• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Help me diagnose which part of my PC is dying

P

Prime crotch

Banned
So I got a brand new pc earlier this year, and I've been noticing some weird stuff, like graphical glitches, such as on the steam ui background having some weird colored artifacts, so i figured it was the vidcard that was faulty, sent it back to the store but they couldnt find anything wrong with it.
Recently I had a nasty BSoD crash and it wouldn't boot my boot drive, an SSD, so I ran some tests, burn in benchmark, memtest but everything seems to come out ok, so I'm out of ideas. I would send the whole rig upstate but its too damn expensive, so I wanna isolate the problem; I still tihnk the tower case I bought is way too small for the components and thats whats causing issues.

Example of the graphical glitches:
http://imgur.com/R65xQet
that's a shot from this site http://www.vodafone.fm/program/show/14


edit:actual specs
Western Digital SATAIII 1TB 7200rpm
SSD Samsung 840 Evo SATA 120Gb
Corsair VS550
Intel i5 4670K
2x 4GB DDR3 Kingston CL9 PC3-12800
vidcard:Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X WF 2Gb GDDR5
Motherboard: MSI Skt1150 - B85M-G43
 
R

red731

Member
Begin with temperatures as others are saying -

HWmonitor

Write down BSOD codes - then use internet to pinpoint what might be happening.
If you are feeling like burning the roof down and seeing if it's really your GPU or CPU - download benchmarks and push those components to the limit.

Furmark - GPU
Prime95 - CPU

ed: okay, hmm...
 
C

Cronee

Member
Is the power supply outputting proper voltages? Should be able to check in bios or with hwmonitor. They can fluctuate +/- 10% but anything more or less is an issue.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
pestul said:
Check the event logs. BSOD code should be there.

Edit: nm can't boot now right?
Click to expand...

I can, I did a hard reset and then it works fine, but still with the occasional issues, I'm looking through the logs I think this was the event

BugcheckCode 59
BugcheckParameter1 0xc0000005
BugcheckParameter2 0xfffff88008edc29c
BugcheckParameter3 0xfffff8800bd49f90
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0
dr labson said:
Did you have this issue from the start or is it recent?
It could be a hardware compatibility issue.
Click to expand...
Pretty much since start, thats why I sent my vid card back as soon as I got it, but they didnt find anything wrong
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
my actual specs btw

Western Digital SATAIII 1TB 7200rpm
SSD Samsung 840 Evo SATA 120Gb
Corsair VS550
Intel i5 4670K
2x 4GB DDR3 Kingston CL9 PC3-12800
vidcard:Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X WF 2Gb GDDR5
Motherboard: MSI Skt1150 - B85M-G43
 
D

dr labson

Neo Member
Did your computer restart after the BSOD?
Did you also try the following stuff?

  • Try to install the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer website?
  • Update your PC (Win updates and service packs)?
  • Try removing individual hardware components (RAM, video card) and see if the issue is resolved?
 
V

valouris

Member
1. When exactly did your BSOD happen, what were you doing? Was it only once? Did you change anything in particular before it happened?

2.Have you experienced artifacts anywhere else apart from the Steam UI, e.g. some demanding games?

3.Have you experienced any decline in performance in the general speed of the OS, the boot times, or playing games?

4.Does your SSD boot normally after that one incident, is it a recurrent incident, or it hasn't booted up at all since then?
 
E

EloKa

Member
Prime crotch said:
I can, I did a hard reset and then it works fine, but still with the occasional issues, I'm looking through the logs I think this was the event

BugcheckCode 59
BugcheckParameter1 0xc0000005
BugcheckParameter2 0xfffff88008edc29c
BugcheckParameter3 0xfffff8800bd49f90
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0

Pretty much since start, thats why I sent my vid card back as soon as I got it, but they didnt find anything wrong
Click to expand...

Can you check if you have an EVENT ID 41 that came with this bugcheck code 59? it should be in the same report.

like:
[Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {here-ArR3-s0mE-rndm-numbers}

EventID 41

Version 2

.....

BugcheckCode 59
BugcheckParameter1 0xc0000005
BugcheckParameter2 0xfffff88008edc29c
BugcheckParameter3 0xfffff8800bd49f90
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0


if that's the case then you have an issue with your standby mode, otherwise this log is irrelevant to your problem
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
EloKa said:
Can you check if you have an EVENT ID 41 that came with this bugcheck code 59? it should be in the same report.

if that's the case then you have an issue with your standby mode, otherwise this log is irrelevant to your problem
Click to expand...
yeah its ID 41, but like, standby mode? I was just browsing youtube with a bunch of tabs open, I usually have 15 tabs open in a given occasion
dr labson said:
Did your computer restart after the BSOD?
Did you also try the following stuff?

  • Try to install the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer website?
  • Update your PC (Win updates and service packs)?
  • Try removing individual hardware components (RAM, video card) and see if the issue is resolved?
Click to expand...
I updated my graphics and ssd drivers, might as well updated the mobo as well, when I switched my vidcard the graphical glitches did not occur, but the vid card I put in was a much smaller and weaker one, like half the size. That's why I sent it back to them, but apparently on their test machine it ran fine, sooo like uh.

valouris said:
1. When exactly did your BSOD happen, what were you doing? Was it only once? Did you change anything in particular before it happened?

2.Have you experienced artifacts anywhere else apart from the Steam UI, e.g. some demanding games?

3.Have you experienced any decline in performance in the general speed of the OS, the boot times, or playing games?

4.Does your SSD boot normally after that one incident, is it a recurrent incident, or it hasn't booted up at all since then?
Click to expand...
Only in one occurence it didnt boot normaly, and usually it crashes when I'm browsing the web with multiple tabs open and listening to something outloud.
 
Gumbie

Gumbie

Member
Prime crotch said:
my actual specs btw

Western Digital SATAIII 1TB 7200rpm
SSD Samsung 840 Evo SATA 120Gb
Corsair VS550
Intel i5 4670K
2x 4GB DDR3 Kingston CL9 PC3-12800
vidcard:Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X WF 2Gb GDDR5
Motherboard: MSI Skt1150 - B85M-G43
Click to expand...

You never answered my question and also what kind of power supply do you currently have?
 
L

LilJoka

Member
maniac-kun said:
Did you connect your gpu to your power supply?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't even boot if that was the case.

OP download BSOD Viewer and double click the BSOD entry it lists. Screenshot and post the resulting pop up window.

Also try using Display Driver Uninstaller to clean the GPU drivers in safe mode. Then install the drivers that are 1 version older than latest ones.

Lastly update the Motherboard BIOS since the early boards did not properly support Haswell Refresh chips.
 
T

tsab

Member
this look like a GPU problem, try to underclock vram of the gpu. I had same artifacts when the video ram was overclocked and overheating (the ram chips not the gpu core)
 
M

Mupod

Member
It's hard to tell from that image - are the glitches little flashing green dots? Make sure the power on the video card is plugged in properly. Mine has an LED that signifies when the power is connected, but even with that on if I don't REALLY shove the plug in there, I get those artifacts.
 
FeiRR

FeiRR

Banned
RAM or PSU. Try running with one stick in different slots. Specialized repair shops have RAM testers, you could find one. Also check voltages. Faulty PSU is a pain in the neck.

Of course it can be something strange like faulty mobo but that's rare in a new machine.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
Prime crotch said:
Apparently it lists an ATI driver as the main culprit as long a kernel windows one

http://i.imgur.com/ahGqEZD.jpg

edit: same as on the rest
Click to expand...

GPU problem, either GPU dying from VRam issue or drivers.

Try using Display Driver Uninstaller to clean the GPU drivers in safe mode. Then install the drivers that are 1 version older than latest ones.

If this fails, use Catalyst control centre to reduce the core and memory clocks by 50Mhz. Run something like Unigene Heaven benchmark on loop for a while and see if problem is fixed. That will mean it's definatly a GPU hardware issue.

I try not using fur mark since it pushes GPUs to hard.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
Im running speedfan to check voltage values but im not sure exactly what I'm supposed to be looking at, or rather which values are worrying or not


h9kG790.jpg
 
L

Lautaro

Member
I had a problem once with artifacts and glitches showing in my games. The problem was that I was using a shitty power supply added to the jumpy voltage of my country.

I have no idea if this is your problem but what power supply do you have? you need one from a well known manufacturer.
 
S

stlobus

Member
Just by looking at your specs and your power supply, I think your issue is a problem with total power draw. Your power supply is a 550 volt supply which will be eaten up pretty quickly with what you're running. I'd be really curious to see what would happen if you put a 750 or 800 volt power supply in your machine.
 
N

Nemmy

Member
As an unfortunate owner of the same GPU as the OP's, two words of advice:
- the GPU spammed me with artifacts in web browser, Steam etc., as well as games, and Gigabyte returned it as not faulty according to them. Attaching a CD with screencaps helped and I got a new one. So take store/manufacturer tests with a grain of salt.
- even if not actually faulty, this card goes bananas if a driver installation gets damaged in any way. BSODs, boot issues after BSOD, I've been there. Purge the GPU drivers and make a fresh install - it might just fix it.

Of course it might not be the card but since your problem seems to be identical to mine and you're on the same hardware, I figured it can't hurt to share my experience.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Your video card is overheating, or it needs more volts. Give it more volts, see if issue persists. If it does, and it is not overheating, time for RMA.

Also for shits and giggles, try a different display connector.
stlobus said:
Just by looking at your specs and your power supply, I think your issue is a problem with total power draw. Your power supply is a 550 volt supply which will be eaten up pretty quickly with what you're running. I'd be really curious to see what would happen if you put a 750 or 800 volt power supply in your machine.
Click to expand...
Ignore this post, it's wrong.
 
5

5taquitos

Member
Prime crotch said:
I updated my graphics and ssd drivers, might as well updated the mobo as well, when I switched my vidcard the graphical glitches did not occur, but the vid card I put in was a much smaller and weaker one, like half the size. That's why I sent it back to them, but apparently on their test machine it ran fine, sooo like uh.
Click to expand...

If you swapped video cards and it worked fine, even if it was a weaker one, I'd pretty much guarantee it's the video card. Keep hassling for a new one. Your power supply is fine.
 
M

Mupod

Member
mkenyon said:
Your video card is overheating, or it needs more volts. Give it more volts, see if issue persists. If it does, and it is not overheating, time for RMA.

Also for shits and giggles, try a different display connector.
Click to expand...

This could definitely be it too. I've seen bad DVI cables or improperly connected ones result in dots all over the screen.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
I've did a clean driver install and gonna run some more tests and see whats what, thanks all in the meantine


I will be probably getting a new tower case too, since the one i currently got is way too small and was a result of miscalculation
 
C

codhand

Member
Gonna say Video card, need to plug in a different one to know for sure, RAM tests are always easy to perform by removing one then another, as mentioned.
 
Head of Vengarl

Head of Vengarl

Banned
ReBurn said:
Are your video card drivers correct and up to date?
Click to expand...

Actually I would be very careful about updating your graphics card drivers.

I recently began having artifact/screen tearing issues. I isolated the problem to a faulty GPU, but just for good measure I decided to try updating my drivers to see if that would help. So I used GeForce Experience and updated to the latest non-beta drivers for my GTX 760. Shortly afterward, my PC started really fucking up. I would boot up, get to the "Starting Windows" screen, and then the screen would go black, "No Signal" would display on my monitor, and sometimes my PC would restart itself. I unhooked my GPU and used my motherboard's onboard graphics, and my PC ran completely fine, so I figured yep, my GPU was borked. So I sent it back to MSI under their manufacturer's warranty and got a refurbished one.

Installed my new GPU and... after the "Starting Windows" screen my display goes black. Now I am pissed, because I thought for sure it was my GPU that was faulty. After a shit ton of Googling I came across this thread on the Nvidia forums. It was a driver issue. I used a combination of the fixes suggested by the posters in there and got my PC working. The reason I was so confused was because my GPU actually was going bad (the artifacts/screen tearing) so when I updated my GeForce drivers and got the black screen issue, I blamed it on my already malfunctioning GPU. But when I got the new GPU and the black screen issue persisted... well, the drivers were the common denominator.

Anyway, what's the moral of this story? Only update your video drivers if absolutely necessary!
 
A

Akronis

Member
Luap said:
Anyway, what's the moral of this story? Only update your video drivers if absolutely necessary!
Click to expand...

With drivers sometimes containing huge performance boosts for certain newer titles, I disagree with this. Unless something comes out about a particular drivers having a serious bug with a large majority, I would just update as they come out.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
Luap said:
Actually I would be very careful about updating your graphics card drivers.

I recently began having artifact/screen tearing issues. I isolated the problem to a faulty GPU, but just for good measure I decided to try updating my drivers to see if that would help. So I used GeForce Experience and updated to the latest non-beta drivers for my GTX 760. Shortly afterward, my PC started really fucking up. I would boot up, get to the "Starting Windows" screen, and then the screen would go black, "No Signal" would display on my monitor, and sometimes my PC would restart itself. I unhooked my GPU and used my motherboard's onboard graphics, and my PC ran completely fine, so I figured yep, my GPU was borked. So I sent it back to MSI under their manufacturer's warranty and got a refurbished one.

Installed my new GPU and... after the "Starting Windows" screen my display goes black. Now I am pissed, because I thought for sure it was my GPU that was faulty. After a shit ton of Googling I came across this thread on the Nvidia forums. It was a driver issue. I used a combination of the fixes suggested by the posters in there and got my PC working. The reason I was so confused was because my GPU actually was going bad (the artifacts/screen tearing) so when I updated my GeForce drivers and got the black screen issue, I blamed it on my already malfunctioning GPU. But when I got the new GPU and the black screen issue persisted... well, the drivers were the common denominator.

Anyway, what's the moral of this story? Only update your video drivers if absolutely necessary!
Click to expand...

My friend only called me a few backs with the same issue. He updated drivers on a GTX 760 and through GeForce Experience. Artefacts over screen barely got passed windows login screen.

Got him to display driver uninstaller the drivers and install older versions. Knew this was the problem since in safe mode he had no problems as the driver hadn't loaded.

I only update my GPU drivers if either I have a problem or a game I play has got a significant performance increase with new drivers.

Everybody having issues with DR3, I'm running 337.50 old drivers, no crashes for me. All my games have no issues and it's rock solid. That matters more than a few fps in a certain game.
 
Head of Vengarl

Head of Vengarl

Banned
LilJoka said:
My friend only called me a few backs with the same issue. He updated drivers on a GTX 760 and through GeForce Experience. Artefacts over screen barely got passed windows login screen.

Got him to display driver uninstaller the drivers and install older versions. Knew this was the problem since in safe mode he had no problems as the driver hadn't loaded.

I only update my GPU drivers if either I have a problem or a game I play has got a significant performance increase with new drivers.

Everybody having issues with DR3, I'm running 337.50 old drivers, no crashes for me. All my games have no issues and it's rock solid. That matters more than a few fps in a certain game.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's basically how I fixed it. I did some other stuff just in case, but the main thing was using Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode and installing an older driver version. Here's the full list of what I did, if it might help anyone:

1. I first established that my PC was running fine without my GPU hooked in. I connected my monitor to my motherboard and used the onboard graphics. No black screen issues. PC ran fine.

2. Updated my BIOS.

3. Uninstalled GeForce Experience.

4. Turned my PC off, unplugged power cord, and hooked up my GPU.

5. With my PC still unplugged, I held down the power button for ~1 minute.

6. Replugged power cord and booted up my PC in safe mode (without networking).

7. In safe mode, I uninstalled my GeForce drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller, and then restarted my PC.

8. Booted up Windows normally, installed old GeForce driver (v320 I think, the version that came on the CD I got with my GPU purchase).

9. Shut down (not restart), booted up, entered BIOS, reset settings to default.

10. Restart, booted up normally, no black screen, tested GPU by playing Skyrim, Torchlight II, Civ V, Trine 2, Smite. Everything working great. Success!
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
GAF Help! My 6 month old PC seems to have died on me!
19
2K
Choppasmith replied
Looking to build my first gaming PC within the next 2 months, need some help
43
5K
RealityCheque replied
PC-GAF: My GPU is dying. Please help me choose a new one.
34
3K
darkhunger replied
Help me build a Gaming PC!
2
50
5K
SneakyStephan replied
PC-detective gaming GAF: my PC is dying on me, what's wrong help!
31
3K
Grieves replied
Top Bottom