Somets fried! but what?!

Blackhorse · 29 May 2006 at 17:35

I posted this in the Operating systems issues earlier on.

Ok im going to start with a confession! On another forum i vist i saw some people talking about a windows Vista theme that didnt alter your operating system itself but more just changed the look.
Blindly i went forward and installed said theme!

Then it went pear shaped my computer just kept rebooting randomly saying there was a critical error with a video driver.
I thought stuff this and removed the theme.

Only problem was it kept doing it!
Till its got to the stage where windows wont boot.

Ive been at this disaster road in my life before and thought if i just put the XP disk into the system and tell it to either repair or over install it would sort it (previously worked for me!)

Only problem is that when i put to XP disk after it go's through all the installing temp drivers to run the disk i get a blue screen saying the computer will have to reboot as continuing will cause critical damage!

It says to check maybe the bios and video drivers!

Have i cooked it?!

Managed to get a complete format done reinstalled everything from scratch.

But the comp is still randomly rebooting, it seems to be when its doing some work ie installing something, playing a game as i had it hooked up to the laptop doing some serious backing up of files and it say there merrily for over an hour just moving files.

Where would you start in finding the culprit for reboot?

Nix · 29 May 2006 at 17:42

It's probably your RAM playing up.

First things first, install the latest BIOS for your motherboard and download the drivers you will need for your gfx card etc.

If you find there is still a problem, run Prime95 or MemTest on your RAM to find if it is stable.

EDIT:

Also, check to makesure all your molex's and IDE/SATA cables are connected and secure.

Blackhorse · 29 May 2006 at 17:59

I think im doing it right?!

I ran the Prime95 and got the following message:

Test 1, 4500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M174432577 using 896K FFT length
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
Execution Halted

Is this my problem?!

Nix · 29 May 2006 at 18:02

Blackhorse said:
I think im doing it right?!

I ran the Prime95 and got the following message:

Is this my problem?!

Yep.

Sounds like your RAM's had it mate.

You could try playing around with the voltage and timings etc in your BIOS if you know how, to try and get it stable. Otherwise, it looks like your RAM's had it and you might need some more.

Blackhorse · 29 May 2006 at 18:14

Are all 3 512mb sticks likely to die or is it likely to be one of em and i have eliminate?

dale1uk · 29 May 2006 at 18:38

Try it with just one in at a time and see if it works then, if not see if you can borrow some known working ram and try that. If it still fails then at least you'll know its not the ram thats at fault, but all indications lead to that.

Blackhorse · 29 May 2006 at 19:42

dale1uk said:
Try it with just one in at a time and see if it works then, if not see if you can borrow some known working ram and try that. If it still fails then at least you'll know its not the ram thats at fault, but all indications lead to that.

Well after a number of differant combinations, the systems seems stable with 2 out of 3 of em (1024 meg)
Im left my mrs on in stress testing the memory with roller coaster tycoon, it wouldnt last anything over 10 mins on a good run before.
So far she has been on 30!

Just because i tried a dodgy theme its fried the workings in a 512mb stick?!
Bizzarre, anyways looks like you guys have come through.
Your all a credit to overclockers and to be honest its help like this, that makes me know i will buy all my gear from overclockers, because of their forum im supported therefore i support them with purchases!

m3csl2004 · 29 May 2006 at 19:48

a better way to test the memory would be to run memtest (google it to find download)

King4aDay · 29 May 2006 at 20:21

Blackhorse said:
Just because i tried a dodgy theme its fried the workings in a 512mb stick?!

Probably just a coincidence.

Johnnyboy · 29 May 2006 at 21:42

Nix said:
It's probably your RAM playing up.

First things first, install the latest BIOS for your motherboard and download the drivers you will need for your gfx card etc.

If you find there is still a problem, run Prime95 or MemTest on your RAM to find if it is stable.

EDIT:

Also, check to makesure all your molex's and IDE/SATA cables are connected and secure.

I'd do the above in reverse order. Much safer.

[J]

acharris · 30 May 2006 at 00:10

No way would a dodgy theme cause a stick of ram to go faulty, like said above it was a coinicence that the RAM choose to go at that time. Don't let it put you off trying themes or stuff in the future, as software very rarely causes hardware failiure, unless it is windows overclocking software like the gigabyte easy tune which let you play with the setting to overclock.

Anthony

m3csl2004 · 30 May 2006 at 00:50

acharris said:
No way would a dodgy theme cause a stick of ram to go faulty, like said above it was a coinicence that the RAM choose to go at that time. Don't let it put you off trying themes or stuff in the future, as software very rarely causes hardware failiure, unless it is windows overclocking software like the gigabyte easy tune which let you play with the setting to overclock.

Anthony

spot on