jasonidus

My computer is having these random crashes where the entire thing is frozen, the mouse and keyboard are non interactive and the only thing i can do is reboot through the power button.

I have 3 theories:
-My computer is overheating, which i doubt because nothing is over 95 degress in farenheit
-I have a virus that's causing it, im not sure because i've scanned the computer 5 times with updated definitions and nothing's come up, if this is the reason i plan on reformatting
-My new video card driver is incompatible and i should uninstall and download the one from the website

any suggestions ? thanks

sobeit

tell more about your computer, cpu, ram, harddrive size/free space available. Also do you have vista on this system, if so, was it an upgrade or did it come with the computer? If an upgrade, did you check with the computers manufacturers website to download all vista drivers for your specific model?

jasonidus

AMD athlon 64 x 2 dual core processor 5000+, 3 gb of ram, 400 gb hard drive space only using up a small fraction of that, and Vista came with the computer , it wasnt bought, but i installed the video card myself ATI radeonx300se (i know its kind of junk, but im a kid w/ no money) and it claimed on the box it was vista ready, but i've never had a problem before until now after i installed the card. and im sure it's not a virus because i reformatted my computer.

so the last 2 theories :
-temperature is overheating
-the video card is incompatible, even though i've downloaded latest drivers and box says it's vista ready

sobeit

3 gigs of ram? is it 2-1 gig and 2 512? or is it 3-1 gig?

anyway, open the case and make sure all cables and cards are connected properly.

Also go into your event viewer and check your system logs for errors.

If you think its a heat problem, run the computer with the cover off and see if it crashes.

Finally did you go to the video cards manufacturers website and check for driver update?

jasonidus

1. it's 2-1 gig and 2 512

2. Im quite sure that all cables are connected correctly, although the video card is questionable, im not sure on that one

3. how do i get to event viewer?

4. ill try the cover off thing if nothing else works, are there any other ways to check for an overheating issue? i didnt think that a weak video card that only needs a 250 watt powersupply could cause that much heat

thanks for the suggestions

jasonidus

Ok i checked event viewer and system logs and there's these certain errors i guess

Under ERROR events it lists these sources
-ACPI
-VDS Dynamic Provider set 2.0
-Servicing
-Servicing
-Event Log
-atikmdag

since i only have half a clue of what these mean, care to choose one? ill post all error messages under the selected categories

thanks

sobeit

The noise you are getting leads me to believe its a heat problem. Sometimes dust will cover things up and it will cause your computer to run hot either by causing your fans to slow down or just plain trap heat.

there are other ways to check the temp. but I am not familiar and those I am familar with I just plain dont trust. Someone else will have to help with those. The way I do it if it runs great with the cover off while crashing when the covers on, 9 of 10 times its a heat problem.

jasonidus

it could be heat, or it could be that maybe my bios wasnt up to date, i went to the HP website and downloaded the latest version and the latest version of my video card driver, so if this doesnt solve it, it has to be heat, i dont have any other idea what it could be, thanks for your suggestions and help though

jasonidus

So i updated my bios, and im going to try and delete my old ATi Drivers and reinstall the ones on the website, but i recently discovered something, i checked event viewer, system log, and it says that my computer unexpectedly shuts down, i dont believe that a video card could cause my computer to shut down, could it? still need help , Merry christmas all and thank you

jasonidus

I found out that my video card is incompatible with my computer, so i was wondering if anybody is still on this website during xmas eve, which i doubt but would appreciate any help at all, i was wondering what specifications i should look for on a video card to ensure no difficulties when i install it into my computer, im going to be buying a new one.

thank you all

sobeit

sorry, I missed your other posts.

If you see a video card you might be interested in, give it a search in google and see if it is vista compatible and make sure it has vista drivers.

As far as having no difficulties, that never a guarantee in the world of computers. We just keep hoping with our fingers cross when installing something new

jasonidus

Thanks, i guess i could always ask the person at the store, hoping this time ill be able to return whatever hunk a junk i purchase
thanks for all ur help sobeit666

jasonidus

So switching to a different video card was no change at all, i received a crash possibly 40 minutes after boot up as i left my computer alone.

i looked at event viewer and i got this error :

"Faulting application rundll32.exe, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp 0x4549b0e1, faulting module nvapi.dll, version 7.15.11.6925, time stamp 0x475f4cbe, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x000276e0, process id 0xd40, application start time 0x01c84732782e784b."

i have no idea what any of that means, but im quite upset especially since i cant enjoy what is supposed to be a great christmas with something such as this eating at me

still need help

thank you all

jasonidus

So i tried something new, and i tried to run my comp w/ my onboard graphics system and yet it still crashes. So im guessing there's nothing wrong w/ the video cards, but more w/ my computer. Which leaves more theories, any reason as of why my computer would be crashing like this? i didnt uninstall the drivers btw for the old vid cards if that's helpful

thanks