BSOD and Switching to Power Saving Mode all the time

[J-FRO]

New Graphics Card? BSOD and Switching to Power Saving Mode all the time

Hi ladies and gents, I've got a problem with my PC and as I think it's hardware related and I was thinking of solving this with a purchase from OverClockers I figured this community would be best at helping me to figure out whether I'm right or not.

I bought my PC back in 2008, its a Dell (here we go eh?!) XPS 420

Came with Windows Vista 32-bit which I updated last June to Windows 7 32-bit. The rest of the specs were as follows:

Intel Quad Core @ 2.4Ghz
4GB RAM
750GB HDD
Radeon HD 3870 x2

Around the end of November 2010 my miniviewer told me one day that one of the RAM cards was detected but wasn't working so I done a trial and error and removed the faulty card knowing 32-bit Windows 7 will only recognise up to 3GB RAM anyway.

Shortly after I purchased a case exhaust, this one to be precise:

http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...WmPI_8xAXWzp36DQ&sa=title&ved=0CAkQ8wIwADgA#p

I figured as one RAM card had already blown, it couldn't do any harm to slot this in and try to keep my graphics card extra cool to prolong its life a little.

Then at Christmas I hooked a new TV up to my PC as second monitor via an HDMI cable with an HDMI adapter that came with my PC.

Around 2 weeks ago I started my PC up again one morning and it told me the system had not been shut down properly, which it had been as I always do. I ignored this and carried on. About 10 minutes later, the screen started going funny. It switched into power saving mode, came back on again, went back to power saving mode and then refused to do anything.

I turned it of. Started it back up again one or two more times and the same stuff happened all over again.

I finally managed to get it started in safe mode and received the following problem info:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: f4
BCP1: 00000003
BCP2: 889CF5A0
BCP3: 889CF70C
BCP4: 8327EDD0
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\010711-30716-01.dmp
C:\Users\Joe\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-89326-0.sysdata.xml

I then restarted it again and got the same message on my miniviewer about the RAM being detected but not functioning. So again, i carried out a trial and error and removed a card and ended up with just 2GB RAM left. I thought as this was the problem I'd install more RAM and that would solve it. I bought 2GB of GEIL DDR2 from OC's installed it, but it did not solve the problem.

I regularly give the insides a little vacuum to remove dust from the fans and mobo etc and so it shouldn't be that. I've also removed all RAM cards and the graphics card, blown any dust out of the sockets and put everything back and still nothing.

My only thoughts are that it could be my graphics card and before purchasing one I figured i'd try and get some proper advice on what the issue is.

Here's a couple of pics of whats been coming up on my screen so you can see what I mean by funny lines and disorientated text:

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g393/spursjb395/photo.jpg

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g393/spursjb395/photo2.jpg

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g393/spursjb395/photo1.jpg

Any help with this guys before I buy would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

EDIT: Been reading around a little, could this perhaps be a PSU problem instead?

 

[J-FRO]

Sorry if I come across rude for bumping this, just kind of posted at a forum low traffic period last night and noticed this dropped down the list a little way.

Once again though, will be very grateful for any help or advice anyone can give me.

Cheers

 

[eddyc]

It does strike me that it could be a PSU problem. The way you describe it flicking into low power mode reminds me of how laptops act when their chargers are on the blink, they keep flicking between AC and battery. I dont know how you could check that though. Might inconsistant power supply from the PSU cause the comp to act like that?

Is there any chance it could just be a software problem. Might be worth reinstalling the OS before doing anything else just in case you have a corrupted OS or something (at least that is free to try). Those screen shots do make that seem kind of unlikely though.

Since you have a dell - have you tried dell support? I guess it will be out of warranty but you might be able to talk to them, I dont know...

 

[J-FRO]

Hmmm maybe when I installed the case exhaust, could that have somehow affected the PSU? Are electrical components ever known to cause a power surge elsewhere in the PC which could damage something like the graphics card?