Continued PC problems concerning boot failures, and shutdowns.

[S_Farrington]

Hi, I'm having some serious problems with my pc, I will try to be as descriptive as possible with regards to what I have experienced thus far.

A few months ago I complained of seemingly random shutdowns and booting errors with my pc. The system was sent away for repairs and was diagnosed with a "faulty VGA card" which was replaced.

The first problem I experienced were failures to boot. Upon starting to boot the system it would begin moving as usual, lights flash, fans start up, then nothing, dead. It could take repeated attempts to boot for up to 10 minutes (roughly) to get into windows. I still experience these problems.
Occasionally I would be greeted with a message "system boot fail or post interrupted". Other messages were also seen, messages concerning fan speed. I didn't take note of this message and it was considerably less common than the boot fail one.

This did not happen every time and I believe that when it was being repaired these symptoms were not witnessed.
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When in windows, either gaming or using the internet I would sometimes experience shutdowns. One minute all seems fine, the next im rebooting.
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Over recent months I have recieved blue screen errors "nv4_disp.dll", which as I understand can be an issue with the current software im using, rather than a problem with my system specifically.
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Another problem I face with alarming regularity is a system lock up. The mouse and keyboard become seemingly unresponsive, while any applications running will continue to function normally. By this I shall use an example of gaming. The game itself appears to continue running, it doesn't freeze up, the mouse and keyboard will not work. The only solution to this is to reboot.
Upon reaching for the systems power button for a hard reset I've noticed that instead of having to press and hold the button for a few second for a forced shutdown it does it when initially pressing the button. It also closes any applications currently running, begins "saving my settings" and shuts down as if i had ordered it to do so through the start menu, normally.

This issue can occur from the inital boot into windows to anything up to 10 hours of having the system running in my experience, basically it can happen at any time, whether im running a game, browsing the internet with firefox or sitting on the desktop with minimal processes running.
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The video card is extremely hot to touch while the pc is running, I personally believe the problem is not with this card since it is the second card to have deteriorated inside my pc since it was purchased in January of this year.

I do believe that any of the mentioned problems I am experiencing are potentially caused by a "faulty VGA card", but I would really like to find the root of the problem and fix whatever is causing these cards to become faulty in the first place.

I have previously been told to make sure everything inside is connected properly, which as far as I can tell it is. The system has not been moved recently either.

I am now 99% certain that if the graphics card was replaced again I would be experiencing the same problems very shortly after.

Thanks for your time.

[Fraz]

A list of all the components would help, if you know them.

[DrATty]

Some newer graphics cards do get really hot. My 8800GTX runs at nearly 70C when it's idle. A hardware monitor would give a more objective reading. Everest Ultimate Edition reads just about every hardware sensor including CPU, GPU and fan speeds. There is a trial. CoreTemp and SpeedFan are free but limited in what they read. High temperatures can cause all sorts of trouble and if you have had fan warnings, I'd check them.
MemTest can be used to check RAM. Hard drive manufacturers have their own testing software. For SeaGate drives, this is SeaTools. Both MemTest and SeaTools require you to burn an ISO to a disk and to boot from it. A CDRW is fine. Knowing the results of these tests and your system temperatures would help make a diagnosis. I'd guess overheating or a memory fault if it's a hardware problem but for no other reason than their being common causes of trouble.
My power button functions as yours does. A quick press is the same as 'Start\Turn Off\Shutdown.' Holding it down forces a power off. It's function can be changed in the control panel.

[S_Farrington]

Having done some digging around I've come up with

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ 2.61Ghz
NVIDIA GeFore 7300 GS
1024mb DDR2 533MHz

As for whether it's the information you're hoping for I don't know. The type of fan and a few other things such as power supply etc remain a mystery.

While I have a CD writer, I don't currently have any CD's so MemTest appears to be out of the question for the immediate future. I've had SpeedFan recommended to me before, but im not too clever with regards to my knowledge of how computers work, the results are gibberish to me. To the extent that I wouldn't know what to report back here for others to see.

About the power button. A quick tap will indeed shut down windows normally, while holding the button will force a shut down. But when I get the problem with the mouse/keyboard locking up it acts as if I have given it a quick tap regardless of whether I have or not, it isn't recognising that I am pressing and holding the button, which afaik isn't normal.

[DrATty]

I mis-understood what you said about the power button. Sorry. It can 'lock up' with everything else.
There's still some mileage in the temperatures. If you click on this link http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com...p/CoreTemp.zip your PC will offer to download a file. I'd save it to my desktop but clicking the desktop icon on the left and then 'OK' bottom right. You'll see 'Core Temp.zip' appear on the desktop. Double-click that and then the file 'Core Temp.exe.'
See how the values 'Core #0' and 'Core #1' change with time. The highest and lowest would be useful. Ignore the other numbers. Do something that pushes your PC for a while too.
If Everest looks as though it might help I can give you a walkthrough on getting the useful information.
It's worth seeing where this goes.

[DrATty]

PS. Have you seen the new forum? It's here http://www.meshownersclub.com/forum/...referrerid=135

[S_Farrington]

Ok, I've downloaded and run CoreTemp.

While idle its displaying Core #0 - 33°c, Core #1 - 28°c

When I tried while running a game it was somewhere closer to Core #0 - 50°c, Core #1 - 46°c

They're pretty much constant at these levels depending on what the pc is doing.

[DrATty]

Those temperatures are fairly typical. Random lock-ups are commonly caused by high temperatures and memory errors. The DIY tests that you can try go on and on but the useful ones check these. There's nMonitor for checking GPU temperatures (part of nTune, I think - http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us) and MemTest for memory. You can't use your CD drive and I don't know whether you have a floppy drive or if MemTest will boot from a USB key, but I'd check my memory next.
As you say, there have been problems with nv4_disp.dll for years and they're usually software related. There might be something useful here http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=117852.
I don't think this forum has been forgotten but you might get more responses if you post a summary of this thread at the MESH Owners Club here http://www.meshownersclub.com/forum/...referrerid=135.