Major Problem

[spyblog]

Major problem.

CPU has been great since I built it in July. All of a sudden today my sister was on it and it flips out. Now when I boot up it gives me a bunch of colors and shapes all over the screen. The first two boots I'd get to the WinXP logo before it happened. Now as soon as I boot it is doing this. Please help, nothing 'looks' to be broken so what could it be?

Thanks

 

[amol]

maybe gfx card?

 

[mechBgon]

Component failure comes to mind. What are the full specs of the problem system, including brand/model of the power supply? You're using something to post your message here... is it compatible, parts-wise, so that you could do some cross-testing with it?

 

[spyblog]

I'm gonna try and switch it out, but how would that happen? I make sure it's always cool and it's never had problems.

 

[spyblog]

AMd 3200+, GB of ram, BFG 6800GT (lifetime warranty thank god) 430W Antec PSU.

Using my family's PC and I gave them a 9800 Pro so I'll try that. Just so unexpected though, I can't afford to replace anything.

 

[spyblog]

Ok I tried again and it worked?! WTF...can someone please help me stop this from happening again? I want to make sure it doesnt, cause it definately scares me

 

[spyblog]

Yeh, strange. I'm on my PC now, works like a charm. I selected 'boot with last known working config' when I got lucky and got to that screen. Could this be a virus?

Just want to prevent this from happening again.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: spyblog
Yeh, strange. I'm on my PC now, works like a charm. I selected 'boot with last known working config' when I got lucky and got to that screen. Could this be a virus?

Just want to prevent this from happening again.

A virus wouldn't likely cause problems prior to the Windows boot process, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have viruses anyway. What antivirus and firewall products are you using, and please be specific about the version, not just "Norton" or etc. If your sister is prone to installing stuff without permission, then make all the Administrator-class accounts password-protected to keep her out, and make a separate Limited account for her to use instead.

 

[spyblog]

Actually she never really downloads anything. So I didn't think it was because of her but since my PC just all of a sudden worked perfectly I couldn't see how it'd be hardware for sure.

I'm currently using the latest version of Trend Micro Internet Security. I'm pretty sure it's not great so I'm going to try a few others. ATM I'm running a free online scan at the same time and it's already found two trojans Trend Micro missed and I'm only 50% done.

Firewall in built into a NetGear router.

 

[mechBgon]

Ugh. You might try a free 15-day trial of McAfee VirusScan 9 from here. It's almost all configured (got to set up scheduled scans, I recommend Wednesday evenings since McAfee releases updated DATs on Wednesdays). Pair that up with free ZoneAlarm firewall software to protect your computer from any others that are sharing the router, since the router's firewall won't protect your own computers from eachother if one of them catches some junk: set Trusted Zone security to High.

 

[spyblog]

Ok thanks a lot dude.

If you or anyone else can shed light on the weird problem from before it'd be great.

 

[The Godfather]

Originally posted by: spyblog
Major problem.

CPU has been great since I built it in July. All of a sudden today my sister was on it and it flips out. Now when I boot up it gives me a bunch of colors and shapes all over the screen. The first two boots I'd get to the WinXP logo before it happened. Now as soon as I boot it is doing this. Please help, nothing 'looks' to be broken so what could it be?

Thanks

Dont you mean PC?

 

[spyblog]

Yeh yeh yeh, sry

 

[mechBgon]

I'll take a shot at it... what brand & model of RAM is your PC3200, what voltage do you give it, and what motherboard do you use?

 

[spyblog]

Kingston Hyper-X, K8N Neo Platinum. Not sure bout the volts, where do I look? Bios I assume, but anywhere else?

 

[mechBgon]

Try 2.7 volts since your memory is "fancy" stuff. In the K8N Neo Platinum's BIOS, you should find the memory settings under... lessee here... Cell Menu. If the board defaults to 2.5 volts like many boards do, then that may be a cause of weird behaviors like that.

 

[spyblog]

Ok this happened to me again this morning. When I could get back to boot I went and started Windows with "Last Known Good Configuration" or whatever it says. Works fine. Can I assume then that this is a software problem? Would a reformat be the best way to go to ensure it is?

Thanks

 

[spyblog]

This morning I accidently hit my PC with my elbow while cleaning. The artifacts came back and I haven't been able to successfully boot since. Every once in a while over the last few days I've gotten small scribbles on the screen but they would go away within a second. Can anyone please help me determine a fix? Thanks.

 

[dhoytw]

Originally posted by: spyblog
This morning I accidently hit my PC with my elbow while cleaning. The artifacts came back and I haven't been able to successfully boot since. Every once in a while over the last few days I've gotten small scribbles on the screen but they would go away within a second. Can anyone please help me determine a fix? Thanks.

Well sounds to me as if the video card isn't seated correctly in the AGP slot, sometimes these can be tricky slots to seat the card correctly. I would try to take the card out of the slot and then insert it back into the slot, while you have the case open it couldn't hurt to reseat your memory as well.

 

[spyblog]

Was going to try this, but I can't seem to get the video card out. I have a BFG 6800GT and a MSI K8N Neo Plat. Problem is, the small space for me to stick my finger into to unlock the latch is small. I can't seem to unlock it. I'll ry the RAM, but I have no idea how to unlock the video card!

 

[spyblog]

There we go!

It was on and off working all day. I FIANLLY got my finger in the right spot and got the latch up. I noticed in the AGP slot there was a tad of dust on the inside sides. One or two dust type balls. I blew them out, stuck the card back in after blowing dust of it and it's fans and first try it works.

Hopefully this was the problem. Does dust in the AGP slot sound like a likely reason for this problem?

thanks

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: spyblog
Was going to try this, but I can't seem to get the video card out. I have a BFG 6800GT and a MSI K8N Neo Plat. Problem is, the small space for me to stick my finger into to unlock the latch is small. I can't seem to unlock it. I'll ry the RAM, but I have no idea how to unlock the video card!

I ran into this problem with my ABIT NF7-S and BFG 6800GT. I was able to slip a small flathead screw driver under there and push down the lever to get it out. try that and see if it works.

-spike

EDIT ** NVM, looks like you figured it out. dust anywhere can cause problems for heat and connection issues, plus if the card is seated just slightly off it might not work right.