Serious Problems: Please, Really Need Help

[DarkOrigin]

Not sure where else to post this, as there is not "General Problems" area, so I hope here is ok.

Hey all, I'll try to make this short and easy to follow.

I'm having SERIOUS problems now that are basically turning my new system into a $2k paperweight so I REALLY need you help.

Here we go...

Built new system, installed Nvidia card originally. Games ran great for a bit, then problems started. Went back to ATI with the x1900xtx.

Had some things running fine, but had crashing and hard reboots. Then I started getting some lag in FEAR which was not there before.

Using Cataclyst 6.9 (latest) and the CCC.

So, I reformatted system (twice) to clean out all old drivers, because I was having issues such as with every reboot, XP's GUI returned to original (I always set to Classic).

After reformat, everything seemed fine.

Installed new CPU heatsink today (and yes, it's on perfect and all temps are beautiful).

Installed FEAR, but before playing went to defrag.

Got an error I've never had in all my years, stating "could not defrag due to inconsistencies detected in filesystem. Please run SCANDISK to repai, the run defragmeter again".

So, I did...

Took a while, then rebooted back to Windows perfectly, and I defragged fine.

Then, more "symptoms" of something obvious serious began:
1) went to play FEAR and it keeps giving me hard reboots just trying to adjust things in the menu... not even in game yet.

2) so I installed BF2, got it all set up... when I go to play, the screen logo loads, screen goes black as if about to load game, then right back to desktop... every single time.

Also, FEAR is now NOT detecting my card as a high-end card.

Before the reformat, I installed FEAR and it automatically put everything MAXED.

NOW, it puts everything default at really low settings.

Might sound like a driver issue, but if it wasn't doing it before, it shouldn't now... but for the hell of it, I installed 6.3 driver over 6.9 just to see... still hard rebooting, still crashing and BF2 still not loading.

I REALLY need help badly here.

Everything in my system is working perfectly, everything is updated and all my temps are beautiful.

This system was running incredible at first, then it was like one problem after another. I cant even troubleshoot this by myself.

For your info, though this set up was "meshing" together fine, here is what I'm running:

ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe mobo
MSI Radeon X1900XTX GPU (6.9 drivers)
2G's Corsair XMS DDR2 800 RAM (2x's 1G sticks)
Antec Truepower 2.0 550W PSU
Zalman heatsinks on card and CPU

This all sounds "choppy" but I wanted to make it as quick and easy to follow as possible.

I'm up and running fine, until I try to load/run a game, then it's major disaster... and I just dropped a TON of money building this system.

Is it the hard drive? What happened with that?

Is it drivers? Both? Something more serious I haven't thought/don't know of?

What is happening and what can/should I do?

I've done everything I can think of (and that's a lot) and this is a nightmare.

I really need the help of you guys here, so please get back to me as soon as possible.

Thanks much

 

[djnes]

The first rule in building computers is having the tools available to you to troubleshoot odd issues. The very first thing to do is run Memtest on it for a while. Next, due to the file system error, I'd run a diag on the hard drive. I'm inclined to think it's a hardware issue, due to the number of clean installs you've tried.

 

[DarkOrigin]

I'm still getting sysdata.xml/mini.dmp errors which, from everything I've been told (days and days of research) is driver-related... and something about deleting some Temp folder (I forget which one.. damn!) then rebooting Windows, and that can fix it.

I would run memtest, but I've never been able to understand it, because it has to be saved to disk (or floppy which I don't have), then booted from there or something (long time ago I looked into this) and I tried whatever methods I could and followed the instructions, but could never get it to work right.

Also, here is another error:

"Windows saved user X\(my name) registry while an application or service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is no longer in use.

This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account."

I got it three times so far.

Virtual mem problems? I don't know what to do about paging file size/virtual mem issues.

If it's hardware-related, I would assume it's the RAM, though I got that HDD error which I've never seen in my life.

How do you run a diag on the HDD?

But what's with games not detecting my card now either?

I just have no idea what to do here, and this is really bad.

 

[velusip]

If the problems are difficult to track down or irratic, you need to start right from the basics. If the system worked fine for a while then started to act up it could be heat issues. So long as heatsyncs are nice and tight with some proper thermal paste and the case is well ventilated that should be taken care of. Beyond that:

How's the power in your home?
How's the power supply in your computer?

Everything in your computer relies on good steady power. A high quality power supply is exceptionally important, often overlooked, and could be the only thing you need fixing (after checking syncs everywhere).

Start here maybe? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=974240
I hope things work out. I know how frustrating this sort of thing can be. And don't just rely on the forum here, try other sources (techy friends, local 'friendly' computer store, or other forums.) Solving your problems publically help everyone.

 

[debaucher]

I would say to get the ultimate boot cd (UBCD) and run the hard drive tools for your particular hard drive. (Start with a quick test followed by a full test)
If they are SATA, you will need to make sure they are set as non-raid (most likely a setting in bios unless you use a raid card) for them to be seen by the utility.
The UBCD also has the memory scan tools you need, but I would start with the HD.

Good Luck

D.

 

[dirtydr]

Aye, the UBCD has a great set of tools on it.

How are you monitoring temps? If you're looking in the bios maybe grab a motherboard monitor app so you can observe temps/voltages in windows under load. Also, anything noteworthy in the event viewer?

 

[djnes]

I would run memtest, but I've never been able to understand it, because it has to be saved to disk (or floppy which I don't have), then booted from there or something (long time ago I looked into this) and I tried whatever methods I could and followed the instructions, but could never get it to work right.

It would be a good time to call in a friend or someone you know to help out. I'm not saying this to be an ass, but getting memtest to run is pretty simple. If you don't have a floppy, you download the CD image, burn it to a CD and boot from it. Memtest runs by itself. As others have stated, the Ultimate Boot CD isn't a bad idea for anyone who builds their own computers (or troubleshoots them, for that matter).

 

[DarkOrigin]

I appreciate the responses, and yes, this is to the point of extremely stressful and upsetting. There really is no one else for me to speak with, and I've gotten so many different types of errors with so many different types of "symptoms", there's just no way for me to narrow this down.

Like I said, yeah the memtest should be an easy thing, but burning it to CD than attempting to boot from it never worked for me in the past. Perhaps I didn't save the file correctly to the cd... not sure. I can try again.

As for power, I think I listed my PSU above... the Antec Truepower 2.0 550W. But, with everything else I'm running, maybe 550W just isn't enough.

However, the odd and serious problems of:
1) my card no longer being recognized as high-end by games
2) the continous sysdata.xml/mini.dmp (dump) errors
3) the few other random but undefinable "serious error recoveries" I've had... mem dumps, virtual mem/paging type errors... it all leads me nowhere.

I'm doing the online Seagate HDD scan right now, so we'll see if it turns anything up. Problem is, even if there was a problem with the RAM or HDD, it would not cause things like the problem with my card. That would be more of a driver issue, as would the mem dumps I'm getting, these specific ones, anyway, from what I've been told/researched.

I have literally nowhere else to turn at this point.

I'm really not fond of this motherboard either. I think it has problems, especially because the bridge is Nvidia, who definintely have not mastered chipsets.

I'm used to running, and have been told even that it's best to run, an intel chipset, especially since it's an intel-based board.

I don't have the feeling replacing the RAM would solve these issues... they are too many and too bizarre.

I think there's some compatability issue between hardware AND drivers going on here, honestly, but I just cannot pinpoint what at all.

Certainly can't be a heat thing, because I've my case wide open all day while working on this disaster, so everything is pretty cool right now.

What about a reliable PCI-E, P4 3.2 supporting MSI board? Or Gigabyte? Any recommendations for my set up?

I think this board is at least part of the culprit here.

I'd like to replace the mobo first, with something more reliable and "compatable" with my system, which I'll list again if you guys can help me out:
Pentium P4 3.2GHz CPU
X1900XTX 512 GPU
DDR2 667 based (min) RAM (240 pin)
...and right now, the 550W Antec Truepower 2.0 PSU.

Replacing things one at a time is starting to get very expensive, and I'm thinking that I might indeed need a stronger PSU, which would be yet one more thing I'd have to replace.

I feel like I need a more reliable and "compatable" mobo with a better bios and better support with ATI drivers/card and everything else.

Anything you could suggest off-hand?

I've pretty much done everything else I can do except start to replace more parts... again.

I did update the bios on this board, and I could always put back the original version from disk, because some say this particular board is a pain and needs updating, while others say it's a pain, but stick with the original.

I know this is all a lot to read, but there's a plethora of different angles to take this from and a plethora of problems happening now, so I appreciate all the time you all take to read carefully over my questions/ideas etc.

Thanks again, and I hope to get some more feedback on this latest "novel" I've written here.

Cheers.

 

[DarkOrigin]

Aye, the UBCD has a great set of tools on it.

How are you monitoring temps? If you're looking in the bios maybe grab a motherboard monitor app so you can observe temps/voltages in windows under load. Also, anything noteworthy in the event viewer?

Using Riva Tuner for card temps, but that's it. Cannot find anything else. MBM is years out of date and basically useless, and I know of nothing else.

Yeah, the event viewer gives a lot of what I already posted... the strange dump-type errors, and the other long one I listed (in italics) above in my first post.

But, I have no idea what to do about it, most unfortunately.

 

[PCBliss]

You have to burn the memtest is to the cd as an images

 

[DarkOrigin]

Yeah, I know, but it never worked in the past. Going to try to who UBCD thing in a few minutes and test whatever I can.

P.S.
PSU is blowing very hot air, despite the side of my case having been off all day... very hot.

 

[WoWchamp]

Formating your computer wont remove drivers im pretty sure... I think you need to run driver cleaner pro or something similar. Im not 100% sure as I ran DC pro and didnt reformat but this may be an issue.

 

[general]

Given that you're having problems across multiple GPU, I doubt it's the video card. Strip your system down to just the motherboard, ram, cpu, main system drive and video card. Try it with one memory stick and see if it works, then try it with the other if it doens't. That should basically eliminate memory as an issue. Then you might want to get your hands an another motherboard or power supply to check it out.

My best guess is that you have a bad PSU. It can affect many different issues.

 

[mattarse]

maybe I missed it, but have you checked the system logs for errors? Just from what you have said, the only definite error you've seen so far has been concerned with the hard drive so I would check the system logs, and see if anything is popping up.

 

[dirtydr]

You could try asus pc probe for monitoring. Not sure if it will work with your board but it wouldnt hurt to try it. How'd that disk scan go?

A few other things to try...

Memtest </echo>

Assuming pc probe works, go to the voltage tab then try running a game in a window. You will see if the psu output starts sagging under full load. 550W should be plenty.

Try booting into safe mode and see if you still get the same errors.

 

[ThreeDee]

unless your consistantly installing bad drivers with each reformat and reinstall of windows (are you reformatting when you reinstall?) ..then most likely its not a "driver" issue

you could have power problems wich could ultimately damage all your components

you could have a processessor on the fritz

you could have bad memory

you could have a hard drive that is on the fritz

you could have a mobo thats on the fritz

you could be running an infected illegal copy of windoze too ..
(that would account for "driver" issues after multiple format/reinstalls)

you have to start running some tests to hopefully pinpoint the faulty culprit ..and even then if you dont have access to extra parts , it can be hard to do the pinpointing


[F]old|[H]ard

 

[Wolf-R1]

I appreciate the responses, and yes, this is to the point of extremely stressful and upsetting. There really is no one else for me to speak with, and I've gotten so many different types of errors with so many different types of "symptoms", there's just no way for me to narrow this down.

Yes there is. Stop, take a deep breath, and relax. Stop freaking out.

Like I said, yeah the memtest should be an easy thing, but burning it to CD than attempting to boot from it never worked for me in the past. Perhaps I didn't save the file correctly to the cd... not sure. I can try again.

You're probably doing what a co-worker of mine did the first time he was dealing with ISO files. He just copied the ISO to a disc and thought it would work. Didn't know that the ISO is a package, an image, that gets dumped to a disc. Many burner programs now change the ISO association to themselves so all you have to do is download the UBCD ISO then double click on it to burn it to a disc.
Memetest86+ is your friend. OS independent HDD tools are your friends too. They're all on the UBCD.

As for power, I think I listed my PSU above... the Antec Truepower 2.0 550W. But, with everything else I'm running, maybe 550W just isn't enough.

550W is plenty. Well...depending on how many HDDs you have and how fast their rotational speeds are. Otherwise you're fine.

However, the odd and serious problems of:
1) my card no longer being recognized as high-end by games

If this is a driver issue it's due to RAM problems then. There is little to no way you're going to be able to replicate the same driver problems with two different video cards after a few fresh OS builds. Ultimately I would suspect the CPU, RAM, or the PSU.

2) the continous sysdata.xml/mini.dmp (dump) errors

System crashes...on HDD access or not? Again, CPU, RAM, HDD, or PSU.

3) the few other random but undefinable "serious error recoveries" I've had... mem dumps, virtual mem/paging type errors... it all leads me nowhere.

That's because you're not paying attention and you're just freaking out. These kinds of errors are usually related to RAM but can be symptoms of the CPU and HDDs.

I'm doing the online Seagate HDD scan right now, so we'll see if it turns anything up. Problem is, even if there was a problem with the RAM or HDD, it would not cause things like the problem with my card. That would be more of a driver issue, as would the mem dumps I'm getting, these specific ones, anyway, from what I've been told/researched.

Not sure about this one. Online scan? You need to isolate the HDD from the OS with as minimal drivers and other components working as possible. You need to do this for the other components as well.

I have literally nowhere else to turn at this point.

Oh please. You haven't even started assessing the problem.

I'm really not fond of this motherboard either. I think it has problems, especially because the bridge is Nvidia, who definintely have not mastered chipsets.

nVidia puts out a great product. "I think it has problems" says that you've read into someone else's BS and rubbish about nVidia and run with it despite it not being your own. Besides...ONE bad board does not make a bad product line or anything more than just ONE bad board.

I'm used to running, and have been told even that it's best to run, an intel chipset, especially since it's an intel-based board.

And who told you this? I don't have enough experience on it but the only reason I would suggest that assertion to be correct is because Intel knows their products intimately. Thus they build their systems to be as stable and error free as possible. The flip side of the coin is that you usually don't get the performance out of them that we're looking for.

I don't have the feeling replacing the RAM would solve these issues... they are too many and too bizarre.

Fact is you have no idea what you're doing or what you're looking for here. You just want a quick answer. There isn't one. Download UBCD and run the tests. Then you'll know for sure where you need to look and what it is you're looking for.

I think there's some compatability issue between hardware AND drivers going on here, honestly, but I just cannot pinpoint what at all.

Because you haven't tried a damn thing other than whine about it Einstein. I reiterate: Download UBCD and run the tests.

Certainly can't be a heat thing, because I've my case wide open all day while working on this disaster, so everything is pretty cool right now.

That's a crock of crap. If you have a heat sink that's improperly attached you could toss an air conditioner at it and you'd still overheat.

What about a reliable PCI-E, P4 3.2 supporting MSI board? Or Gigabyte? Any recommendations for my set up?

I think this board is at least part of the culprit here.

Yeah here's my recommendation: Download UBCD and run the tests.
Getting a new board isn't going to solve your problems if you put bad RAM, HDDs, or a bad CPU into it.

I'd like to replace the mobo first, with something more reliable and "compatable" with my system, which I'll list again if you guys can help me out:
Pentium P4 3.2GHz CPU
X1900XTX 512 GPU
DDR2 667 based (min) RAM (240 pin)
...and right now, the 550W Antec Truepower 2.0 PSU.

Replacing things one at a time is starting to get very expensive, and I'm thinking that I might indeed need a stronger PSU, which would be yet one more thing I'd have to replace.

You'll do wonders in the business world. Throw money at it until it's fixed.
Again I reiterate: Download UBCD and run the tests.

I feel like I need a more reliable and "compatable" mobo with a better bios and better support with ATI drivers/card and everything else.

Anything you could suggest off-hand?

I've pretty much done everything else I can do except start to replace more parts... again.

No you haven't. You've done nothing but whine about things and say that you can't do anything. At this juncture I recommend you scrap this system and buy a whole new one as you don't appear to be willing to do anything other than replace parts. You'd only end up making your situation worse.

I did update the bios on this board, and I could always put back the original version from disk, because some say this particular board is a pain and needs updating, while others say it's a pain, but stick with the original.

I know this is all a lot to read, but there's a plethora of different angles to take this from and a plethora of problems happening now, so I appreciate all the time you all take to read carefully over my questions/ideas etc.

Thanks again, and I hope to get some more feedback on this latest "novel" I've written here.

Cheers.

Updating the BIOS is good however is probably one of the last steps you should have taken after testing the system components. Fact is you have a system that's been stable for a while and just recently started to develop problems. A BIOS update could sort of mask your problems or at least shine a different light on them. Might make it easier to find them, might not.

I do have to laugh at your 'thanks' for everyone reading what you've wrote. You need to turn that around and start taking in their suggestions and stop saying that you've done everything when you clearly haven't.

Lastly...I know I've said this already but...Download UBCD and run the tests.
They'll take a while but at least it will tell you what you're up against.

 

[djnes]

I do have to laugh at your 'thanks' for everyone reading what you've wrote. You need to turn that around and start taking in their suggestions and stop saying that you've done everything when you clearly haven't.

I think I've just found my first example of the target audience for boutique system builders. People who want a custom built machine, but they take the leap into them without learning about maintaining them or how to troubleshoot them.

 

[Wolf-R1]

I think I've just found my first example of the target audience for boutique system builders. People who want a custom built machine, but they take the leap into them without learning about maintaining them or how to troubleshoot them.

Would have to become your full time job. Last thing you'd want is your phone running off the hook because they've run out of HDD space, filling it with pr0n, but think that the HDD is dead.

 

[ThreeDee]

WOLF-R1 .. love your 8mile long post ..pretty much sums up what I was thinking but delivered with a double barrell shottie between the eyes..lol

 

[Wolf-R1]

WOLF-R1 .. love your 8mile long post ..pretty much sums up what I was thinking but delivered with a double barrell shottie between the eyes..lol

I aim to please.

 

[fuelvolts]

any updates? did UBCD work?

 

[Wolf-R1]

any updates? did UBCD work?

Think I scared him away.