PC has become unstable - help please

PixelChef

PixelChef

PixelChef

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Joined
8 Oct 2007
Posts
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Recently, my PC has been getting quite a lot of blue screens. These usually occur when I run a game, pretty much every game I have tried causes a BSOD either just after it has opened, when it loads a level, or at certain points in the game. It has also had a BSOD once or twice just browsing the web etc. The BSOD is always the same, I can't remember the message it says, but I could try to look next time, if that would help.

I thought this could be caused by my cpu overclock so I reset my cmos, but still exactly same problem. Could this be caused by dieing ram or gfx card? Would it be worth trying a full reinstall?

Spec:

Q6600 2.4ghz
4GB Crucial Ballistix 6400C4 duel channel
8800GTX
Vista Home Premium 64 bit

The system was fine before about a week or two ago, and then these BSOD suddenly started happening, I didn't change anything. I don't really know what to do. Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you.
 
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Does it happen in a particular game?

Try the usual, make sure your hotfixes and drivers are upto date.

Make sure also you RAM settings are correct too. Try setting the vdimm to 2.1v and slacken the timings a bit. See if this makes any difference.
 
Run anti virus, but the best thing imo is a reformat, once a virus gets in it can damage the OS and make it unstable even if you have removed it.
 
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Well the last few virus I had made bsods just got one last night removed it all with avir and unhackme but still getting bsods so am going to reformat.
It's no coicidence that when I start gettings bsods I always have a virus found upon scanning.
Run avir anti virus classic and avg, see if you have any trojans or agents
 
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It happens in every game I have tried. Temps on processor are fine around 20-30 or each core. Pretty sure my RAM settings are fine, but will check them. Ran an anti virus allready, nothing. I will run Memtest now. Thanks for help so far :)
 
Just did Memtest. Using the windows version (hope that one is ok? never used memtest before) tested 1 stick, 0 errors, so I decided to try a game to see if the BSOD still occured. Loaded up CoD4, joined a game, and BSOD at 100% loading, same as before. Tried another stick, in a different slot, 0 errors, same BSOD on CoD4.

That would eliminate the problem being with RAM would it not? Unless the test was not reliable and both sticks were faulty?

I read the top of the BSOD this time, it said: 'Nv4_mini.sys' if that helps.

Also checked RAM settings, it has 1.8v going through it, 2:3 ratio and 5-5-5-18 timings. The settings before I reset CMOS were 2.1v, 1:1 and same timings I think.
 
Sorry for the late update, I have run Avast and Spybot again, they found nothing. All drivers are up to date I think. Memtest comes up with 0 errors, and the BSOD still occurs with each stick in only. I've tried a single stick in different slots aswell. RAM settings are fine (I think?) Posted them above. PC is not overheating.

Kinda stuck on what to do next.. could graphics card be damaged? maybe it's time for a format?

Thanks for your time.
 
pcAnywhere said:
What anti-virus are you using? I had a load of BSODs when I moved to AVG8.0 from 7.n

Switched to Avast and everything was normal again
Click to expand...

Now then!!! I've been getting BSODS since June. PC was rock-like before that. Wasn't the end of May one of the 'deadlines' set by AVG for switching over to version 8? I'm sure I switched around then. Hmm...
 
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