Help me. Comp probs

[Abagadro]

My comp kept freezing and it said it was a video hardware problem.  I rebooted into safe mode and did a restore.  That didn't work. Uninstalled my vid card and reinstalled.  Now won't boot to the desktop and just gets hung up.  I can still boot into safe mode but that is it.

Any suggested next move would be appreciated.

[Trippy]

What do you mean by "uninstalled" and "reinstalled" video card?

Edit: also what video card and OS are you using?

[Abagadro]

In safe mode went into the device manager, display adapters and uninstalled the driver. Then reinstalled.

Running a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 on Win 7 64 bit Home Premium

[Trippy]

If you uninstall in safe mode and reboot can you get to the desktop with the card running in generic XGA/SVGA mode?

Edit: Also can you hear the fan spinning on the video card?

[Abagadro]

Fan is running on the card.

I uninstalled and rebooted. It booted to desktop in what looked like generic display mode. It then automatically installed a driver for the 460.  I didn't restart so now I am sitting at my desktop in VGA mode.

[Trippy]

Does it let you switch the resolution to something higher? Can you turn on Aero-mode?

[Abagadro]

Yes was able to switch resolution and enter Aero mode.

[Trippy]

You can try running dxdiag.exe to see if it finds any issues at that level.

You might as well trying rebooting after that and see if it is able to load the desktop.

If it's still not working you can try running some sort of NVIDIA driver cleaner, though I haven't used one in a long time so I don't know what's decent these days.

Did you recently upgrade your video drivers to play a new game? If not your card may be having hardware issues which is why I asked about the fan.

[Abagadro]

Nope. Won't reboot. Gets hung up with just the word "Welcome" and the little circle that usually has the blue running around it, but it just sits there.

Maybe my card just blew up.

[Trippy]

Maybe though I would try a driver cleaner before giving up on the card.

Another thing is there may be something else interfering with the startup process. Back in safe mode you could try running msconfig and turning off startup items and services.

[Abagadro]

Would it make sense to just reinstall Windows? I don't have that much on this thing.

[Trippy]

Sure if it's not that much work to reinstall what you have on it. Though I still wonder how if it's a software issue it would've gotten into this state.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'd take the RAM and the video card out, check them and their sockets for dust and then carefully reseat them.  I ran a vacuum over my video card about 18 months ago when it started playing up, but it was either that or a buy new one.

[Abagadro]

So I used a driver cleaner and then reinstalled the driver. No dice. Went into msconfig and disabled all services and processes. Booted up to the desktop, but nothing works because everything is off.  Went back, turned on the processes and it booted up. So maybe its a problem in the services.  Any tips on narrowing that long list down as to potential culprits?


AP: I did clean out the case and make sure they were seating properly although I didn't take them out of the sockets.

[Engels]

Unfortunately, symptoms like the ones you describe can be your video card, but it can also be software,  ram, or a motherboard capacitor failure (for example). Since it does boot with startup processes disabled, it may be of interest to start isolating processes that you know are non-essential, such as Adobe Speed Launcher, Quicktime startup, java scheduler, etc.

To sort through the processes, I like to use CCleaner, since one of its functions is to list all startup functions regardless of location. Start up processes are placed in a few locations, and its a bit of a pain to track them all down. For example, startup procs can be in the registry under HKLM and HKCU. It gets further complicated by being a 64 bit OS, since that will list stuff in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

instead of the usual location, which is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Additionally some start up processes are listed in the 'start up folder', which is not where it used to be in XP. Its here:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

and here:

C:\Users\****\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

CCleaner lists them all together and allows you to disable or delete the individual processes for easier troubleshooting.

[ghost]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a nice new card to me. 

[Xuri]

That good excuse can quickly turn into a bad one if he buys a new gfx card and it STILL doesn't boot up normally. :P

[ghost]

Details, details. 

[SurfD]

That good excuse can quickly turn into a bad one if he buys a new gfx card and it STILL doesn't boot up normally. :P

Meh, that just means he has eliminated one potential source for the root of the problem, and can now procied to buy a new Motherboard + Processor set to continue with the testing 

[taolurker]

I'd bet money it's a failing power supply. Attempt a boot with one less drive attached to the power supply (like a CD/DVD burner) and if it boots it's probably a power issue.

[Engels]

I had the exact same symptoms today with a coworker's machine. It was a fried capacitor, so don't bet the farm on the PSU.

[Abagadro]

So through process of elimination I was able to get it to boot.  The only thing I had to turn off was the Desktop Window Manage Session Manager.  Now I can get to the desktop and even run some programs (like Teamspeak) but when I try to run a program that seems to need graphics from World of Tanks down to Freecell (including a browser) it now doesnt just stall out. It reboots.

Engels, are you going to be available at all tonight? I'd like to talk to you on the TS server if you have a minute.

EDIT: Also getting a pop up that says "Display Driver has stopped responding and has recovered" and then something about a "kernel" and and a driver number that flashes by too fast for me to write down so far.

[taolurker]

Still leaning towards the Power Supply, especially if it dies on video. Did you try and run without a drive connected yet?

Also what does Event Viewer tell you about the recent crashes? (Control Panel>Admin Tools>Event Viewer) It should detail the stop that causes it to reboot, but it may not specify exactly what the problem is.

A lack of power to load the video card or to use video apps would cause the symptoms mentioned.

I had the exact same symptoms today with a coworker's machine. It was a fried capacitor, so don't bet the farm on the PSU.

I'm pretty sure if it was a burst cap he would see that on the board, and it also would cause more problems than just what he's describing.

[cironian]

If it reboots, you might want to check if there are any recent files in c:\windows\minidump

If so, someone with the windows debugger can look into those to find possible culprits. Helped me a few times with crash problems.

[Abagadro]

Not sure what I would disconnect.  I only have one hard drive.  I did disconnect the extra fan I have in there.

EDIT:  I'll disconnect the DVD burner.

[Trippy]

If it's rebooting on you you are probably getting a BSOD. If you want to see what might be causing it you can turn off the auto-reboot feature in System -> Advance system settings -> Startup and Recovery Settings -> Automatically restart
.

[Abagadro]

So the event log says this:

Kernel-Power Event ID 41 (63)

Thie system has reloaded without cleanly shutting down first.  This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

[Abagadro]

If it's rebooting on you you are probably getting a BSOD. If you want to see what might be causing it you can turn off the auto-reboot feature in System -> Advance system settings -> Startup and Recovery Settings -> Automatically restart
.

Okay. Did that. Instead of rebooting everything just freezes now when I try to open up a progam that would use graphics.   No BOSD.

[taolurker]

So booting without the Burner connected didn't work?

So the event log says this:

Kernel-Power Event ID 41 (63)

Thie system has reloaded without cleanly shutting down first.  This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

From the Windows article for Power Event ID 41:

If event 41 is logged because power to the computer was interrupted, you may want to consider obtaining an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) such as a battery backup power supply. Maybe an underpowered or failing power supply caused this behavior. For example, if you added RAM or additional devices or hard disks when this problem began, the power supply may be a cause of the problem.

Not sure what I would disconnect.  I only have one hard drive.  I did disconnect the extra fan I have in there.

EDIT:  I'll disconnect the DVD burner.

Just unplug the power connector to the drive (you can leave the SATA/IDE connector plugged in).

[Abagadro]

It didn't change anything to disconnect the burner.  It got me thinking that earlier when I was messing with the drivers I put in a disc and the drive sounded really weird. Like belabored. Maybe it wasn't getting enough power as I imagine spinning that thing is one of the more power-intense processes. So maybe that lends credence to the theory.

[taolurker]

A way to test this is if you have a Power Supply from another machine to put in, or to purchase a Power Supply someplace local that you can possibly return if it doesn't solve the problem.

[Trippy]

Also make sure the extra power connectors attached to your card are seated properly and the power cables themselves are connected if they are going through an adapter or if you have a power supply with modular cables.

[Abagadro]

Unfortunately the only spare power supply I have is old and doesn't have the right connections (no SATA). 

So based on what I described does it make sense for me to lay out the money to get a new power supply and try that as a solution?

[Trippy]

Yes. The system seems to be having issues switching the card into 3D mode (though Aero does work which does require extra GPU power). It could still be a driver issue but it seems more likely it's some sort of hardware problem at the moment.

[Abagadro]

Put in new power supply.  Same shit.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Ok guys, now what? New card?