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I've had this wierd and annoying problem with my computer for the past couple of days. The system in question is in my sig. If you don't feel like reading this whole thing the latest set of issues is in the last three paragraphs of this post. These events happened in series and I am not sure if they are connected in anyway, but I'll start from the begining.
It all started about a month ago, but back then I didn't think much about it. I am spending the summer with family out in California so I decided to bring my computer along. I packed it pretty good in the box my case was shipped in and checked it in on the airplane. Needless to say, when I arrived in California the box was in poor condition, and when openning the box my case window had popped off and my radiator came loose. Anyway, cosmetic damage and I was able to get things working.
About two weeks ago, when I downloaded the BF2 Demo and installed the 77.30 drivers on my computer my computer would all of a sudden start locking up randomly. Mostly whenever I either leave it for a while after playing a game or after I restart F@H after finishing a game and it would always lock up in the same way. First the computer would really slow down, then my mouse would not move at all, then the graphics would go bad (down to 256 color) and blue screen.
Anyway, this continued on even with the 77.50 and 77.72 drivers, it was an annoying problem, but it was just a matter of restarting the computer.
The real problem started happening last week after I installed the full version of BF2 on my computer. The first day I was using the program it ran fine, but on the second day I couldn't get it to run at all. As soon as I would start a level or within 5 minutes of starting a level the computer would either BSOD or the graphics would go bad and BSOD. I tried reinstalling the game and my graphics drivers and still the same thing. This was all on a non-OCed system. I even ran MemTest and no errors. On another attempt to fix my problem I noticed that the BSOD game me an error involving my RAID controller. So I go to uninstall all of my nVidia drivers and reinstall it. I go into safe mode to do the uninstallation and used Driver Cleaner to make sure when I reinstall it's a clean installation. When I go to restart my computer after cleaning out the nVidia drivers I immediately get a BSOD after the Windows boot screen shows. So I try to do it in safe mode, this BSODs to after a certain point in the OS load (don't remeber exactly where it does it). I turn off my computer and decide to call it a night.
When I got to work on my computer the next morning I notice a puddle of water on my sound card that had leaked from fittings on the bottom graphics card. I think, so this is the cause of all my problems. I remove the card, do a partial drain of the system and reattach my tubing making sure that the clamps are firmly attached. I then refilled my system and allowed it to bleed for 2 days to make sure that it did not leak. I even shook the tubing a little bit to make sure things were still firmly attached. While this happened, I had my sound card out and allowed it to dry.
This past Monday I put everything together and went to restart my system. Well I get the same problems I was getting earlier with Windows BSODing while loading even when trying to go into safe mode. I decided to reinstall the OS. This is where the problem gets wierder. No matter how many times I tried I could not complete installing Windows. I thought maybe my hard drives went bad so I ran Western Digital's quick diagnostic test to check my hard drives. No errors. So I disconnect and reconnect the SATA cables and try to reinstall again. Same thing, the installation would BSOD either when detecting the devices or at the end when it is finishing the installation. I then thought that maybe its my sound card, so I take it out, but same thing. I decide to do an extended test on both of my hard drives, and again they come back with no errors.
So I start to suspect my PSU, which is the last thing I would suspect since it is a PCP&C PSU. I started by disconnecting the BayBus on my computer, and low and behold I get thorugh the installation, but it is still not stable. While installing SP2 it crashes. This time I catch that the crash was caused by "win32k.sys." I once again try the installation process, but this time it crashes at the end of installation, but this time caused by "ntfs.sys." I try a third time and this time it installs. Even installed SP2 the nF4 drivers and my graphics drivers. I thought everything was in the clear. Then I go an install Windows updates and BSOD, caused once again by win32k.sys. I even try to incease my voltages to the voltages they were running at when OCed, but stil the same thing, and the crashes seemed to either caused by win32k.sys or ntfs.sys. Ocassionally others would cause the crash, but these two seem to the coming up the most in the BSODs I am getting. I even tried installing without the RAID array, but same thing.
While all of this is happening I start to notice a click right before my computer would crash. I am not sure if it is coming from my PSU or my hard drives since their right next to each other, but it sounds more like a click that a power supply makes than a hard drive. Plus the hard drive diagnostics came back good so I don't think its my hard drives.
Right now I am suspecting that my PSU is going bad, and there is a voltage drop when I hear the click that causes my system to crash, but I can't find my multimeter at the moment to verify this. This would suck because for a $240 PSU I shouldn't have to be dealing with any of this. I'm all out of ideas and was wondering if you guys can suggest anything else. I just got BF2 and managed to get 2 games in before this all started happening and I am really itching to get back on. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
It all started about a month ago, but back then I didn't think much about it. I am spending the summer with family out in California so I decided to bring my computer along. I packed it pretty good in the box my case was shipped in and checked it in on the airplane. Needless to say, when I arrived in California the box was in poor condition, and when openning the box my case window had popped off and my radiator came loose. Anyway, cosmetic damage and I was able to get things working.
About two weeks ago, when I downloaded the BF2 Demo and installed the 77.30 drivers on my computer my computer would all of a sudden start locking up randomly. Mostly whenever I either leave it for a while after playing a game or after I restart F@H after finishing a game and it would always lock up in the same way. First the computer would really slow down, then my mouse would not move at all, then the graphics would go bad (down to 256 color) and blue screen.
Anyway, this continued on even with the 77.50 and 77.72 drivers, it was an annoying problem, but it was just a matter of restarting the computer.
The real problem started happening last week after I installed the full version of BF2 on my computer. The first day I was using the program it ran fine, but on the second day I couldn't get it to run at all. As soon as I would start a level or within 5 minutes of starting a level the computer would either BSOD or the graphics would go bad and BSOD. I tried reinstalling the game and my graphics drivers and still the same thing. This was all on a non-OCed system. I even ran MemTest and no errors. On another attempt to fix my problem I noticed that the BSOD game me an error involving my RAID controller. So I go to uninstall all of my nVidia drivers and reinstall it. I go into safe mode to do the uninstallation and used Driver Cleaner to make sure when I reinstall it's a clean installation. When I go to restart my computer after cleaning out the nVidia drivers I immediately get a BSOD after the Windows boot screen shows. So I try to do it in safe mode, this BSODs to after a certain point in the OS load (don't remeber exactly where it does it). I turn off my computer and decide to call it a night.
When I got to work on my computer the next morning I notice a puddle of water on my sound card that had leaked from fittings on the bottom graphics card. I think, so this is the cause of all my problems. I remove the card, do a partial drain of the system and reattach my tubing making sure that the clamps are firmly attached. I then refilled my system and allowed it to bleed for 2 days to make sure that it did not leak. I even shook the tubing a little bit to make sure things were still firmly attached. While this happened, I had my sound card out and allowed it to dry.
This past Monday I put everything together and went to restart my system. Well I get the same problems I was getting earlier with Windows BSODing while loading even when trying to go into safe mode. I decided to reinstall the OS. This is where the problem gets wierder. No matter how many times I tried I could not complete installing Windows. I thought maybe my hard drives went bad so I ran Western Digital's quick diagnostic test to check my hard drives. No errors. So I disconnect and reconnect the SATA cables and try to reinstall again. Same thing, the installation would BSOD either when detecting the devices or at the end when it is finishing the installation. I then thought that maybe its my sound card, so I take it out, but same thing. I decide to do an extended test on both of my hard drives, and again they come back with no errors.
So I start to suspect my PSU, which is the last thing I would suspect since it is a PCP&C PSU. I started by disconnecting the BayBus on my computer, and low and behold I get thorugh the installation, but it is still not stable. While installing SP2 it crashes. This time I catch that the crash was caused by "win32k.sys." I once again try the installation process, but this time it crashes at the end of installation, but this time caused by "ntfs.sys." I try a third time and this time it installs. Even installed SP2 the nF4 drivers and my graphics drivers. I thought everything was in the clear. Then I go an install Windows updates and BSOD, caused once again by win32k.sys. I even try to incease my voltages to the voltages they were running at when OCed, but stil the same thing, and the crashes seemed to either caused by win32k.sys or ntfs.sys. Ocassionally others would cause the crash, but these two seem to the coming up the most in the BSODs I am getting. I even tried installing without the RAID array, but same thing.
While all of this is happening I start to notice a click right before my computer would crash. I am not sure if it is coming from my PSU or my hard drives since their right next to each other, but it sounds more like a click that a power supply makes than a hard drive. Plus the hard drive diagnostics came back good so I don't think its my hard drives.
Right now I am suspecting that my PSU is going bad, and there is a voltage drop when I hear the click that causes my system to crash, but I can't find my multimeter at the moment to verify this. This would suck because for a $240 PSU I shouldn't have to be dealing with any of this. I'm all out of ideas and was wondering if you guys can suggest anything else. I just got BF2 and managed to get 2 games in before this all started happening and I am really itching to get back on. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
Never ship sensitive equipment on a passenger plane. Heheh.