Concerned about new pc
Please take some time to help me, I've been looking everywhere.
I recently got a new pc and it's pretty good:
i7 3770, 16gbs ram (i do a lot of video editing), HD 6870, win 7 x64
My computer has not been as "stable" as it should be. (like my old comp)
- a few times my GFX card has stopped working recently for a few seconds (Screen blacks out)
i get an error message from windows saying it "recovered." It has up-to-date drivers. Was working fine before.
( I've started noticing an issue with minecraft specifically, where everything's edge would be white and "bold"
- I've had internet stop for no reason. reboot fixes. This is recent.
- It's been really slowing down since I got it.
none of this happened on my old, 2007 PC.
I'm assuming it's because i custom built and I'm missing something.
- What's wrong with my GFX card?
- Are there are programs I'm missing ? (Java, Flash player, etc)
- Do I have spyware?
thank you.
17 Comments • Newest first
[quote=qwan456]Likely your driver crashed, which then cause the screen to momentarily "blacked out", and require Windows to reload or recovered the driver. Don't rely on the Device Manager or Windows Update to find the latest driver for you. Go to the AMD site or the manufacturer of your 6870, look it up, and download the appropriate driver for your system. Use [url=http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/]Driver Sweeper[/url] to uninstall your current drivers (the link will tell you how to go about doing it and using the program) and install the one you had just downloaded.
Electromagnetic coils are made out of conductive wires used in a PSU as an inductor or transformer. Depending on the amount of currents is being drawn through the wires (could happen a low loads or high loads) and how the wires is wound up, it may approach its resonance frequency which you may be able to hear a high-pitched sound. This is called coil whine. It's usually doesn't mean your PSU is going bad, and any PSU can fall victim to it - a high-end unit or not.
When your computer is turned off, the only circuitry that is active in the PSU is the +5vSB circuitry, so that high pitched sound is probably coming from it's own inductor/transformer. If it is annoying you, RMAing it is an option.[/quote]
thanks a lot.
although on my new driver attempt, it always says "installer integrity check has failed"
I've downloaded it numerous times using different browsers.
EDIT: I got it on a different PC and moved it on a USB.
thanks everyone
[quote=ultimangex]
- a few times my GFX card has stopped working recently for a few seconds (Screen blacks out)
i get an error message from windows saying it "recovered." It has up-to-date drivers. Was working fine before.
[/quote]
Likely your driver crashed, which then cause the screen to momentarily "blacked out", and require Windows to reload or recovered the driver. Don't rely on the Device Manager or Windows Update to find the latest driver for you. Go to the AMD site or the manufacturer of your 6870, look it up, and download the appropriate driver for your system. Use [url=http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/]Driver Sweeper[/url] to uninstall your current drivers (the link will tell you how to go about doing it and using the program) and install the one you had just downloaded.
[quote=ultimangex]and when the computer is off / sleeping, I hear this really weird sound, It's high pitched, and It's like "pulsating" (on and off fast)
I think it's coming from the back of the comp, although I'm not sure. Could that relate to anything?[/quote]
Electromagnetic coils are made out of conductive wires used in a PSU as an inductor or transformer. Depending on the amount of currents is being drawn through the wires (could happen a low loads or high loads) and how the wires is wound up, it may approach its resonance frequency which you may be able to hear a high-pitched sound. This is called coil whine. It's usually doesn't mean your PSU is going bad, and any PSU can fall victim to it - a high-end unit or not.
When your computer is turned off, the only circuitry that is active in the PSU is the +5vSB circuitry, so that high pitched sound is probably coming from it's own inductor/transformer. If it is annoying you, RMAing it is an option.
[quote=BobR]At the risk of adding to the confusion from all the shotgun diagnosing going on here, you should NOT hear anything at all when the computer is OFF.
With the computer plugged in, and the PSU power switch turned on, but the computer turned off, it should be totally silent.
Put your ear next to the fan guard on the back of the power supply next to where the electric cord plugs in and see if you hear any sound coming from inside.
That could indicate a defective power supply.
And a defective power supply could cause ALL the symptoms you listed.[/quote]
it could be my fault.
When I installed my optical drive, i put in a cable in my modular power supply.
could that be it?
[quote=BobR]At the risk of adding to the confusion from all the shotgun diagnosing going on here, you should NOT hear anything at all when the computer is OFF.
With the computer plugged in, and the PSU power switch turned on, but the computer turned off, it should be totally silent.
Put your ear next to the fan guard on the back of the power supply next to where the electric cord plugs in and see if you hear any sound coming from inside.
That could indicate a defective power supply.
And a defective power supply could cause ALL the symptoms you listed.[/quote]
I was gonna say a defective power supply but got ninja'd by the masked menace
Darn you!
[quote=ultimangex]- I do hear the sound of what I believe is the hard drive spinning sometimes.
- and when the computer is off / sleeping, I hear this really weird sound, It's high pitched, and It's like "pulsating" (on and off fast)
I think it's coming from the back of the comp, although I'm not sure. Could that relate to anything?[/quote]
At the risk of adding to the confusion from all the shotgun diagnosing going on here, you should NOT hear anything at all when the computer is OFF.
With the computer plugged in, and the PSU power switch turned on, but the computer turned off, it should be totally silent.
Put your ear next to the fan guard on the back of the power supply next to where the electric cord plugs in and see if you hear any sound coming from inside.
That could indicate a defective power supply.
And a defective power supply could cause ALL the symptoms you listed.
on CPUID HWmonitor,
things are are 30-35 idle and 40-50 gaming
@ultimangex:
Actually I had another problem with the my graphics card. I installed a wifi card thingy beside it except it was covering the fan and it caused the card to overheat and every time I would play 3D games my monitor would just loose connection than my computer would crash.
Maybe you have heating problems?
like 2 weeks
[quote=timmybitty]I had a similar problem.
Turns out my graphics card was faulty. =/[/quote]
I got this 2 weeks ago :x
could be exposure to dust?
because It's like right there.
I had a similar problem.
Turns out my graphics card was faulty. =/
- The RAM is not faulty. All works.
- Sorry, I'm not a user of Tom's Hardware
- I do hear the sound of what I believe is the hard drive spinning sometimes.
- and when the computer is off / sleeping, I hear this really weird sound, It's high pitched, and It's like "pulsating" (on and off fast)
I think it's coming from the back of the comp, although I'm not sure. Could that relate to anything?
Faulty RAM crashes computers. You turn off the computer, take out all the RAM sticks except for one, turn the computer back on, do things normally and see if the crashing occurs again. Rinse and repeat with the other sticks. If the crashes occur with each stick, then the RAM is not at fault. If the crash occurs with a particular stick, then you have a faulty RAM module.
Add www. to the Tom's link. Basilmarket forbids using (.)to links. You have officially been the first person I have seen here on this Tech board who has failed to realize that www. makes Tom's links work. I am displeased. It indicates you are not thinking this through nor taking your time. Troubleshooting takes patience.
Sounds like you have two separate issues.
The white edges sounds like an AA problem.
See if you can change your antialiasing/anisotropy settings in your graphics card's settings to be controlled by the game.
The rest may be a driver or hardware issue. More commonly drivers are to blame. You could try see if there are any beta updates.
If it wasn't happening before, you might even want to try get a slightly older graphics card driver if it started after an update.
- What will tell me if they're faulty? Is there a sign to look for? Do I do this with the computer on? In my "system" It says I have 16 GBs.
- I meant as for steps. Where do I go to troubleshoot? The Tom's Hardware link doesn't work.
-Test for faulty RAM sticks. Take them all out and then plug one at a time into the motherboard.
-Of course you don't know if your video card is at fault. That's why you troubleshoot. If you can't comprehend that, I might as well stop helping you.
tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems
- The virus scan is clean.
- Try it out for what?
- I don't know how
- 750w
- 700w?
- i did, not a noticeable difference.
- will try when it stops working again.
What can i do to make sure I am maximizing my potential PC power? ( no overclocking ) maybe that will show me the difference between this and my old PC.
- add more virtual memory? tweak anything? I got this custom build so everything is default.
**(this may help, but I've noticed a dramatic decrease in boot-up time.)
Could dust be a factor? I have a CM 690 II case and it has "sockets" for 2 side fans, which don't have any dust filters and are unoccupied.
-Do a virus scan. It's unlikely malware is the cause, but who knows...
-Take out each RAM stick and try them one at a time.
-If you have onboard graphics, use that to troubleshoot for video card problems.
There could be other things...just report back your results.