and it's been running fine ever since.
 
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