Author Topic: Complete System Crash (Read 5753 times)

Justinph5 · « **on:** March 21, 2010, 02:33:31 PM »

So the past couple days I've had major issues with PB2. I am currently at the state where whenever I start it, it haults everything, throws funky colors all over my screen, then proceeds to restart.

It started with the video drivers crashing, and then restoring themselves. Then it came to PB2 freezing. Now it completely crashes the computer.

The only thing I haven't tried is uninstalling and reinstalling. The only computer changes I've made in that time are installing Wacom drivers and deleting Windows.old directories. Nothing should be affected.

So I've concluded it must be faulting with my video card / drivers. I hope my video card isn't starting to die. (Nvidia 8600GT) Any other thoughts?

Justinph5 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2010, 02:42:38 PM »

Nevermind. As soon as I typed it the same thing occurred with nothing but firefox open. So it turns out my video card is degrading quite rapidly. That or it is overheating, which I highly doubt, but I have no integrated video to test it.

I guess its time to get a new video card... :/

kazee · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2010, 05:48:22 PM »

happened to me and i believe it happened to circa as well. both of our motherboards fried. :/. we played on laptops though

Justinph5 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2010, 05:51:24 PM »

I fixed the problem with a little spring cleaning

Took out the graphics card and sprayed it with a can of air, dusted it all out, and it doesn't crash anymore. I guess its time to take my whole computer to the shop compressor and to a deep clean too

Spook · « **Reply #4 on:** March 21, 2010, 05:53:35 PM »

If the problem continues, try underclocking. I have to do that with mine over the summer because they overheat so quickly.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2010, 06:22:43 PM »

I think you might be right. After I had in on for a while after cleaning, it crashed again. Next time I start it up I'll put a desktop fan and maybe something cold inside for cooler airflow and see how it handles. I admit it does get quite warm in the room, but I have a BIOS alarm set to go off when the comp reaches 140* and it doesn't go off. So I'll test the overheating issue next.

edit: Ouch, no doubt it must be overheating. Just the video card processor, which is finger-melting to the touch. (Which explains the bios alarm not going off, it doesn't watch vid card temp)

Any advice on cooling that down, other than under-clocking it, or a different cooling system. (couple of case fans for now)

I noticed graphic are still messed up if I restart immediately after a crash, since it doesn't have time to cool... SIGH!!!! The downfall of a beefy computer, requires beefy cooling

Spook · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2010, 10:12:53 PM »

Take off the GPU processor and reapply some thermal paste, before you do that, make sure the GPU fan is spinning. If neither of those work, it may be time to invest in a 30 dollar video card to replace that, or go big with a new card.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2010, 10:43:05 PM »

I found an old card I had which is good enough for now, until I try to add some thermal paste to the other. I'm afraid its permanently damaged since it has random colors all through the start up process and freezes. We will eventually see though, just gotta get some paste.

Thx for the advice.

Br55HiT · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2010, 10:43:56 AM »

You must almost no cooling at all. My computer has a front intake, side intake, and rear exhaust fans. My 2 8600GTXXX's don't really have any heat issues unless it's really warm in my room.

If your card is damaged from over heating you can try baking it in your oven at 315 for like 5-10 min. My friend did that with his 8800GTX and it fixed it.

I also don't really consider an 8600GT "beefy" compared to today's standards.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2010, 08:32:31 PM »

Yeah I only have a front and top intake, although its been fine until now, and my room's the hottest room even without the computer on.

The card's fan was clogged with dust, so that probably added to it. Thanks for the tip on baking it, I've heard about it for Xboxes, just never thought about computer parts with it. I'll test it again to see if it works first, but it may take a while since I'm lazy

And you're right that its not a beastly computer at standard, but I can assuredly say that its the top computer in this whole half of the county

lol Old college budget meets smallest non-computer based town, I work with what I can afford... lol (pretty sure only a few people would even have quad cores in the county, same with Olbaid

)

Justinph5 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2010, 09:49:44 PM »

Hmmm, so after researching all about baking it, I HIGHLY DOUBT it will work again, since half way through a capacitor and other piece fell off... LOL I may try to solder them back on and try it

I feel like a moron honestly. But hey, experimenting is learning... :/

edit: My solder gun isn't heating up the solder enough, next attempt: re-bake it for a couple minutes, then try sticking the parts back in while the solder is hot. LOLOL

edit2: I just re-baked it and got the pieces back in!!! Now I just gotta wait for it to cool to try it, I highly doubt it will work, but it should at least be a funny read for people

Br55HiT · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2010, 10:14:39 PM »

That sucks, I guess if you can attach it again it might work. I guess it's good to experiment and learn with an out of production card rather than a $250 one.

What brand exactly is the card? I know some of the major gaming brands such as XFX, EVGA, and BFG usually offer pretty good warranties. I know my XFX cards are covered under a lifetime warranty which even covers damage I might do from overclocking.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 25, 2010, 10:31:09 PM »

It's XFX, although I highly doubt I even registered it, seeing that I forgot to even send my $30 mail-in rebate within 30 days and didn't get it lol. Just some stupidity on my part, if it doesn't work I'll look into it and see if I registered it though.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 25, 2010, 10:47:07 PM »

WAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAA It works! Thanks Br5 for the suggestion.

Synopsis: My video card died. I decided to bake it in a toaster oven. While baking it, 3 parts fell off. I let it cool, then rebaked it, and stuck the parts back in the solder. Connected it all up, and it now runs like new... Who would have thought... lol I am very pleased.

Spook · « **Reply #14 on:** March 25, 2010, 11:13:11 PM »

Should have taken a picture of your card in the toaster. Would have made many luls.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 26, 2010, 12:08:38 AM »

Yeah, it looked pretty funny. GPU temps are ~65 idle, and jump to ~90 for dp2 and such. Thermal paste is my only thought left, and we'll see after I find some at a store.

Justinph5 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 29, 2010, 04:01:48 PM »

Final Changes: Thermal Paste (Arctic Silver 5) on both GPU and CPU

GPU: 60C idle - 75C gaming
CPU: 50C idle - 60C gaming

The CPU now idles a few degrees higher than it used to, I don't have experience after changing paste, but some say it will drop down some degrees over time after the paste settles. Do you know if it should Spook? And my GPU dropped 20 degrees while gaming, so thats great!

(It also took 3 tries to paste the CPU right, it kept raising to 90C on start. I had been doing the common thin layer over the whole CPU as in videos. It turns out that quad-cores just need a thin line in the center of the cores, as per the AS5 website.

)

Spook · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2010, 04:15:09 PM »

As for it settling in, it'll drop a few degrees, nothing extraordinary. I found that thermal paste on the CPU takes some more time to get right, you need to make sure the paste contacts both the cooling unit and the processor otherwise you will get that increase in temps. Glad everything worked out though, happy gamin'.

Xena · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2010, 06:44:07 PM »

i didn't know you can bake computer parts...

Henrod · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2010, 05:15:37 PM »

Quote from: Xena on March 31, 2010, 06:44:07 PM

i didn't know you can bake computer parts...

They are quite delicious when properly seasoned.