frustration squared

exodus

exodus

New Member
ok here's the summary.

I have a custom built AMD 1.4 mhz machine. Within this machine have 512 DDR RAM and a Geforce 2 MX AGP card.

My PC was on during a couple of brown outs last week (which may or may not be related). Coincedentally or not, i've been having major problems since then.

Anytime i go into OpenGL applications, it reboots. I reinstalled the drivers for my video card and it worked for a short time, then rebooted.

In addition it also doesn't boot every time its turned on.. sometimes it hangs and I have to reset.

I'm thinking either

1) My hard drive got hosed somehow and its dying

or

2) My video card is just getting old and overheating / not working properly

any other possiblities or suggestions on diagnosing further?
 
Is it running through a surge suppressor, or anything of that nature? Cause if it's not then if there were several of em I have lil doubt something probably got fried, even if it's still working now the circuits probably deteriorating which is why it would sorta work.
Not too sure what to tell ya since it's not fun or easy trying to tell people what to do about their computer when you can't see the symptoms yourselves and get hands on.
 
i do have it going thru a suppressor... i need to get a UPS...

its not doing anything consistent, which is half my problem... I have no idea how to diagnose it further
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Well, something may still have shorted since it's not a consistent thing. Your power supply could possibly be another thing that might be going if something hasnt shorted.
 
Exo, before doing anything too drastic, it sounds like your pc is at least a couple years old. Sometimes when the motherboard battery goes out, you can get some weird behaviour from your pc. Replacing it is only a couple bucks compared to more expensive parts. Might want to give it a try first.
 
Well I never told him to do anything drastic, just saying what it could be. I'm still trying to figure out the openGl thing though. Trying to figure out what would be doing that, possibly some hardware conflict. *ponders*
 
also do remember, surge suppresors are only good for 1 maybe 2(if yer lucky) surges. Let me tell u, it gets expensive down here in florida during the lightining season
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Which is why one's with replaceable fuses can be nice. Also part of the reason I said something may still have shorted.
 
If your freezing wasnt instant like it is I would guess its temperature related. You might want to check that anyway but most likely its not. I have a computer that would run cs all day only if I had the side of the case off with a house fan blowing on it, otherwise it would overheat within 1 minute. (the video card not processor)

Just a warning for everyone who is has a network: make sure your hub/switch is surge protected. My cuz's wasnt and it got fried...at the same time frying every nic connected to it. He was happy
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Yea you can get surges through phone lines too, but it adds pretty nicely to your ping to protect it but I suppose which would you rather have. Just offhandedly what do you mean by it won't always boot Exo? Like the computer won't turn on, it hangs during boot,it gets to Windows and it stops there? Specifics on what it does there might be helpful.
 
I would agree with Plankeye's suggestino.. I've heard that when Motherboard's Battery goes out, ur comp can go haywire.. If it's too old, try getting a new motherboard.. if.. u hav hard time replacing batterys
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Yea, I mean it's worth a try since it's a couple bucks compared to much more.  I'm just doubtful that it's that cause the battery does one thing and one thing alone, preserve the CMOS data.  So in theory yes, this could be causing his startup difficulties, depending on the specifics, if his CMOS and BIOS are being cleared everytime that could be a problem depending on what it defaults to.
Other then that it shouldn't be the cause of any of his other problems since once power is being drawn from the PSU, there might as well be no battery in there at all.  Boy, I hope it makes as much sense to other people when I talk as it does to me. At least most of your eyes don't glaze over, and get a blank look on your face and start drooling when I start talking about computers.  ^_^
 
not every time, but randomly on boot it will do the RAM count, then just stop. If I reset it seems to work fine.

I've pulled the cover and even put a fan blowing directly thru the case, and that hasn't made any difference.

If it wasn't so RANDOM, I'd be more confident.

at this point, i've backed up all my files, so i'll format, reinstall, and i'm getting a new vid card this weekend from a friend. I'll replace the MB battery at the same time...

maybe I should just scrap the whole thing and rebuild from scratch
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I have a similar problem on my old comp here. About 1 in 6 times in hangs right before it's done booting up. Ive reformated changed video cards and nothing seems to work at this point its to old to bother and I will prolly just buy a new comp since this thing is 4 years old.
 
True, when your PC is powered on, the MB is taking its power from the Power Supply and reserving the battery for when it is off. But remember toe, the battery is part of a larger electrical system in your PC. And just like a leed on a board getting damaged can cause the whole board to stop functioning, so can a battery. So when the battery starts to go on the fritz, the circuit is broken and strange things like BSOD and POST issues start happening that seem totally unrelated to a simple battery whoes sole purpose is to maintain the state of the CMOS. At least that has been my experience with PCs for the past 15 years.

Side note, you can find those batteries just about anywhere. I think I bought my last one at the Meijers down the street.
 
I went ahead and moved this to the Christian Gamers Alliance General Discussion forum so it gets more coverage and input, Exodus.
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GG Plankeye, u covered what i would've said
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Exodus, I think its the battery's problem. Do you have any other computers? you can test it by switching motherboards with another computer and re-doing the same thing you've done (CS) and see if it breaks up again. Having two comps CAN sometimes be an advantage.. not just a waste of money.. or use a friend's computer. By switching hardwares one by one, u'll come to the conclusion of the problem.

Hope this add-on helps
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That's true, but it could still fall under my main guess of it being something shorted. ;-)

Still think it's most likely something to do with that or the power it's getting.
 
well i just got back from outta town, so the experimenting starts early this week
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I did replace the video card already (it was time to upgrade anyway) and now its just randomly rebooting... sometimes I get into windows, sometimes not.

don't you love troubleshooting stuff. ahh joy.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (exodus @ Oct. 26 2003,11:45)]I did replace the video card already (it was time to upgrade anyway) and now its just randomly rebooting... sometimes I get into windows, sometimes not.
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Be sure to test the RAM and eliminate that as a possible cause.
 
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