Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Confused Canadian]

Hi all,

I need the help of some of the computer gurus here on Dave's. Though I'd like to keep this short, it's somewhat of a saga, but I'll be as brief as possible...

Computer Specs:

Pent. IV 2.4 / 1.5 GB RAM / Korean Windows XP (Home Edition - legit) w/ SP2

A few months ago, I asked for help upgrading my video card. I upgraded from an archaic Voodoo card to a GEForce 6600. Things were going along swimmingly until a couple of weeks ago. Then the problems started...

Rather suddenly, the monitor started switching itself off, usually after a simple click while surfing the web (back button, refresh button, close window, clickable link...all seemed to do the trick). The montior would shut down and go into 'power saving mode'. Nothing would 'wake up' the system, expect a reboot, and even then, it took 2 or 3 tries to get the monitor to come back on (turning the monitor on and off did nothing either). This would sometimes happen several times a day, sometimes, it would be days before the problem would reoccur.

So, we called our local 'computer guy'. He wanted to take the computer for 'a few days' to 'evaulate' it, which is not an option, as my wife works at home on the computer. He said he'd take the monitor and check that out (even though I didn't think that was the problem). We had the same problem with the replacement monitor they gave us, so the monitor was obviously not the problem. I'd mentioned that we'd never had this problem before, and thought that it MIGHT have something to do with the new video card they'd installed for us (possibly defective, or something overheating...whatever). They still wanted to take the computer to their shop, so we agreed. We let them have the computer for 1 day, and they brought it back that night. They swapped in a GeForce 4 MX 4400 for our 6600. Since then, we haven't had the same monitor problem...however...

When we got the computer back, the next morning, the computer locked up repeatedly...about 10 times within a few hours... it was pretty much unusable. I took the cover off, and reseated the video card...turns out it wasn't seated properly at all. That seemed to solve the problem...at least it wasn't locking up every few minutes.

We got them back over to check things out. The put in the old GeForce 6600 and the monitor started switching off immediately. The guy thought it might be a power problem, so he installed a 450 W power source, in place of our 350 W power source. Then, he couldn't even get the computer to boot up. At my suggestion, he put the GeForce 4400 back in , and it booted up no problem. However, he still insisted that we 'needed' the new power source. I was so pissed at this time, I just said fine...paid him and told him to get out.

That's not the end of it. Then the fan started getting really loud. And I mean loud. My best guess is that it was 'effed up' in transport. If I give the fan a 'whack' it'll quiet down for a few minutes, but it eventually ends up getting rather loud again. It seems I'm gonna need an new exhaust fan, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay these guys for it.

The computer is still locking up (with the 4400). It locks of up randomly at present. It seems that if you leave the computer idle for 10 minutes or so, it has the potential to freeze, require a reboot (i.e. turning the power off). I've turned off all power saving functions (both monitor and hard disk) as well as the screen saver. Computer still freezes. It doesn't seem to lock up while in the middle of a task, except when using Windows Live Messenger during a video chat (but that had happened occaisonally in the past, too). Also, I've had the 'blue screen of death' several times in the past week, which I NEVER had before.

At present, they've sent the GeForce 6600 to Yongsan to be tested. It's been several days, and no idea when I'll get it back, nor if my earlier montior problems will be better, or whether our current problems will disappear or remain.

In summary:

Since calling these guys to solve our monitor problem (which they've yet to do, at least with the GeForce 6600), they've made my computer a lot noiser, charged me 45,000 won for a new power source that I probably never needed, and have caused my computer to lock up more often than it ever has. At this point, I just want to get my old card back, and say good bye to these guys forever. This morning's phone call to them (inquiring about when we'd get our card back) led to their next suggestion...it must be a mainboard problem (i.e. we'd like to replace that and charge you for that too...and who knows...it MIGHT solve your problem!). I'll definitely be looking for a new computer guy in the area. In the meantime, anyone got ANY suggestions? I've never seen that kind of monitor problem before. Was I right in thinking it was the video card? And why is my system locking up so frequently now? Though the fan is noisy, it does work...temp's currently at 46 degrees. Don't think it's a heat issue.

I'm sure someone is going to suggest re-installing Windows, which I'll probably do eventually, but I'd like to get the original problem sorted out first.

So, any suggestions? What's my next course of action? Would really appreciate your thoughts / suggestions.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give as much info as I thought would be necessary to fully understand the problem and the attempts to solve said problem...

[Demophobe]

What causes a computer to lock up?

1. Heat. 46 degrees isn't cool, especially if the system isn't under load. Try removing the cover and putting a housefan pointing into the box.

2. Power. An underpowered ststem will crash, lockup and fail to boot (cyclic reboots). Your 6600 needs a minimum of 350 watts. Minimum. More is better. So, the PSU was a good idea, though it sounds like you may have a dud. Get that switched with a new one. Odd that the system would lock up even with a 4400MX, as that is not a high-power card.

3. A bad graphics card? Well, probably not. They don't usually cause a lockup, unless the card is overheating. Do the house fan thing, but it seems even more unlikely, given that it locks up with a 4400MX.

The BSOD message would be nice to have. Really nice. Can you possibly get that next time?

It will be a process of elimination.

Power saving options checked? Problem persists.

New PSU. Problem persists.

Heat issue looked at? Problem presists.

Graphics card changed; new 6600. Problem persists.

RAM. Switch them out one at a time to see if a module has gone south. Problem persists.

Mainboard. What can you do? Get a new one and see.

I can't think of much more right now. If you are in Seoul, I can swing over on the weekend to have a look for you. Let me know in a PM.

[Confused Canadian]

Hi Demophone,

Thanks for the quick reply...

What's got me confused is that before the monitor problems, the system was pretty stable. However, that problem only occurs with the 6600, not the 4400. I've never seen anything like it...it was more than just a crash / freeze...the monitor would go into "Power Saving Mode". Even turning the monitor on and off wouldn't help. Really strange...

Now, the computer is just freezing. In fact, the whole system is acting really strange...it took me several tries to connect my digital camera and upload my pictures yesterday. After connecting the camera to the USB cable, the computer would slow to a CRAWL (more than 60 seconds to respond to a mouse click), requiring a reboot. After several attempts, I was successful, but all the relevant drivers had already been installed and were previously working flawlessly.

The BSOD Error is the typical, "Your system was shut down to protect the computer...blah, blah, blah."

The Stop Error was: 0X000000 7F (0X00000000)

Not sure if that helps or not.

Honestly, I'd love to have you take a look at my system, but I'll wait until I get the 6600 back, and see what happens then. Thanks very much for the offer, though. I may take you up on it at a later date...if the offer still stands, or course.

[Demophobe]

The offer is always there.

Try swapping out the RAM. Remove all sticks, then boot using one at a time. Even boot into safe mode. Do some lockup-type activities for a while on each stick.

Try this program to test the memory as well.

It's the RAM or mainboard, but I'm going to put my money on bad RAM. A debugging will tell the tale if it's at least software or hardware related. A good summary of how to use debugging tools can be found here

[Confused Canadian]

Again, thanks for the tips (and the offer of help).

The computer guy finally came by and re-installed a new video card (another GeForce 6600). The tech guy in Yongsan said he couldn't find anything wrong with the original card, but they replaced it anyways. We'll see what happens for a while. Computer's been running for about an hour now with no lock ups....yippee!!

I'll take a look at the links you mentioned later...maybe tonight. Don't have time at the moment, but they're all interesting links. Good to have...

I'll post more later if my problems continue to persist, or let you know if things 'magically' clear up on their own....

Thanks again!