Sic Puppy

Hi all,
I've been given a mates PC to get fixed. I've already located an issue with a stick of RAM that was stopping the boot at POST. But now I'll be in Windows (XP Pro SP3) and the screen will go fuzzy and freeze. I have to do a hard reset.

I'll get a pic up of it later on once I'm back home.

Any ideas what would cause it? Remaining RAM is passing MemTest86.

Cheers,

Iain

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craig5320

Could be heat, try taking off the graphics heatsink and cleaning it out/replacing thermal paste.

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Sic Puppy

Whoops! Forgot to mention that I took out the graphics card because the fan had seized. It's running on the Nvidia 7100 intergraded chip.

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BlueMak

elaborate.


it might be bad ram or bad slot

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

craig5320

Can you try a new/different graphics card then see if the problem still occurs?

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Sic Puppy

It had two sticks of DDR2 (1x2GB and 1x1GB) I had problems booting with the 2GB. Ut seemed to fail in both slots. The 1GB in neither.

Negatory. I have no spares and am reluctant to put my 5850 in there, although it wouldn't fit in the MicroATX case anyway

I'm currently attempting a driver update for the on-board graphics.

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BlueMak

When you say the 1GB in neither you mean that with the 1GB the system run ok or that it had the same problem no matter what slot it was occupying?

If it is the bad news, I don't know, a pic might help.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Tyrsonswood

Sounded like the 1gb worked in either slot to me.....

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BlueMak

Well if the 1GB stick works in both slots and the 2GB stick doesn't work on either then there is a good chance the stick is the problem. The best would be to have another 2GB stick and try that (alone). If it works then 100% it is the 2GB stick you already have the problem. If not it would be a few other things.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Tipstaff

What's the condition of the motherboard? Are there any busted or bulging capacitors?

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Sic Puppy

OK.....
1) .... Pictures of the issue:





2) 1GB RAM stick works in both slots. 2GB gets past POST but freezes/restarts on windows loading screen.

3) Updating the onboard graphics card drivers has had no effect on fixing the issue.

4) Can't see any problems with capacitors, but a pic is below

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BlueMak

Just to make it absolutely clear when you use the 1GB stick and only that, you get no fuzzy screen either?

If yes, the best IMO to do is to get another 2GB stick to see if that works.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Sic Puppy

I get the fuzzy screen with the 1GB. With the 2GB I can't get past the windows loading screen. So the 2GB is out of the machine with just the 1GB in.

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BlueMak

Oh, then I don't know. Anything more by myself would be just a guess. Like....mainboard issue.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

OldBuzzard

Have you tried the monitor on another system to make sure that it isn't the problem?

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Sic Puppy

It only does that "funzziness" as it freezes, but yes I have tried it on a second monitor.

Appreciating the suggestions guys

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caqde

Few things I can think of to continue the search for the what is messed up in the computer crusade. (The game of Test and eliminate)

How long is the system running before this happens, have you tried any stressful tests on the GPU to see if it causes any erratic behavior when rendering (games etc).
Does the computer leave any notes about what is going on in the Event Viewer (Custom -> Admin).

If only there was a program we could put on a disk that tested each component one by one and tell us which component is messed up. A simple pop it in and wait like memtest 86 but all in one .

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Sic Puppy

It varies, freezes pretty quick when running under Prime95. So could that mean the CPU is on the way out?

Not a thing in event viewer and I get no memory dump blue screen. Have to hard reset every time.

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Tipstaff

Noticed this little bugger here right beside the RAM sockets. Is it actually bulging, or just dust? And what about the capacitor just above it (the one blocked by shadow from cable)?



I also noticed the thickness and color of the "remaining" dust on the CPU heatsink. Was it worse than this before you got it? Was it completely plugged with dust?

At this point, given what you've said and shown, and from what appears to be a bad capacitor, I'm thinking the board is damaged. Also, without testing the RAM in another computer to make sure they are fine, and given where that bad capacitor is located, I'm thinking that the board has damaged them too, and wouldn't trust them either.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Sic Puppy

Got some closer photos of those capacitors. Not sure about that one with the stuff on the top??







The heatsink did have a bit more dust on it. A fine layer. I'm gonna get Core Temp on the system to double check what the temps are like to rule that out.

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Tyrsonswood

That stuff on top is leaking fluid (now dried) Those caps are bad.....

Good eye Tipstaff

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Sic Puppy

Well spotted Tipstaff and thanks for the help everyone (+rep on the way). Guess the next job is dropping the bad news

Cheers againg guys!

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Tipstaff

I was specifically looking at the ones around the RAM / main power connector, and the CPU, so I didn't notice this one near the graphics slot. I think it's just dust, but I can't tell for sure.



It's worth noting the location of that cap, btw, as it's most likely responsible for the power going to the graphics slot.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Sic Puppy

Nope you got it right, it's another knackered capacitor.

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BlueMak

What's the motherboard?

__________________

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Sic Puppy

It's an Acer MCP73T

And it's in an Acer X1700 machine.

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Sic Puppy

Will hit the chap up about it tomorrow as to replace the knackered bits (MB, RAM, GFX and a new case) is not all that expensive. Can get all that for around NZ$290

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Tipstaff

It's possible the RAM and video card are fine, but you won't know unless you test them on another machine.

Do take note of something: this issue could be the result of a bad power supply. It's too much of a coincidence that 2 caps failed in key areas where they are highly relied upon, and given the reason those caps are there in the first place makes me thing they were getting hit pretty hard by bad incoming power. So, either the PSU is bad, or the power source is bad.

On the other I've seen a lot of boards with that particular brand of capacitors on them fail all the time, so it could just be as simple as a bad motherboard, but I just wouldn't bet new components to find out if I was right or not about the PSU.

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Sic Puppy

Cheers for that Tipstaff....
The case would be coming with a new PSU anyway so the everything power related would be new, except for the power outlet.

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Tyrsonswood

Test the power outlet..... Voltage fluctuation there, especially overvoltage, can cause this as well. I've had it happen.

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