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Screen artifacts +hardlocking on desktop

O

Opopono

Weaksauce
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
76
I was playing WoW about a month ago when it randomly froze and hardlocked my computer. The Windows error log showed the crash as a memdump deal. I When it got back to desktop, I decided to fire up WoW again and after about 15 seconds of playing it hardlocks again with the same memdump error as before. This time around I try out CoD4, and it hardlocks as the very first menu screen. It didn't hop into a bluescreen this time so I had to manually reset my computer.

Now, when I turn my pc on there are artifacts everywhere. Initially, they are white dots that litter the background of the bios loading screen. When Windows loads, there are a bunch of little colored dots everywhere on the screen, and after about 15 seconds of being in Windows the screen goes gray with black lines running diagonally across the screen.

I was running 4gb of ram and have tried using one stick at a time in one ram slot on my board to see if it could possibly be a memory issue. They all yield the same result. No difference whatsoever. Also, I pulled an old 7900gt from a computer a had lying around and tested in on both pci-x slots, but i got the same results. Still lots of artifacts and hardlocking.

Some things to note:

-The original video card that I was using when this first happened was an 8800gts. With this video card, it would boot straight into safe mode, but with the 7900gt, I could get into windows for only about 15 seconds.

-In safe mode, it appears that I can mess around without it hardlocking. I burned a cd the other day in safe mode. It was a pain in the ass, but I was in Windows for about 15 minutes that session with no problems.

-All fans on video cards and processor are working normally.

-Prior to this issue I have had 0 problems.

Thanks for any help!
 
Could be the motherboard. If you can, try your parts in another PC. Also, see if you can try another PSU with your PC.
 
Hey, Danny. Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried the PSU yet, but I did go ahead and buy a new motherboard for cheap just to test it out. Well, I am still getting the same artifacts and hardlocking. But, after attempting to reformat, i have run into some other weird errors.

Firstly, I just got done trying to install a new copy of Windows 7. Setup would only run in Windows after clicking the DVD drive icon. Whenever I tried to install in on bootup by booting to CD, it would do the whole Loading setup files thing and throw me right back into Windows, EXCEPT it would hardlock right before the login screen.

So, after not being able to entirely reformat and install, I was left with doing the ol in-Windows install where it throws all your previous Windows stuff in a folder. After going through the setup I finally get to the login screen which I cannot get past due to it asking for a username and password that it never asked me to define! So, I'm stuck. It still won't boot from CD even when I have all the boot priorities set to CD-ROM. I also ram memory tests before all this happened and everything seems peachy-keen there. Also, everything is in EXTREMELY low resolution and colors and i got no option to adjust the visual settings after Windows install. Could this be a corrupt Windows and or driver issue?

Does anyone have any idea what is going on? I really don't want to have to take it to a service shop, but I don't know what else to do and I definitely don't have the money to rebuild.

Thanks, guys
 
Try using your old login/password.

if that doesn't work, find a way to completely reformat that drive.

But artifacts in the BIOs itself usually points to a PSU, GPU, or mobo issue. If you're still getting the artifacts in the BIOs after a new mobo and multiple different GPUs, could be the PSU. Though is the new mobo a different chipset than your current mobo?
 
I guess I can yank the one out of my other dead computer and see what happens, haha.

It is actually a 750i. I couldn't find a new 680
 
All right let's do a quick checklist:
- The 680i mobo has been replaced by a 750i mobo
- Tested with a different PSU
- Tried two different GPUs

Same exact results each time as the origninally configured PC, correct?

The non fully confirmed parts left are: CPU, RAM (will get to that), and HDD.
- You said you did RAM testing but how? Was it with Memtest86+ or the Windows Memory Testing tool?
- Did you try a different set of RAM?
- Can you try a different CPU in that system?
- [Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.
 
Danny Bui said:
All right let's do a quick checklist:
- The 680i mobo has been replaced by a 750i mobo - yes
- Tested with a different PSU - yes
- Tried two different GPUs - yes

Same exact results each time as the origninally configured PC, correct? - yes

The non fully confirmed parts left are: CPU, RAM (will get to that), and HDD.
- You said you did RAM testing but how? Was it with Memtest86+ or the Windows Memory Testing tool? - The Windows testing tool

- Did you try a different set of RAM? I don't have any spare

- Can you try a different CPU in that system? no :/

- [Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive. - Ok, i will try that. Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
Ok, so upon booting with my DVD set to all priorities I get:

DISK BOOK FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.
 
Well, then it's either the DVD drive or the hard drive at that point.

Oh as for RAM testing:
[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v4.00 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.
 
I just tried another hard drive, and got the same thing. I'm going to do the memtest tonight. Thanks for all your help!
 
No dice on the memtest. Getting the same "DISK BOOK FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". I unhooked the DVD drive and booted with my hard drive as priority and still got the above message. And to top it all off, my laptop is now refusing to burn cds.:( I am done! Thanks again for all of your help, danny.
 
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