Computer crashing-- help please =(

[Aroith]

Hi, I loaded up everquest yesterday and it crashed once i went in the world. Then when i clicked on everquest I would get a memory dump error ( i forget exact error message). I then clicked on battlefield 3 and it gave me a direct x error message. Diablo 3 gave me a d3d error. Now my computer crashes seconds after loading windows and I get a blue screen. The computer is relatively new, 6 months? Always worked perfect. I didn't use it for a month then when I loaded it up yesterday this problem happened. Only thing that happened when I first boot up the computer is windows updated. My best guess is the graphics card is not working? Any ideas? The graphics card is new and worked perfect last time I used my computer. I doubt everquest would burn out a new gtx 580. I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks guys!

[Lostprophets]

I'd personally try to either;

A.) Uninstall/Reinstall graphics Drivers.
B.) Reinstall Windows


If your getting a BSOD, i don't think it's just your graphics

[Swish]

Is it a self-build PC? Have you gone to any CD key generator sites for PC games or anything like that? (usually plagued with all kinds of viruses).

Definitely reinstall Windows, something horribly wrong there.

[Slave]

Sounds like you went with a budget PC kit and didn't upgrade your PSU.

[JackFlash]

There is a stop error located in the BSoD. That will give you a clue as to where you should start looking...

Alternately sometimes those errors show up in the event log.

I also second what slave said. If you have less wattage than your gtx560 is rated for your going to have weird issues.

[Tasslehofp99]

Hi, I loaded up everquest yesterday and it crashed once i went in the world. Then when i clicked on everquest I would get a memory dump error ( i forget exact error message). I then clicked on battlefield 3 and it gave me a direct x error message. Diablo 3 gave me a d3d error. Now my computer crashes seconds after loading windows and I get a blue screen. The computer is relatively new, 6 months? Always worked perfect. I didn't use it for a month then when I loaded it up yesterday this problem happened. Only thing that happened when I first boot up the computer is windows updated. My best guess is the graphics card is not working? Any ideas? The graphics card is new and worked perfect last time I used my computer. I doubt everquest would burn out a new gtx 580. I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks guys!


I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but after that recent patch that fixed people's corpses poofing...I had similar errors and the only thing that fixed it was reinstalling EQ from scratch.

[Variant]

Interesting - another coincidence is that it seems as if it was since the recent patch that the problem with the "slow client" arose. The "slow client" apparently has something to do with the MaxFPS setting, again related to the video system. See the "slow unplayableness" thread for more info.

[Slave]

I'm pretty confident his PSU isn't sufficient for his system.

[Arrngrim79]

Also, never underestimate a heat issue. Heat is the #1 enemy of PC's and any electronic device. My self-built system did GREAT for months until it started BSOD'ing randomly, then it got more persistent until finally it was happening too often and I finally tried fixing it. Tried everything I could think of, some of the same stuff listed above, then I decided to try running it with the side of the case off. Hells bells it hasn't BSOD'd since, and that was over a year ago. Frankly I'm just too lazy to get more fans/work on cooling it better, and I know the dust isn't helping it while open, but meh....

[Variant]

If by "graphics card is new" you mean you replaced a prior graphics card, I agree with Slave that you need to assess your power situation. I have seen some cases where a new graphics card where the additional required power cabling was not connected! If your graphics card has a power connector, make sure you have all power cabling properly installed, and - as Slave suggests - make sure the PSU has enough power.
I also had a system like Arrn (and the subject system), that worked for months then started failing randomly. In that case it turned out that the plastic bracket that held the heat sink to the CPU had cracked, and was not supporting the contact that was required for appropriate heat transfer. If the graphic card has not been changed, and the system was working fine for some time, the first thing to do is reseat all of your components (graphics cards, memory cards, cables, etc.), and if that doesn't help look for is some physical breakage (easiest thing to spot).
Software would not have "burned" the graphics card, but it is possible if you find no physical reason for the problem that some software component was corrupted. That's a bit more difficult to track down.

[Aroith]

Thanks for the responses. I built this computer myself and I have 1000 w psu. I always watch the temperatures of my hardware. I keep my graphics card always around 60's c when gaming and my processor cooler. I did a memtest and the ram is fine. So i am hoping it is a software problem. I will reinstall windows tonight, hopefully that works! Appreciate the responses. If the graphics card is broken or the psu is damaged is there any tests I can do myself at home to verify it?

[Aroith]

Yesterday I did take apart my entire computer too look for physical damage. I dusted everything and all the hardware looked perfect. So hoping reinstalling windows will fix it. If it is a hardware problem, everything is still under warranty, but I want to figure out what specifically is broken so i can send it in. I don't want to take it to a computer shop so they can tell me for $200 haha. Again i appreciate the help!! I want to get back to questing =)

[Aroith]

I re-installed windows and it worked perfect for a few days. It did windows 7 updates. One of the updates failed. And now it randomly crashes and I get the same blue screen message. It basically is a default blue screen (saying if hardware/software has been changed etc...) but it also says about updating bios. I guess next thing to do is updating the bios? Could an outdated bios be the cause of windows not updating properly??? Because the problem first started after a windows update. Now that i re-installed windows again it updated and problem is back.

[Variant]

Hopefully, you have your system set up to take periodic snapshots for system backup/restore. If so, first thing to do is to try to restore the system state from a snapshot that was taken prior to the update that you believed caused the problem and see if the problem goes away.