Help Required PC Problem

A

Archive7

Guest
I have a weird problem with my PC running Windows 7 Ultimate and has 16GB memory.
The PC stalls all of a sudden and I get these pictures on my monitor. Keyboard and mouse don't work in this case and I have to press on restart button.
I took the photos using a digital camera as print screen is not possible in such a case.
This has been going on for months and I tried lots of things that I found on the internet without success.
I thought it might be related with having only about 60GB of memory on the HDD and having an external HDD connected for backups.
There is a certain application that seems to cause if it is on for several hours, but today this problem happened only after 5 minutes of using this application. But I am not sure how to be certain if it is the culprit. Also VLC seems to cause such problem for other users but VLC wasn't even working today.
Anyway, please look at the photos and let me know if it tells you anything. Thanks.

IMG_2322S.JPGIMG_2321CS.JPG
 

4wd

Getting the picture
Joined
Dec 16, 2012
Messages
1,674
Reaction score
2,203
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
5 W, 9-13-19-28 E
My Location
Bergen, Norway \ Alpes Maritimes, France
I'd believe hardware failure, graphic card\chip or lcd ? Heat ? Bad contact cards\cables ?
To eliminate or confirm lcd, connect to some other lcd\tv .
 

pgh13

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
1,688
Reaction score
414
Points
83
Age
72
My Satellite Setup
XTrend ET8000, Dr HD 15, PC/twinhan combination. 80cm dish. GBPVR with 2 DTTV cards +hauppauge Media MVP +Raspberry Pi running XBMC
My Location
Midlands UK
My first thought was graphics card. Had one that suddenly did this all the time and spotted the dreaded bulging capacitors, so replaced and problem went away.
 
A

Archive7

Guest
I'd believe hardware failure, graphic card\chip or lcd ? Heat ? Bad contact cards\cables ?
To eliminate or confirm lcd, connect to some other lcd\tv .
Thanks. I didn't suspect the monitor till now.
Unfortunately I have only this LCD
 
A

Archive7

Guest
My first thought was graphics card. Had one that suddenly did this all the time and spotted the dreaded bulging capacitors, so replaced and problem went away.
Thanks. Graphic card is embedded in the motherboard. I shall need to order a graphic card to confirm this. Not cheap last time I checked.
Good idea anyway.
 

2cvbloke

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
9,768
Reaction score
1,808
Points
113
Age
38
My Satellite Setup
No satellite stuff for the moment (aside from a 43cm minidish that was on the house already), Samsung SyncMaster T27B550 Smart TV & Monitor, and a few computers...
My Location
Near Pontop Pike, Co. Durham
I'd say GPU too, seen those sorts of graphical nasties before when a GPU has overheated and failed, though being on the motherboard itself, there could be other parts that have overheated too, so might be cheaper to replace the board and improve cooling (if possible)... :)

And yes, graphics cards have gotten stupidly expensive with the rise of bitcoin miners thinking they can spend a craptonne of money to get little bits of money back, making people who want to use their computers for other uses, E.G. gaming, 3D modelling, video rendering, etc., suffer financially as a result...
 
A

Archive7

Guest
Thanks guys. I always thought it was a software problem and you suspect hardware.
Maybe it's time to take a closer look at the PC clean it and inspect the mother board for any visual signs.
I was hoping to rest this weekend but it seems I need to do this instead.
 

Mickha

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
5,974
Reaction score
884
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
1.2M Channel Master, 1224 motor, VU+ Duo 2
My Location
North West
To confirm a hardware problem, and not software related, try booting up in safe mode, which doesn't load the drivers, and see if it runs for any length of time, preferably overnight.
Why have you only got 60GB of space left on your hard drive?
How old is the PC and what Operating System are you running?
Have you started Task Manager, while the PC is running, by pressing the Ctrl, Alt and Delete key, at the same time, and checked the readings?
 
A

Archive7

Guest
To confirm a hardware problem, and not software related, try booting up in safe mode, which doesn't load the drivers, and see if it runs for any length of time, preferably overnight.
Why have you only got 60GB of space left on your hard drive?
How old is the PC and what Operating System are you running?
Have you started Task Manager, while the PC is running, by pressing the Ctrl, Alt and Delete key, at the same time, and checked the readings?
Thanks for the advice.
Internal HDD is only 500GB and I have cleaned it out of any large size videos.
Perhaps I need to defragment it but this takes a very long time and need to wait when I don't need it for a whole day.
PC is 5 years old. I am not going to build a new one any time soon as I have money problem ATM like everyone else.
As mentioned before, O/S is Windows 7 Ultimate.
Yes I checked task manager and closed any applications that were using too much from the CPU. But this problem can happen all of a sudden before I have a chance to check the Task Manager.
Usually when this happens there is a weird sound coming out of the speaker, but today it was quite.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
If that PC is an HP then be very careful as to what video card you get for it, they only use an authorized list of video cards for that make/model/year.

I had a customer that wanted an upgrade to a better video card with more video ram, we tried a new top of the line card, it worked for a few days till the PC locked up, I tried everything, then though .... Gee is the video card bad?... Removed it and rebooted, it worked good on the internal video.

Contacted the video card manufacture and low and behold that card was too new for his PC, it was not in the list stored in the BIOS for that motherboard.

So be very careful as to what you put into an HP machine, if it is an HP then contact HP for the correct type/brand to install for your PC.
 
A

Archive7

Guest
If that PC is an HP then be very careful as to what video card you get for it, they only use an authorized list of video cards for that make/model/year.
Not HP. I built it myself Motherboard is Intel. Unfortunately they stopped making MB.
 

dig deep

Prince of Birthdays
Staff member
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Messages
8,972
Reaction score
424
Points
83
My Satellite Setup
Dream7020 and AZ Elite and a few DM800
My Location
Sweden
I have a strange problem as well. Computer just stops. No warning. Just dies
I think it is a software problem as I am running a Microsoft (10) OS

Tested video and searched for heat problem but no.

Maybe some programs execute a string that MS takes for instant kill lol
 

pgh13

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Messages
1,688
Reaction score
414
Points
83
Age
72
My Satellite Setup
XTrend ET8000, Dr HD 15, PC/twinhan combination. 80cm dish. GBPVR with 2 DTTV cards +hauppauge Media MVP +Raspberry Pi running XBMC
My Location
Midlands UK
I have a strange problem as well. Computer just stops. No warning. Just dies
I think it is a software problem as I am running a Microsoft (10) OS

Tested video and searched for heat problem but no.

Maybe some programs execute a string that MS takes for instant kill lol

I'm quite rusty on PC probs, but....Any clues in the event logs? Is it a recent 'development?' Processor fan running OK? Does it restart happily; i.e. does it comment on abnormal shutdown?
 
A

Archive7

Guest
How long does it take before this happens and after reboot or is your PC dead now?
I would do a thorough scan for viruses to start with.
 

RustySpoons

Sleepy Hollow
Joined
Jan 31, 2018
Messages
2,345
Reaction score
1,278
Points
113
Age
42
My Satellite Setup
50E - 30W
2x CM 1.2m Polar Mount/Jack
65E- 65W
Gibertini 1m OP100 - STAB HH100 - Inverto Black Ultra 0.2 Twin
Mutant HD51
Edision Primo IP S2
Dreambox DM800HD
Venton Unibox HD2
Sony Bravia 55" 4K
My Location
South Wales
VRAM or RAM, wiggle the ram when it's on and see if it happens. Try reseating it and try running memtest off a bootable USB.
If it has a CPU based iGPU remove the GPU and test without it.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
I have a strange problem as well. Computer just stops. No warning. Just dies
I think it is a software problem as I am running a Microsoft (10) OS

Tested video and searched for heat problem but no.

Maybe some programs execute a string that MS takes for instant kill lol
Re-boot in safe mode and run all virus and malware scans that you have available.
 
A

Archive7

Guest
Also check msconfig and deselect anything that you don't want to run at startup and then hit restart.
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Not HP. I built it myself Motherboard is Intel. Unfortunately they stopped making MB.
It could be video ram overload if it's due to one app, the onboard graphics does not have a lot of video only ram assigned to it, if this is the case then it may be time for a new video card.
 
A

Archive7

Guest
It could be video ram overload if it's due to one app, the onboard graphics does not have a lot of video only ram assigned to it, if this is the case then it may be time for a new video card.
Thanks. I will look into it.
But I still think the problem is software related or a combination of s/w and hardware. Will do some cleaning up this weekend.
VLC is notorious for causing crashes and this problem happens most of the time when VLC is working in play mode (not recording)
 

Terryl

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,246
Reaction score
1,932
Points
113
Age
82
My Satellite Setup
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.

Custom built PC
My Location
Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
One thing to check is that the video chip heat-sink is dust free, (or if it has a fan is the fan turning) an app that uses a lot of video time can heat the onboard chip up very fast.

A very quick shot of canned air could check if this is the problem, but be careful as the canned air stuff can cause a total failure of the chip if hit with the liquid stuff in the can.

Also make sure the heat-sink is not blocked by and cables.
 
Top