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New computer freezing.
- Thread starter Colin
- Start date
JMDigital
New Member
I am also thinking Video card problem. If the video cable plugs into to back of the pc in the cluster where the keyboard, mouse, usb and other connectors are then the video is built in. Built in video cards rarely have a "heat problem" because they do not have a processor doing the work. It could be just bad. If the plug is down towards the bottom of the case then its a separate video card. If it is seprate You should check to see if there is a fan on the video card and if it is clogged with dust or not spinning. Also when this problem happens push the caps lock a few times and see of the caps lock light goes on and off, this will help tell if the PC is locked up or if the video card is freaking out. The CPU could also be getting too hot. You can see the temp of the cpu if you re-boot and get into the bios (del key after turning it on) there is a menu in there that has the temp reading.
Check those few things then re-post...
Check those few things then re-post...
Sabre
New Member
Is there any chance you can take a pict of the white with vertical lines?
It sounds very much like a hardware problem, most likely as others pointed out in your video card (be it onboard or slotted) or in your monitor. If you could scrounge up a loaner monitor to run for a couple days that might be best to start the elimination process. How often does it happen?
It sounds very much like a hardware problem, most likely as others pointed out in your video card (be it onboard or slotted) or in your monitor. If you could scrounge up a loaner monitor to run for a couple days that might be best to start the elimination process. How often does it happen?
Colin
New Member
I will take a picture of it the next time it happens, and post it.
Sometimes the vertical lines are across the screen L to R and in color, and other times they're B&W and more just in the centre area.
I'm going to take it back to the store Friday night or Sat AM so they can have some time with it.
Sometimes the vertical lines are across the screen L to R and in color, and other times they're B&W and more just in the centre area.
I'm going to take it back to the store Friday night or Sat AM so they can have some time with it.
Colin
New Member
Aha! Having suspected a correlation between the freezing and something video-wise, I played an MP3 song on Windows media player, and made sure to turn on the "Visualization" effects (you know, that LSD like stuff that randomly goes on while a song plays). After a couple of minutes, she crashed...........here's a photo. The screen looks different each time it happens.
Sorry 'bout the flash.
Sorry 'bout the flash.
Attachments
JMDigital
New Member
I think the problem is in the pc. Not the monitor. have the store replace video card then make them re-do the media player test you did. If you have an on-board video get a video card. The on-board shares memory from the system and is slow. Nvida-6600 or so is a nice card. 175 bux.
Sabre
New Member
Glad you're getting things fixed up.
OldPaint, with all due respect, the brand of video card will make no impact on his problem or any problems like that. I myself am an ATI fan but there are no faults that can be traced down to a problem in general with nVidia cards. I also question the 256MB recommendation. Larger video ram quantities are generally reserved for 3D gaming/rendering. The 64MB allocated by his onboardchipset will be more than enough to run his display at greater than 1600x1200 @ 85+Hz. I do not argue that a seperate video card is better. If you can pop in a cheap Radeon 9250 or something to fee up your RAM and offload the visual processing to your card it will benefit your system without a doubt.
OldPaint, with all due respect, the brand of video card will make no impact on his problem or any problems like that. I myself am an ATI fan but there are no faults that can be traced down to a problem in general with nVidia cards. I also question the 256MB recommendation. Larger video ram quantities are generally reserved for 3D gaming/rendering. The 64MB allocated by his onboardchipset will be more than enough to run his display at greater than 1600x1200 @ 85+Hz. I do not argue that a seperate video card is better. If you can pop in a cheap Radeon 9250 or something to fee up your RAM and offload the visual processing to your card it will benefit your system without a doubt.
OldPaint
New Member
WELLLLLLLLL.....ian also a ATI GUY, and iam running a nivdia 256 MEG card in this machine(and i had problems with the install of the NIVIDA) i been fixin/buildin computers since 94-95.....and I HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH NVIDIA cards...doin exactly what collin is experaincing.Sabre said:
and i said 64 MEG card should be enough...BUT with a dual processor.....you need something more then just enough.
Colin
New Member
I'm baaack. New motherboard has been installed and seems to have fixed the problem. It is an on-board video card. I axed him about the advantage of having a more kick-ass separate video card and he said that might have been true 6 months ago, but not anymore - for my purposes (no gaming).
Thanks for all the input everyone!
Thanks for all the input everyone!
Actually, integrated video chips are not very good except for entry level computer use. There's no way I'll use a computer in such a configuration. I even waited a few months before buying my Dell notebook. The first Inspiron 6000 models had only integrated Intel graphics chips and ran fairly slow. A couple months later Dell started putting ATI PCI-X cards in the machines and that gave them an 80% or better speed boost. Once that change was made I then ordered by notebook.
The problem is the onboard video processing chip will constantly draw from your main system memory. That slows down a machine quite a lot. Simply having any separate graphics card, be it AGP, PCI-X or just plain PCI will free up your system memory to only do what it was intended to do.
Hopefully this motherboard has an onboard PCI-X card slot and the case has a good power supply (450 watts or better). Many entry level computers with integrated video acceleration have no expansion AGP or PCI-X ports. You're just stuck with that on board chip acting like a parasite to your system RAM.
I would recommend buying a dedicated video card, even an entry level unit such as an ATI Radeon X300 or X600. It will make your machine run a lot better than having to slog through using integrated graphics. This will be especially critical if you have 1GB or less of RAM installed.
The problem is the onboard video processing chip will constantly draw from your main system memory. That slows down a machine quite a lot. Simply having any separate graphics card, be it AGP, PCI-X or just plain PCI will free up your system memory to only do what it was intended to do.
Hopefully this motherboard has an onboard PCI-X card slot and the case has a good power supply (450 watts or better). Many entry level computers with integrated video acceleration have no expansion AGP or PCI-X ports. You're just stuck with that on board chip acting like a parasite to your system RAM.
I would recommend buying a dedicated video card, even an entry level unit such as an ATI Radeon X300 or X600. It will make your machine run a lot better than having to slog through using integrated graphics. This will be especially critical if you have 1GB or less of RAM installed.
Colin
New Member
Bobby H said:
From what I'm told by these guys who work in the computer industry, what you've said may have been true 6+ months ago, but you know how it is in computerdom.....today's entry level stuff is better than yesterdays best.
Although, what you've said would still probably be true for anyone doing gaming, but I don't, and sign software - even photoshop, is not very much work for a modern video card (on-board or otherwise).
Just glad to have it fixed.
Cadmn
New Member
colin old computer geek with friends still building daily you stated not basement computer company sorry but I've worked with the so called experts at stores like best buy circuit city etc & have had the oppurtunity to fire Most. congrats on getting it ironed out But you have dual core processor so the main process can be carried out by specialised parts of the CPU so why would you expect that having a seperate processor & memory for drawing a picture(graphics) wouldn't be help ful ? couple years ago ATI had major probs with some softwares. always been opionated to AMD & Nvidia. basement builders often understand the equipment better because they can't call the HOME office for help they talk straight to manufacturer & often have customers requiring top notch cutting edge equipment In 91 we had customer that was always upgrading to latest cpu & more memory
Techman
New Member
..
Back in the day... This was sometimes true. (Emachines) Mostly because if on board video or sound went out you were out of luck. You had to get a new card or a new motherboard. Today these integrated parts rarely if ever break. Personally, we saw very few motherboard problems and when they did appear they rose up during the first few weeks of operation.
Today, it is well known that early onboard video and sound was not the best. But later models today are using the exact same video and sound driver chips that the off board cards are using.
Gamers, and power users love off board stuff. They do not want integrated anything. They tweak, twist, overclock and whatever they can to get more from less. Thus integrated anything carries a less desirable reputation.
However, for the every day user who could not care less about getting that final cpu cycle integrated motherboards are just fine.
As for which chips is better. AMD vs Intel.
This debate is a time tested custom. But,,
AMd became the chip of choice for gamers, tweakers and anyone else who wished to overclock. AMD was perceived to be sexy, exciting and cool. Intel became the least desirable because those chips were locked and generally not overclockable and was perceived to be stodgy, and restricting.
However, for Engineering aplications such as those used at Space Centers, government installations... Intel was the preferred CPU because of lesser crash problems associated with heavy floating point and other CPU intensive needs. Plus most of thier software was optimized for intel chips.
And finally
An example. When Doom 3 came out it was said that onyl the best of the best AMD machines could run it.. Hogwash. My plain old Dell P4 office machine with integrated everything ran it just fine.
And finally. This is important. Computer shops have different areas of expertise. Some techs are great with netowrks, some are great with installs, and some are great at general building tweaking. I was considered the win98 SE and M$ ACCESS guru. There is just too much to know and when you got really good at something a new OS would come out.. Very few are good at all of it. So, when you goto a shop,, and talk to someone who doesn't help, that does not mean he is a dummy, or the shop is incompetant, it usually means you didn't find the expert in that problem area.
That is why diagnostic tools are so very important..