Graphics card or RAM fried?

[davejonesbkk]

My PC has been playing up for the last 2-3 months. I first started getting a few crashes when playing some new games, these games were resource intensive and my gfx card only just met the requirements and needed some new drivers etc to cope. I would get stuttering and crashes even with the new drivers every now and then but then I started getting some issues just on the desktop when working etc. Sometimes the screen would go black as if the monitor had reset and then come back on and there would be a speech bubble message in the bottom right saying something to do with Nvidia had failed, I can't remember what the exact message was but I googled it and most of the answers seemed to be about drivers and mine were up to date so I just reinstalled them. The problem key happening but only occasionally so I put up with it then in the last few weeks when the computer was in sleep mode if I hit the space bar it wouldn't wake up, I would hear the PC start whirring again but the monitor stayed blank and I would have to do hard restart sometimes even swathing it off and on at the back.

Then on Saturday after using it for a few hrs of web browsing, office work and gaming it suddenly locked up when watching a video and I was forced to do a hard restart, when it restarted though the RAM was making a loud beeping noise the same as it does usually on startup but this was continuos and it wouldn't boot. I tried several more times and managed to boot in safety mode but even then as soon as I tried to open a video file it crashed this time to a blue screen with a message about a potential hardware conflict and to remove any new hardware Id added. I keep trying and for the next 30 minutes I got several more crashes even after Windows ran a startup repair.

Then on Sunday I tried again, PC booted up just fine and ran for around 2hrs perfectly while playing a game and then it crashed again with the same results as above.

I haven't added any new hardware to the PC in over 18 months when some more RAM was added and it hasn't been opened or touched since then.

Any ideas on what the issue is here? Im guessing its either the gfx card and/or RAM, is this a hating issue though?

[Seligne2]

It does sound like it might be an over-heating issue...

[StefanBBK]

I second the overheating hypothesis. Open the case, give it a good cleaning. Use a brush for the grids. Start it up and see if all fans running.

[worgeordie]

If you have not opened the PC in 18 months,maybe a clean

with one of those cans of air might help,dust and fluff, especially

in the fan can cause overheating.

regards worgeordie

[dddave]

It does sound like it might be an over-heating issue...

+1..My desktop used to have similar issues and I found it need to be cleaned every year. I used to be amazed how much dust could pack into the heat sinks around the fan and processor.

It does kind of sound like your issues are more serious, but a good cleaning is certainly an easy and cheap first step.

[gandalf12]

Sounds like overheating. You can buy stands for laptops for around Baht 250. They have fans in them and run from one of your USB port. I bought one recently from Zeer Rangsit as my laptop would overheat and shut down. They are a nice accessory. Made in China probably wont last long but cheap enough to replace as needed

[davejonesbkk]

thanks guys, I should mention this is a desktop btw.

When it was last opened to have more RAM added it had a new front fan installed too as the old one was catching on something and making a loud clicking noise. After though the new one was still making the clicking noise so I just unplugged it as the tower has a large rear fan and generally is very ventilated and Ive never had a hear issue with it. The PC is used in an office where I have the air on 60-70% of the time and its usually very cool and I very rarely leave it on at night so it seems weird that it would have a heat issue now. I will take it apart later and have a look inside anyway.

[Lannig]

If you see messages saying that the driver has reset the GPU as I think I understand, then my bet is on the GFX card, not the RAM or mainboard

However this does not rule out overheating by far. I would only concentrate on the GFX card overheating: how is its own fan doing?

[WhizBang]

Yes, check to be sure the fan(s) on the graphics card are working properly.

Those new games, especially the 3D ones can really push the limits of your graphics card, doubly so if you are using an older card. I had a similar experience some years ago with the system crashing more or less randomly. Except then the crashes became more frequent. Once I replaced the graphics card, all was well, no more crashes.

[RKASA]

My screen would go blank under heavy gaming loads and crash etc I re pasted the fan on the GPU works great over two years ago. You can re paste it just like you do the cpu.

[Burl Ives]

Download a free copy or "speccy" by "piriform" and it will tell you where your problem is!