At least I think that's the problem. This is what has been going on lately.

For some reason, every once in a while, my computer will just completely lock up. Only way to get anything to happen is to hit the reset button. Can't ctrl-alt-del out, can't do anything. I just installed a new hard drive about 3 months ago as extra storage to my new one, but I've run checks on both of those, and both of the drives are fine. I've run memtest to see if it was a bad memory stick or something like that, nothing is coming up. The only thing I can think of is that it's the video card. It's a Radeon 9800 Pro, had it probably a year or two, I can't remember.

It was running fine a few weeks ago, then I attempted to play a game on my computer, and that has seemed to start a downward spiral. It was only one game that did it, but now if I'm just sitting on my desktop, not really doing anything graphic intensive at all, the red light on my computer will just stay on, meaning it's constantly trying to access something, but nothing will happen.

Is there any type of diagnostic tool you can run on the video card to see if that's the problem? I really didn't have the money to drop on a new video card, but if I can't use my computer at all because it randomly locks up, then it's basically a large paper weight.

And yes, I've updated the driver, updated anything that would need updating. It seems that before it locks up, I heard a sound from the computer. There's absolutely no way I can describe the sound, but it's basically like a quick high pitch burst, then almost a click sound, and that's it. Usually when that happens, it locks up about 5 seconds later.

Any ideas? Or any more information yall need?

3/27/2006 10:43:01 AM

no suggestions?

3/27/2006 1:41:52 PM

When was the last time you formatted, or is that not an option?

I had a problem once with a game that was soley based on a windows xp update. I couldn't run the game at all after the update, but it took me reformatting to realize the update had been the problem. If you really don't know what it is, and don't want to take it anywhere, I open it up and clean out all the dust and then format it, just as an easy fix all.

3/27/2006 1:53:15 PM

I really think it might be a failing video card, but I just don't know how to test that

and I would really like to avoid a format if at all possible

if i could just somehow tell what is happening when all of a sudden my computer apparently is just constantly reading from a hard drive or loading or something...

i've done a checkdisk on both hard drives, so i really don't think that's the problem...however, when i installed this new hard drive, the first one i put in was faulty, and would cause my computer to not even be able to boot up, so i had to send it back and replace it. But again, i've checked both of these hard drives, and they are apparently ok.

It would be one thing if I was doing something graphic intensive, then i would be sure it's the card. I just don't know how to test this.

God I hate computers. They are allowed to be mediocre and not work half the damn time.

3/27/2006 1:58:51 PM

If i had to upgrade to a new card, what's the best video card out there for < $300?

3/27/2006 2:49:08 PM

I know I keep posting new info without having a response, but anyone have any experience with this card? How does it sound:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130264#DetailSpecs

eVGA 256-A8-N397-TX Geforce 6800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail



this is what I have right now
SAPPHIRE Radeon 9800PRO 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

and I believe that's what is causing all these problems




well damn, now I don't know. Even though i've run several tests on my hard drive and my storage hard drive, and it says they are both fine, I unplugged the storage hard drive and now it seems to be running fine. This is the second extra hard drive I've tried to add and apparently my computer just doesn't want me to. I don't know if that means it's a bad hard drive or since my system is about 2-3 years old it can't handle two hard drives. I emailed rogueleader about it, but any other ideas?

[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 3:52 PM. Reason : .]

3/27/2006 3:26:11 PM

HAVE YOU TRIED FLUSHING YOUR MONITOR CACHE TO VRAM

3/27/2006 4:25:31 PM

where is the noise coming from. open your case and listen. i mean hell, disconnect your video card and use on-board video for a day or 2 see if you can diagnose it that way. sound like a hard drive problem to me though.

3/27/2006 5:57:09 PM