Computer spazzing, need help

[Mr. Pedantic]

This morning my computer just decided to up and stop working in the weirdest way.

When I started my computer this morning, before it got to the Windows loading screen, it BSOD'd. I didn't get a picture or anything before it restarted.

After that, it would just not start at all. After POST it just hung there with a black screen and the GPU at 100%.

I tried booting into safe mode and restoring, but that didn't work. Next I tried a couple times just doing a complete format + reinstall of Windows, and strangely, that didn't work well either. Sometimes it would boot into Windows, but after around 20s it would just freeze mid screen refresh.

Over these few hours, having rebooted the computer around 20-30 times, I got a few BSODs that hung around long enough for me to take a look at what it said - something about atikmpag.sys? I thought maybe it meant that my GPU was starting to go, but from Google it said that it was a driver issue; but that would have been solved by reformat+reinstall, right?

I'm currently not at home, but things I'm going to try when I get home are unplugging my HDDs and trying to install with just my SSD plugged in, and trying an install with a GPU driver sans Catalyst Control Center.

Any other suggestions? Or is it time for a new comp? I've had this for nearly 4 years now, I've done a lot to it and it's getting a bit long in the tooth though it's still plenty fast enough for me.

Specs:

Core i7 920 + 3x2GB G.Skill RAM
MSI Eclipse SLI
Sapphire HD6950 2GB
Windows 7 Home Professional 64-bit
Silverstone OP700 PSU
Storage: Samsung 240GB 840 Pro, 2x WD 640GB Blue, 1x Western Digital Green 3TB, 1x Seagate Barracuda 2TB

EDIT: on second thought, this might belong better in Computer Help than General Hardware.

 

[lehtv]

Is your system overclocked? Did you reset CMOS?

 

[QuietDad]

Boot it into safemode with networking then go to the ATI site and get the latest drivers.

 

[mfenn]

This does certainly sound like a GPU issue. Do you happen to have another one laying around that you could test with? Any friends with a GPU that you could borrow?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Finally managed to get it fixed a couple hours ago. It kept screwing up, so I tried unplugging all the HDDs, and that somehow fixed the issue. That's it. Unplug them, then plug them back in.

A bit confused at the moment, to be honest.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

BUMP.

Had the issue again today. 5 whole days of working well, and it goes out again. Managed to get two BSOD screenshots from successive attempts at rebooting again.

I'm wondering whether it has anything to do with a Windows Update, but it's literally installed hundreds, not sure where to start figuring out the culprit.

 

[QuietDad]

Both of those blue screens point to the video card driver. I would load the latest drivers and reload them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Tried swapping in a known-good PSU just to test?

 

[Termie]

The SATA controller on my old MSI Platinum x58 board recently died. I was having problems booting consistently, although I also had some drive not detected errors.

You might try using a different SATA port. I'm not convinced this is a video card issue. If you had a spare card, that would certainly help you eliminate the video card as a culprit, though. Maybe buy a $20 card just to test it with.

 

[QuietDad]

Tried swapping in a known-good PSU just to test?

May not be a bad idea. An underpowered GPU might be causing these issues, but both of those stop codes point straight at an issue with the video driver.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Bump.

Managed to go a bit farther this time, simply by not restarting the PC at all. But this morning I had to shut it down because some work was being done around the power lines, and when I tried to turn it back on...

May not be a bad idea. An underpowered GPU might be causing these issues, but both of those stop codes point straight at an issue with the video driver.

Finding a GPU or PSU could be a big problem. Few of my real-life friends have spare parts lying around, and I just sold off my 4870. My dad works in IT, but the machines they have easy access to are underpowered things that draw 3-400W absolute max. Certainly none of them have PCIe GPUs that I could use. I'm not really keen on buying a PSU just to test it out, and X58 motherboards are getting hard to come by now.

The SATA controller on my old MSI Platinum x58 board recently died. I was having problems booting consistently, although I also had some drive not detected errors.

You might try using a different SATA port. I'm not convinced this is a video card issue. If you had a spare card, that would certainly help you eliminate the video card as a culprit, though. Maybe buy a $20 card just to test it with.

Tried switching SATA ports, didn't work. Didn't really think it was a SATA issue anyway.

 

[Ketchup]

Keep us posted if the issue returns. A SATA card is cheap, so that might be worth it if the issues return.

 

[raildogg]

Try to also check out the RAM. Maybe run Memtest86 overnight and see what happens.

 

[piasabird]

You sure its not a bad power supply?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

So, the culprit was something really simple and I can't believe I didn't think of it before.

I'd forgotten that my 6950 was one of those ones that you could flip a switch and turn into a 6970, and I'd forgotten that when I got it I flipped the switch and enabled the extra cores. So I turned it off, flipped the switch back, and everything appears to be good again.

So, it could technically still be a PSU issue and it may be that as soon as I fire up a game or something it'll crash again, but from the looks of it it seems to be a GPU stability issue and that now it's at stock it should be fine.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[sm625]

things I'm going to try when I get home are unplugging my HDDs and trying to install with just my SSD plugged in

You should always install windows on a system with just one drive. And make sure any usb type memory card readers are unplugged too. Take out your gpu and ram, clean out the dust, and reseat them.

 

[mfenn]

Ha, looks like QuietDad called in the second reply! :awe:

Spoiler

Would it be considered self-aggrandizing to say that I suggested trying a different GPU in the third reply?