Serious PC problems...

[KieranMurphy]

I've a newly built PC. I've only had it a few weeks and it's been generally working fine. However, every so often while loading windows it gives me a blue screen of death with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error message. The error only appears before or during the Windows loading screen and is gone after a fraction of a second, after which the machine reboots.

Once it does boot, it works perfectly. I can play games, watch DVDs, etc. and it works fine. However, something more drastic has happened today.

Now when it gets past the Windows loading screen, the screen goes blank and my monitor goes into sleep mode as if it's receiving no signal from the video card. I can only now get into Windows in safe mode.

Any hints as to what's going on?

edit: I forgot, just before this happened, the computer stopped detecting one of my hard drives. I'd done a quick google search which showed that sometimes a dodgy hard drive can cause Windows to stall and give that error message when loading, so I disconnected the drive that wasn't being detected but it made no difference.


KM.

 

[skip0110]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329284&sd=RMVP
indicates that it may be a memory/bus problem. How many sticks of memory? Replace them with a known good stick if possible.

Also uninstall any CPU drivers you may have installed. AMD drivers do all sorts of weird stuff.

 

[KieranMurphy]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329284&sd=RMVP
indicates that it may be a memory/bus problem. How many sticks of memory? Replace them with a known good stick if possible.

I tried swapping out the memory the first time this happened with no luck, but I'll try it again.

Also uninstall any CPU drivers you may have installed. AMD drivers do all sorts of weird stuff.

The first time I installed the AMD drivers that came with a motherboard, it killed Windows stone-dead and required a complete reinstall so I haven't installed any since.


KM.

 

[skip0110]

Oh yes, one other thing, check the System Event log if you can boot it up in safe mode, disk failures would be logged there. (it's in control panel->administrative tools->event viewer)

 

[KieranMurphy]

Doing a bit of googling, it seems that there's a known problem with the nVidia IDE drivers that cause this problem. I wonder if I can disable or remove them without having to reinstall Windows from scratch. Lots of search results suggested that you simply shouldn't choose to install them when running the nForce drivers.

Up yours nVidia!


KM.

 

[KieranMurphy]

Whew!

Turned out that it was a combination of IDE and video drivers. The nVidia drivers apparently have a known bug that can cause BSODs upon booting and the blank input was fixed by simply reinstalling the nVidia drivers. So RAM, motherboards and hard drives seem to be working fine.

So up yours twice nVidia!

I always do this when something happens with my PC. Panic post my problems on a web forum. I eventually get it figured out via Google searching and fix the problem before anyone has a chance to help me. What did people do before Google existed?


KM.

 

[donbenni]

What did people do before Google existed?
KM.

Posted on message forums, but received answers back that were complete stabs in the dark

Glad you sorted it out. Wish i'd seen this before, i would have said it sounds like the video card. The screen shutting down points strongly to not receiving a good signal. Glad it was only a software thing and not hardware 👍

 

[Omnis]

Always try memory before doing anything with your PC. I now have a total of 4 working hard drives because I thought my recent computer crash was an HD-error. I mean, it's nice to have a lot, but I didn't NEED them. You know? This is especially important if you bought some add-on memory.

 

[DeLoreanBrown]

Whew!

Turned out that it was a combination of IDE and video drivers. The nVidia drivers apparently have a known bug that can cause BSODs upon booting and the blank input was fixed by simply reinstalling the nVidia drivers. So RAM, motherboards and hard drives seem to be working fine.

So up yours twice nVidia!

I always do this when something happens with my PC. Panic post my problems on a web forum. I eventually get it figured out via Google searching and fix the problem before anyone has a chance to help me. What did people do before Google existed?


KM.

Google, funnily enough, are looking into a web-based OS! I don't just mean a UI.
Nvidia etc are like combatants populating that crucial boot/driver sector. Bugs abound. Now if you used a Linux SPIN kernel..

 

[Pebb]

Maybe your graphics card is not getting the right amount of power. Or the cable connected up to the graphics card power is also sharing the power with something else.

 

[KieranMurphy]

Maybe your graphics card is not getting the right amount of power. Or the cable connected up to the graphics card power is also sharing the power with something else.

No, I got it sorted. Some sites suggested that those MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION errors can be the result of a dodgy or overworked power supply, but not in my case.

I just got bad luck and had my nVidia graphics card drivers crap out when I was already having problems with the IDE drivers that came with my mobo. I also discovered that I had a loose SATA cable that made one of my hard drivers appear to dissappear. I thought my motherboard was suffering from a progressive nervous breakdown, but it turned out to be a bunch of minor problems at the same time.

A word of advice - when installing the nForce drivers for your motherboard, don't install the nVidia IDE drivers! They're known to be unstable.


KM.