Help! Blue Screen and I don't know why!

Toots

I'm hoping somebody can help me, I'm having a problem with my computer and I've no idea what to do, or what's causing it. Apologies in advance if this is a long post, but I want to try and include as much information as possible

Problem started last night, I turned on my computer and for some reason it looked to be in safe mode when it booted up, although when I put in my password and logged in, it wasn't in safe mode, all the icons were just huge and looked the way it does in safe mode. I rebooted, hit F8 to bring up the Boot menu and selected 'Start Normally'. It all seemed to be going well up until I had to put in my password to log in, I did that and then it switched itself off and started up again.

When it started up again I got this message on a black screen:

Windows Error Recovery
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

If Windows files have been damaged or configured incorrectly, Startup Repair can help diagnose and fix the problem. If power was interrupted during startup choose Start Windows Normally.
(Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice)

Launch Startup Repair (Recommended)
Start Windows Normally

So obviously, I selected Startup Repair thinking there must be a problem somewhere, but when I do, the screen just goes black for a second and the same message reappears. After trying that about 10 times, I decided to try 'Start Normally'. The "Starting Windows" screen with the red, green, yellow and blue logo animation appeared and then the computer rebooted.

So at this stage I thought something must have updated in the background and is causing a problem, so I went into the boot menu and tried to boot in Safe mode. It took several tries to get it to successfully boot in safe mode, and my plan was to do a system restore. HOWEVER, when I went in to do it, my computer wasn't detecting any save points or backups to restore from, which it should, because I had to to a system restore before Christmas. It also wouldn't let me create a backup because it said that the drive I boot windows off didn't have 70GB of space free, and it wouldn't let me use my other drive (has about 300GB free) because it needs to use the drive that windows boots from.

I tried to reboot again, and then everything seemed to be normal. I left it for about half an hour in case it was fixing stuff in the background and when it hadn't crashed or done anything else weird, I decided to stick on Fallout 4 (why I'd turned it on in the first place).

I use Steam for my games, so when I launched Fallout 4, the first thing it did was update Steam, then the game launched normally. I did notice it took slightly longer than usual to start up, but nothing major. So I was playing for about 5 mins and suddenly it crashed and I got a blue screen. The screen was only there for about 10 seconds so I didn't even get the chance to read what was on it before it disappeared.

At that point it was about 3am, so I didn't bother trying to restart and I just went to bed.

About an hour ago I thought I'd switch it on again and see what was going on. So to my surprise, it started up normally and seemingly without any issues at all. My first concern was the fact that the computer couldn't find any backup files, so I went in to see what I could do about that. The disc my computer boots from is G so I went and right clicked on it, got up properties, and thought it might be a good idea to scan it for errors. Clicked to start the scan and then...blue screen :mad: luckily I had my wits about me this time, so I managed to take a picture of it before it disappeared:



Admittedly, I understand very little of that, so I tried to reboot in Safe mode and it wouldn't let me. Eventually after a couple of tries, it looked to be starting to boot up, and then I got another blue screen. This one flashed up so quickly I didn't get a chance to photograph it before it disappeared, but I saw that near the top it said

FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA

Another attempt at starting in safe mode brought me back to the black screen I quoted above. And several more attempts to start up have resulted in another blue screen, which I did get a shot of this time:



Next time I tried to boot into safe mode, I've now got a black screen with a white mouse arrow in the middle of it and I don't know where to go from here because I'm afraid of damaging it.

Can anyone help please??

Here's as much info about my system as possible, unfortunately since my computer won't boot up now I can't get any more:

Desktop PC running Windows 7 64 bit
Processor: AMD FX-4300 Sockel AM3+ Quad Core 3.80 GHz
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 AM3+ ATX
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 EX OC 2GB GDDR5 2x DVI HDMI
Ram: 8GB

smuggler.ie

Hi
at the beginning <quote>.....I turned on my computer and for some reason it looked to be in safe mode when it booted up, although when I put in my password and logged in, it wasn't in safe mode, all the icons were just huge and looked the way it does in safe mode.....</quote> it sounds like graphics driver replaced with standard VGA driver (Vga.sys generic video driver). This is the driver that Windows uses in Safe mode. This could be graphics card failure/near miss issue. Would you be capable to replace graphics card if you have spare one (looks like MB don't have one on-board), it might be worth to try?

200motels

Toots wrote: »

I'm hoping somebody can help me, I'm having a problem with my computer and I've no idea what to do, or what's causing it. Apologies in advance if this is a long post, but I want to try and include as much information as possible

Problem started last night, I turned on my computer and for some reason it looked to be in safe mode when it booted up, although when I put in my password and logged in, it wasn't in safe mode, all the icons were just huge and looked the way it does in safe mode. I rebooted, hit F8 to bring up the Boot menu and selected 'Start Normally'. It all seemed to be going well up until I had to put in my password to log in, I did that and then it switched itself off and started up again.

When it started up again I got this message on a black screen:



So obviously, I selected Startup Repair thinking there must be a problem somewhere, but when I do, the screen just goes black for a second and the same message reappears. After trying that about 10 times, I decided to try 'Start Normally'. The "Starting Windows" screen with the red, green, yellow and blue logo animation appeared and then the computer rebooted.

So at this stage I thought something must have updated in the background and is causing a problem, so I went into the boot menu and tried to boot in Safe mode. It took several tries to get it to successfully boot in safe mode, and my plan was to do a system restore. HOWEVER, when I went in to do it, my computer wasn't detecting any save points or backups to restore from, which it should, because I had to to a system restore before Christmas. It also wouldn't let me create a backup because it said that the drive I boot windows off didn't have 70GB of space free, and it wouldn't let me use my other drive (has about 300GB free) because it needs to use the drive that windows boots from.

I tried to reboot again, and then everything seemed to be normal. I left it for about half an hour in case it was fixing stuff in the background and when it hadn't crashed or done anything else weird, I decided to stick on Fallout 4 (why I'd turned it on in the first place).

I use Steam for my games, so when I launched Fallout 4, the first thing it did was update Steam, then the game launched normally. I did notice it took slightly longer than usual to start up, but nothing major. So I was playing for about 5 mins and suddenly it crashed and I got a blue screen. The screen was only there for about 10 seconds so I didn't even get the chance to read what was on it before it disappeared.

At that point it was about 3am, so I didn't bother trying to restart and I just went to bed.

About an hour ago I thought I'd switch it on again and see what was going on. So to my surprise, it started up normally and seemingly without any issues at all. My first concern was the fact that the computer couldn't find any backup files, so I went in to see what I could do about that. The disc my computer boots from is G so I went and right clicked on it, got up properties, and thought it might be a good idea to scan it for errors. Clicked to start the scan and then...blue screen :mad: luckily I had my wits about me this time, so I managed to take a picture of it before it disappeared:



Admittedly, I understand very little of that, so I tried to reboot in Safe mode and it wouldn't let me. Eventually after a couple of tries, it looked to be starting to boot up, and then I got another blue screen. This one flashed up so quickly I didn't get a chance to photograph it before it disappeared, but I saw that near the top it said

FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA

Another attempt at starting in safe mode brought me back to the black screen I quoted above. And several more attempts to start up have resulted in another blue screen, which I did get a shot of this time:



Next time I tried to boot into safe mode, I've now got a black screen with a white mouse arrow in the middle of it and I don't know where to go from here because I'm afraid of damaging it.

Can anyone help please??

Here's as much info about my system as possible, unfortunately since my computer won't boot up now I can't get any more:

Desktop PC running Windows 7 64 bit
Processor: AMD FX-4300 Sockel AM3+ Quad Core 3.80 GHz
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 AM3+ ATX
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 EX OC 2GB GDDR5 2x DVI HDMI
Ram: 8GB

The lads over at sevenforums will help you out. Have a look at this http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/201437-bsod-windows-7-x64-nvlddmkm-sys-dxgkrnl-sys-dxgmms1-sys.html it seems as if it's your graphics card, have you tried the onboard graphics?

http://www.sevenforums.com/

swoofer

Just something else to check, the latest issue of computeractive has a message on cover that says" windows 7 update destroys PC's" and it give a fix on page 42. Lots of readers have had problems. Now it may not be yours but worth a check.

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Hi
at the beginning <quote>.....I turned on my computer and for some reason it looked to be in safe mode when it booted up, although when I put in my password and logged in, it wasn't in safe mode, all the icons were just huge and looked the way it does in safe mode.....</quote> it sounds like graphics driver replaced with standard VGA driver (Vga.sys generic video driver). This is the driver that Windows uses in Safe mode. This could be graphics card failure/near miss issue. Would you be capable to replace graphics card if you have spare one (looks like MB don't have one on-board), it might be worth to try?

I'd be able to take it out of the tower and put a new one in, if that's what you mean. Not sure about any software side though. I haven't got a spare lying around at the minute, although my bro in law might, I'll get the hubby to check. I just pulled out my graphics card there now, and it's absolutely caked in dust, so I'm going to try giving it a good clean and see if that does anything.

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

I'd be able to take it out of the tower and put a new one in, if that's what you mean. Not sure about any software side though. I haven't got a spare lying around at the minute, although my bro in law might, I'll get the hubby to check. I just pulled out my graphics card there now, and it's absolutely caked in dust, so I'm going to try giving it a good clean and see if that does anything.

Same time check/clean rest of : CPU heatsink and fan, chassis fans, etc. use soft bristle brush, mind : pull power cord out, ESD - ground yourself to chassis. If gonna use hoover be careful as it can generate a lot of ESD.
Good luck

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Same time check/clean rest of : CPU heatsink and fan, chassis fans, etc. use soft bristle brush, mind : pull power cord out, ESD - ground yourself to chassis. If gonna use hoover be careful as it can generate a lot of ESD.
Good luck

I'm in over my head here!! I probably could have cleaned the inside of the tower better, but I was concerned about damaging anything in there. Also didn't want to do too much to the processor because I've no thermal paste in the house if I accidentally move it or something.

I downloaded that Driver Sweeper thing, and cleared off all the NVidia software, but now I'm having trouble unpacking the file with the up-to-date drivers for the card.

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

I'm in over my head here!! I probably could have cleaned the inside of the tower better, but I was concerned about damaging anything in there. Also didn't want to do too much to the processor because I've no thermal paste in the house if I accidentally move it or something.

I downloaded that Driver Sweeper thing, and cleared off all the NVidia software, but now I'm having trouble unpacking the file with the up-to-date drivers for the card.

Can I assume that after cleaning graphics got back to work?

smuggler.ie

Latest driver you can find here: http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/102065 ,as much as know it includes whole bunch,
or you can leave it to windows update:D

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Can I assume that after cleaning graphics got back to work?

Not quite, it's still displaying as though it's in safe mode. My hubby is going to put Ubuntu on it and try to see if we can download the drivers through that (for some reason we can download that file but I keep getting 7 zip errors when trying to execute)

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

Not quite, it's still displaying as though it's in safe mode. My hubby is going to put Ubuntu on it and try to see if we can download the drivers through that (for some reason we can download that file but I keep getting 7 zip errors when trying to execute)

OK, at least you got PC back with no BSOD's.
See my last post (wont involve .zip) unless you have reason not to go that way.

smuggler.ie

BTW what your Device manager look like now?

Toots

Um, no idea at the minute, my hubby has Ubuntu running on it and is trying to check the drives for errors. It's showing up that the ATA output registers are missing (way beyond my comprehension at this stage ) He has managed to get the Nvidia drivers installed though.

Toots

OK, after much working on it by my husband, it's looking like the problem is either the memory, or the hard drive, or both. Unfortunately I haven't got any spare RAM knocking around to swap out and see if that improves anything.

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

OK, after much working on it by my husband, it's looking like the problem is either the memory, or the hard drive, or both. Unfortunately I haven't got any spare RAM knocking around to swap out and see if that improves anything.

:eek:
What makes you think like this?
What state PC in now?

Toots

My husband brought a spare gpu home from his brother's and swapped it out and it kept getting a blue screen when I tried to load up a game. He brought my Gpu over to his brother's and put it in his PC and it worked perfectly so I suppose in a way I'm glad cos the graphics cards are so expensive, but I still don't know what's wrong.

smuggler.ie

IMO if you have RAM or drive(c:/)problem you PC wouldn't boot at all.
POST would give some indication on RAM failure.
Do you have any beeps/internal LED light flashes at startup, if yes ..many?Check with AsRock support for meanings .

Back to graphics.
So PC boots with original card and BSOD's with havy load (game) only. Does it run OK without game(resolution ,dual monitor, recognized in Device manager, etc.)?

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

IMO if you have RAM or drive(c:/)problem you PC wouldn't boot at all.
POST would give some indication on RAM failure.
Do you have any beeps/internal LED light flashes at startup, if yes ..many?Check with AsRock support for meanings .

I haven't heard any beeps at start up, and can't see any lights but I'll try booting it up with the side off the tower so I can see inside. It's VERY difficult to get it it boot up at all, the best way I can describe it is it almost gets stuck in a boot loop - I'll get the ASRock splash screen, then the Windows Error Recovery screen, and then no matter which option I select, it reboots and the same thing happens again. It took me about 15 goes to get it to boot up in safe mode last night. I decided to just boot it up into windows and leave it run for a while on the desktop without anything open and see what happened. It sat ok for about half an hour or so, then I got another BSOD, but it appeared so briefly I didn't the chance to get the error code numbers off it. The only thing I did notice was that it didn't give any reason at the top like the others did (System service exception, etc)

Back to graphics.
So PC boots with original card and BSOD's with havy load (game) only. Does it run OK without game(resolution ,dual monitor, recognized in Device manager, etc.)?

Once we reinstalled the drivers for the card, the resolution was perfect, haven't had a chance to check in device manager yet. I'm out at the minute so I'll have to try it when I get home (hopefully it'll boot for me)

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

... It sat ok for about half an hour or so, then I got another BSOD, but it appeared so briefly I didn't the chance to get the error code numbers off it. The only thing I did notice was that it didn't give any reason at the top like the others did (System service exception, etc)...

If you get PC running do not attempt to do any work on it just let it run , and monitor if fans start spin faster and produce more noise, specifically VGA and CPU( possibility of overheat ). It had happened to me time ago.Fans would run mad and noisy , BSOD for few milliseconds and complete system shutdown ( to prevent possible damage of components).Heatsink was completely clogged with dust so could not went properly.

Toots

Toots wrote: »

OK, after much working on it by my husband, it's looking like the problem is either the memory, or the hard drive, or both. Unfortunately I haven't got any spare RAM knocking around to swap out and see if that improves anything.

RAM is definitely plausible, especially considering that you said you were getting errors when attempting to open the downloaded file. Use MemTest86 or the Windows Memory Diagnostic to test.

smuggler.ie wrote: »

IMO if you have RAM or drive(c:/)problem you PC wouldn't boot at all.

A PC can boot with bad RAM, it depends on how bad it is. It could be good enough to allow the system to POST, but corrupts whatever is put in the bad cells. Could cause anything from corrupted downloads to blue screens.

smuggler.ie

Karsini wrote: »

RAM is definitely plausible, especially considering that you said you were getting errors when attempting to open the downloaded file. Use MemTest86 or the Windows Memory Diagnostic to test.


A PC can boot with bad RAM, it depends on how bad it is. It could be good enough to allow the system to POST, but corrupts whatever is put in the bad cells. Could cause anything from corrupted downloads to blue screens.

Have to admit, my statement about RAM was somewhat harsh.

ressem

Just in case...
Have you tried plugging out the PC for 2 minutes or so? I.e no physical power connection to the motherboard / power supply
(modern PCs keep a trickle of power going to the motherboard after a normal shutdown).

There's programs such as http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
that will attempt to look at the bluescreen minidump fault files for the underlying cause.

(There are online versions such as http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=Analyze) but be mindful that the memory upload could contain password info.

There doesn't appear to be a memory test built into the BIOS of that Asrock motherboard, you could try running the software
http://www.memtest.org/ using a bootable CD or USB key (the USB key will be wiped of whatever is on it.)

Other options..
Going into the starting BIOS of the computer (F2 after power up )
You might try the Asrock BIOS update from within the BIOS (Page 45, ftp://europe.asrock.com/Manual/970 Pro3.pdf requires a wired network connection to the internet) might be worth a try.

ressem

ressem wrote: »

Other options..
Going into the starting BIOS of the computer (F2 after power up )
You might try the Asrock BIOS update from within the BIOS (Page 45, ftp://europe.asrock.com/Manual/970 Pro3.pdf requires a wired network connection to the internet) might be worth a try.

I definitely wouldn't advise doing a BIOS update if bad RAM is a possible culprit. Could possibly brick the motherboard.

ressem

Karsini wrote: »

I definitely wouldn't advise doing a BIOS update if bad RAM is a possible culprit. Could possibly brick the motherboard.

Yeah, I'll accept that criticism. Sorry OP, just typing possible causes that I've seen result in nvidia driver related bluescreens.

So: safe diagnostic options, after making a copy of your important files.
Full power-off
Run memtest.
Run a full hard drive checkdisk. (that code from SMART about the ATA registers is normal. It'd be the SMART error count that'd be the one to worry about)
Run a windows system file check sfc.exe
Reseat the memory by lifting each DIMM out of it's slot and putting it back.
If the PC has 4 ram slots used, try running the computer with just two fitted.

Your PC isn't overclocked is it?

Toots

Thanks for all the help guys! Was at a family party yesterday so didn't get to do any work on the computer, but on the plus side we got some thermal paste off the brother in law!

My PC isn't overclocked, it'd be a bit out of my grasp knowledge wise.

Since we now have thermal paste, we took the whole PC apart and gave everything a thorough cleaning; the heatsink was VERY clogged up with dust, so that was definitely contributing to the problem. Since we put it back together, I haven't had any more BOSDs, and we're able to do things like watch Netflix and stream as normal. I also managed to get Fallout 4 and Skyrim to load up, but if I got into any 'crowded' areas or battle scenes, the computer freezes. My hubby reckons the RAM is probably on the way out - it's the only bit we haven't been able to test. Turns out everyone else we know has DDR2 RAM and we've got DDR3.

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

Thanks for all the help guys! Was at a family party yesterday so didn't get to do any work on the computer, but on the plus side we got some thermal paste off the brother in law!

My PC isn't overclocked, it'd be a bit out of my grasp knowledge wise.

Since we now have thermal paste, we took the whole PC apart and gave everything a thorough cleaning; the heatsink was VERY clogged up with dust, so that was definitely contributing to the problem. Since we put it back together, I haven't had any more BOSDs, and we're able to do things like watch Netflix and stream as normal. I also managed to get Fallout 4 and Skyrim to load up, but if I got into any 'crowded' areas or battle scenes, the computer freezes. My hubby reckons the RAM is probably on the way out - it's the only bit we haven't been able to test. Turns out everyone else we know has DDR2 RAM and we've got DDR3.

1.Once you got so far with re-seating heatsink, you might do the same to GPU.There are some tools to monitor CPU, GPU state ,one of them http://openhardwaremonitor.org/ , might try to see if GPU not run to hot.
2.Run memtest as it was suggested (one stick at the time),memtest86 or http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ie/windows7/diagnosing-memory-problems-on-your-computer. This gonna take long time.DDR3 these days not to expensive.

As usually do one thing at the time and test system if it helped.

Toots

Yeah at least if it is the RAM it's not too pricey to replace. I remember when I built it initially the ram was something like €80 for the 8gb whereas now I can get 2 8gb sticks for about €60.

I'm running the memory diagnostics thing now, so we shall see what that says.....

Toots

Memory diagnostics hasn't shown up anything.

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

Memory diagnostics hasn't shown up anything.

Witch tool you ran?
Is the PC still BSOD'ing (with/without games)?
How is PC performance in general?

Toots

I used the windows one and it didn't detect anything. I've only got the one 8gb stick in there, we tried it in the other slot but no difference.

The odd thing now is I was playing Skyrim yesterday and it did crash after a while, but all that happened was that I was thrown out to the desktop - no BSOD. Same thing happened when I tried Fallout 4, although I only got about 5 mins play time before I got kicked out to the desktop.

Later last night I was streaming a TV show, I binge watched several episodes and then out of nowhere I got a BSOD. It was only on the screen briefly so I didn't get the codes, but the computer restarted normally.

We stuck on Netflix with Task Manager open at the same time to monitor CPU and memory usage, and the only odd thing my hubby noticed was that the memory usage just kept creeping up and up, so we're not sure was it a case that the memory use eventually got so high that it caused a BSOD?

Have to wait until pay-day to order some more ram, but in the meantime, we were planning to re-install Windows this evening and see if that improves anything.

smuggler.ie

Have a look at this, might be handy(had never used my self)
http://www.piriform.com/speccy
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
Also Event Viewer can give some info
Also in Task Manager watch not performance but processes tab to see what application or process eats the RAM, etc.

Toots

That bluescreen viewer thing is great! It's showing the same driver causing the error on all my minidump files, and it's the ntoskrnl.exe after googling it a lot of the results I got seem to point to bad RAM.

ressem

Are there any items just above / below the NTOSKRNL highlighted?
It isn't a driver itself, it's the core part of the windows operating system to which drivers talk. So it'll see garbage coming from the problem driver and shut down to protect other parts of the system

e.g.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bluescreenview.gif

Or can you use the printscreen button on the keyboard to take a snapshot of the nirsoft screen and post it here?

Toots

No, it's the only thing highlighted in red.

smuggler.ie

Hi Toots,
Any updates?

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Hi Toots,
Any updates?

Sorry for not posting any updates I went on holidays and it turned out we didn't have internet access where I was staying.

We managed to get ahold of some DDR3 ram, so we stuck that in, and I haven't had any blue screens in the last 24 hours (since we put the ram in) BUT the monitor (TV) isn't always detecting the PC. The computer is on, and running, but nothing is showing up on the monitor at all, it's just saying 'no signal' so it looks like the PC isn't giving any output at all. It's connected by a HDMI cable, so we've tried a different cable, and a different port on the TV but nothing helped.

smuggler.ie

Hi
Can you confirm your GPU recognized in <Device Manager>( screenshot if possible)
Check if TV input correct( on TV setup/menu source settings -> HDMI1, HDMI2, etc. )
Try use DVI or VGA cable if supported by TV/GPU ( select input source on TV accordingly )
Could you check on different monitor

...BUT the monitor (TV) isn't always detecting the PC....

could you clarify above statement. Did it worked at any point after replacing RAM?

Toots

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Hi
Can you confirm your GPU recognized in <Device Manager>( screenshot if possible)
Check if TV input correct( on TV setup/menu source settings -> HDMI1, HDMI2, etc. )
Try use DVI or VGA cable if supported by TV/GPU ( select input source on TV accordingly )
Could you check on different monitor

GPU is recognised, here's a pic of the screen:



The input is correct, we tried it in HDMI1, 2 and 3 and same result. At the minute we don't have a different monitor and we tried a VGA cable on the GPU (no VGA port on motherboard) but it was still the same.

could you clarify above statement. Did it worked at any point after replacing RAM?

It did, but it's weird, it's like every second time we boot up the PC it's not giving any output to the TV. First time we booted it up, it was grand except that the taskbar at the bottom of the desktop screen was solid, and it's usually transparent. So I tried to reboot and we got 'no signal', then we rebooted again, and it did display, but again the taskbar wasn't displaying properly.

Toots

Is it possible that when we stuck the GPU into my bro in law's computer and it worked fine that it was just a fluke, and that there is an issue with the GPU?

smuggler.ie

What connection you used that time(HDMI, DVI, VGA), was that proper monitor or TV?
Could you get your bros GPU tested on your PC again and yours in his PC( run load ).
Mean time try reduce resolution and see if it makes change.
Also check if taskbar settings are what you expect them to be.
Did you try to run load on GPU ( game )?
Uninstall GPU over <Device Manager> , then <scan for hardware changes> to see if it is recognized properly.
Consider to run some GPU testing tool( google it )

Try one thing at the time and check outcome.

Toots

We used the TV with a HDMI connection and then also tried it with a VGA on the TV - we don't have a spare monitor.
As luck would have it the bro in law left for his holidays this morning, so we can't get at his computer to test my GPU.
Games are doing something really odd now - not sure if it's the same thing that's causing the issues with the task bar, but when I load up say Fallout or Skyrim, they'll load up but the game speeds up to a massive degree, to the point that it's unplayable Like if I'm trying to run, it's so fast it's uncontrollable. Couldn't play the games for long enough to really put the GPU under a load.
We stuck on Netflix there a few hours ago and after it was running fine for about 90 mins to 2 hrs, but then all of a sudden we got a BROWN screen!! (No text or anything, just a solid brown screen) we could still hear the sound etc perfectly, so as far as we could tell Netflix was still running fine, but the problem was with the display.

We uninstalled the GPU with device manager, but then it didn't detect it again until we re-seated it. Then we had to re-download the graphics card drivers, however the problem is still there. The PC will boot up to the desktop after being powered off completely (taskbar is still not displaying properly) but if we try to re-boot, that's when we get the output problems.

Changing resolution didn't seem to make any difference. Just looking for GPU testing tool now.

Toots

Left Netflix playing there for about another hour, and this time got a white screen. Same as before, the sound was playing fine, just the screen was completely white. Haven't had time to find a GPU tester, so will do that while my little boy is in school in the morning, I'll have a bit of time then.

PeterTheEighth

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Uninstall GPU over <Device Manager> , then <scan for hardware changes> to see if it is recognized properly.
Consider to run some GPU testing tool( google it )

I'd make sure that the card is seated correctly and properly fixed to the chassis of the PC.

Toots

Got my husband to check it this morning and it's definitely seated correctly and attached fully. How long does a GPU last? I've only had it since November 2014, didn't think bits would be dying already.

Hubby took the old ram into work today and is going to stick it in a motherboard there to see if it causes problems.

Toots

Well it's fixed! Finally!

My husband exchanged GPUs with a colleague for a night - he took the colleague's one and the colleague took mine home to see what happened. My PC functioned perfectly with the borrowed GPU but the colleague experienced a lot of the problems I had (taskbar not displaying properly, games unplayable, display problems when watching Netflix etc)

So we ordered a new GPU on Amazon and it came in on Friday. Just out of interest, we tried running the PC with the new GPU and the old ram, but we got another blue screen, so it appeared that both the RAM and the GPU died.

In an unrelated (or so we thought) event, the base for our landline died a couple of days before the trouble started with the PC. The PC and the phone were plugged into the same socket. My husband took it out of the wall just to see was there anything obviously wrong with it, and when we opened it up, the whole inside was all scorched. He reckons it must have been shorting or arcing inside the socket and that might have damaged the PC and phone.

I suppose the one good thing to come out of all this is I now have 16gb of RAM instead of 8gb, and when we got the new GPU we upgraded to the Geforce 950.

Thank you so much for all the help!!!

smuggler.ie

Toots wrote: »

Well it's fixed! Finally!

I suppose the one good thing to come out of all this is I now have 16gb of RAM instead of 8gb, and when we got the new GPU we upgraded to the Geforce 950.

Thank you so much for all the help!!!

Glad that you got sorted.

Old saying states: All is well what ends well