LAN Drivers causing me to crash

[dmoll14]

Hi again,
I am having another issue with my new build. Everything was working fine, I had windows installed etc., and I was installing drivers and utilities off the AsRock disk that came with my motherboard. I went to install the LAN Driver, and as soon as I opened it my monitor turned off, then gave me the message that it did not support the current resolution. The random colour started flashing on the screen, and my pc abruptly turned off. when I went to reboot it the fans and stuff came on, but there was no signal to the monitor and my mouse and keyboard weren't detected. after a bit, It worked again, but when I went to install a different utility, the AsRock Xfast Lan Utility, It died again, and again refused to turn back on immediately afterwards.

If any of you have experienced this before and/or know a solution or reason, I would much appreciate it as I am very distressed

EDIT: It has just died on me twice more, which makes it the fourth time. the last two times the whole screen-flashy thing didn't happen, it simply turned off without any warning.

These last two crashes have happened 1) when I went to watch a youtube video, and 2) about 2/3 of the way through the Windows experience index process.

Would reinstalling windows make any difference? because I am willing to do that, although I would rather not if I don't have to.

If you read my last help post you may already know this, but one of the pins in the 4-pin molex connector going to the front panel got pushed out of place while I was building my PC, and I had to bend it back into position. could this be the cause?

I can't see it being an overheating issue as I haven't done anything that generates much heat yet and my case is well-ventilated.

These are my components:
CPU : Core i5 3570 with stock cooler
Mobo: AsRock z77 Pro4-M
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 660OC
PSU: Corsair VS650 650W

[kalniel]

Sounds like a RAM problem to me. Download and run memtest86+

[Jasp]

As above really, sounds like either a RAM or GPU issue, download memtest and run from a USB stick to comfirm any issues.

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

[dmoll14]

OK, so I downloaded and ran memtest86+ for two cycles, and it didn't detect any issues. As I hadn't done a huge amount of stuff before the problems started, I re-installed windows 7 and avoided the drivers that had seemed to cause the problem. I haven't had any surprise shutdowns since then, and I have been able to run the Experience Index and watch YouTube without issues. Howver, I installed and rand Far Cry 2, at max settings, and about 5 minutes into the opening scene the screen froze and I heard a small crackle of static. From this point I had no choice but to force a shutdown, as pressing control-alt-delete had no effect, nor did alt-escape or the start key. I noticed in many forums that FC2 is very buggy, although I had no issues on my old PC. I reduced the settings a notch and brought the DirectX down from 10 to 9. I started a New story, and the same thing happened, although it was probably 2 minutes further into the intro than last time. I haven't tried with any other games as of yet, but will let you guys know what happens when I do.

Also, in case it helps, I was running FC2 off a disc, not a steam version. And the air coming from the rear exhaust fan in my case was cold ,So I have ruled out overheating.

EDIT: I just remembered that, to avoid the problems that I had last time, I didn't install ANY of the drivers off the AsRock disc. could this be the reason?

EDIT: Ok, so I was installing another game off a disc, and I came back near the end to find that it had locked up again, although I hadn't even been running a game. looking back, I remember that this lock up has actually happened before when not on a game, it froze while I was installing Java, and as usual refused to respond at all after that. I have looked on some other forums, and they have repeatedly suggested that GPU issues can be to blame for random freezing. This is possible, because I remember that I had to tilt my graphics card slightly in its mount so that I could fit the HDMI cable I bought in, as there is a very badly-placed ridge at the back of my case. could my GPU be losing contact with the connections in my PCI-E slot?

I hope that somebody can help me here, as I am in a living hell trying to find what it is that I have done wrong.

EDIT-3: Never mind what I said about the card being slightly tilted, I just moved it to another slot to see if it would fix the problem and it froze even earlier than last time. kmn.

[fazer]

Sunday mornings, cant read, was going to suggest you list your build, but you have.
I would suggest you rebuild, or at least recheck all connections and all components are seated correctly, I have done many builds, and it surprising how many times doing the said actions can resolve similar issues.

[jimbouk]

Howver, I installed and rand Far Cry 2, at max settings, and about 5 minutes into the opening scene the screen froze and I heard a small crackle of static.

That sounds bad. Perhaps the PSU is struggling with the load or the power control on the mobo/graphics card are on the way out.

And the air coming from the rear exhaust fan in my case was cold ,So I have ruled out overheating.

Unless something isn't quite making contact with it's heatsink properly and the heat isn't being dissipated correctly. Get some temperature monitoring software and keep and eye on what's going on.

Do you have a spare graphics card you can swap in (or onboard graphics you can use) to try and isolate the problem?

[dmoll14]

That sounds bad. Perhaps the PSU is struggling with the load or the power control on the mobo/graphics card are on the way out.

Everything is brand new, but if that is the issue how can I check?

Unless something isn't quite making contact with it's heatsink properly and the heat isn't being dissipated correctly. Get some temperature monitoring software and keep and eye on what's going on.

I've downloaded and installed speedfan, and ran it about 20 minutes after I booted up the PC, which had just been idling during that time (as it won't stay working for 20 minutes when under load), and everything was sitting around 30 degrees, except for the "aux" temperature, which was about 43 degrees.

I have uninstalled the GPU drivers and taken the card out, and have just been running on the onboard chipset, and I also reinstalled all of the motherboard CD drivers apart from the LAN ones that I thought were to blame for the first problem. turns out I was wrong, as about half an hour after bootup the screen turned purple and then everything switched off, like I'd pulled the plug out of the wall. still no bluescreen or error messages... so frustrating.

[dmoll14]

Thanks Everybody for your suggestions, but the issue has been located. turns out my motherboard was shorting and the graphics controller on the board burned out... which isn't covered by warranty . So I'm off to spend more money on this thing... last time I build a PC myself, that's for sure.

[jimbouk]

turns out my motherboard was shorting and the graphics controller on the board burned out...

How on earth did that happen?

[dmoll14]

My fault... I plugged something in wrong without realising, and every time I rebooted the PC - which I had to do a lot - it fried the graphics controller a little bit more.

[jimbouk]

Awww sorry to hear. Well at least the whole thing didn't go up in smoke so a live and learn moment.