Compy dying - suggestions?

E

Eärendil

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
106
I can use my computer for internet, some winamp, and instant messaging.

When I try and render video, motion graphics/editing, play games, or do anything "heavy" my screen freezes after a while, requiring a hard restart. Sometimes it's even come up GARBLED; the colors reverse themselves with noise and artifacts and shit. I've replaced my power supply 2 times in the last 7 months so I'm ruling out PSU problems. ;) My vid card (AGP) is fairly new...the mobo and CPU are the oldest thing on the darn box.

I'm really tired of throwing money at this thing. Any ideas what's wrong? If not, some cheap CPU/mobo combo that's better than a 2800+AMD64 that won't break my bank?

If anyone is willing to work with me a little on this, please drop me an IM.
 
It would help us if you would post your full specs... that way we can either help you narrow down what could be dying on you or just tell you that you need to get a new rig.
 
unplug all drives and run memtest overnight. if no errors, download 3dmark and run the benchmark test. if it runs through all the tests, it could be your windows installation. make sure you monitor all temps while benchmarking; speedfan is good for that. oh, and yes, post specs and a budget if you want some parts suggestions.
 
My specs are

2800 A64 on a
Chaintech VNF3-250 mobo with
512 MB Corsair Value RAM and a
1600XT 256 Radeon helped out by a
SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

all of which is powered by a new
Antec TruePower 420W



In recent news, I received an IRQL-LessThan NOT equal yadayada STOP error. Usually I don't even see that, the screen just freezes or it becomes garbled noisy color shit, then freezes. ;)
 
First, run Memtest to see if you have bad ram. Run Memtest for at least two hours.
Second, run a hard drive diagnostic utility. Most hard drive manufacturers have free diagnostic utilities.

If you see red in Memtest, then you have bad ram. The hard drive diagnostic program should tell you if your hard drive is dying or not.

Once you have ruled those two out, the culprit could be the video card seeing as how most of your problems are video related. Oh and please post the complete "IRQL-LessThan NOT equal yadayada STOP error"

Those stop errors do tell you whats wrong with your PC.
 
Check your fans. Are they running properly? Are the heatsinks clogged with dust? You're saying your CPU is the oldest thing in the box. Have you ever removed the hsf and washed it out? Load up your box with something heavy (choose a benchmarking program or cpuburn ) and see what how much your temps are increasing.
 
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