pslewis

My PC is running XP, the PC is about 18 months old and suits me perfectly.

Lately it has just been shutting down randomly, windows hanging, monitor switching off on its own etc.

Virus, or so I thought! But, I have scanned and rescanned with the latest virus updates and NOTHING!

When I fire her up again after a crash I send a report to MS who respond by saying a device driver caused the problem - now, its only happened for about 8 weeks (previously the PC behaved itself perfect!)

Then MS states that the Graphics Card needs an updated device driver (13Mb Patch!) 1 hour on dail-up! Nevertheless, I downloaded it .... result? WORSE!!!

So I have removed it and am back to shut downs STILL saying its the graphics driver - what should I do?

Sometimes the PC will NOT turn on at all, then when it does it bleeps at me and hangs - until I turn off and on again a few times

It has also slowed down to a crawl!!

Graphics Driver = GForce3 Ti200

Pete

Scooby Dooby Blue

Hi Pete

Next time you boot up, count the bleeps. This is the PC telling you what's wrong with it.

It sounds to me like your RAM could be on its last legs. If you have a 2nd PC in the house taht uses the same RAM (SD or DDR), swap it out to see if this cures your fault.
If your motherboard has on-board graphics, you could disable the graphics card in Device Manager (right-click My Computer select Manage then Device Manager), and use the onboard plug for your monitor. This would determine whether or not it's the GF3 that's at fault.

If either of the above help, there are a plethora of possible solutions, jst don't hand it into a PC shop and as them to fix it as most tend to replace rather than repair.

Best of luck,
Paul

PS Fitting a set of gold alloys to your tower might just cure the fault

pslewis

Paul, cheers - it was 4 beeps I think .... have you an idea of what the number of beeps mean?

I am guessing that when I turn off tonight (which now takes about 20minutes!!!) it won't fire up again

Doubt I have on-board graphics? Do you mean tell the pc to use on-board if there is any?

Troubleshooter can't find anything wrong?

Pete

Scooby Dooby Blue

Yo pete

Are they 4 short beeps? If so, the system timer is gubbed (i'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong), and you'll probably need a new motherboard.

If it's a mixture of long and short beeps, you would need to find out what motherboard is in the PC to diagnose the fault.
I think on phoenix based boards, 1 long and 3 short points to the video adaptor (or memory), which would tie in with the error mesasges Windows is giving you.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Set up Remote Assistance maybe?

Paul

matty01

Pete,i've just added more ram to my pc and it's loads faster on startup and shut down,although this may not cure your problems[unless dodgy ram]it may make it easier to fix/work with,it's dead easy to do.
Do you use ad-aware and/or spybot?

BexTait

Just out of interest (well, my PC does it every so often), and somewhat off topic, what does one short beep on start up mean? Ta
Bex

mark_h

One short beep is normal on most PCs and signifies that the self-test worked and it's starting to boot.

Andy Mid.

I had a problem similar to this a while ago (beeping on start-up and random reboots). Turned out that my PSU wasn't beefy enough.

I bought a 480W Antec PSU and the problem was fixed.

I found the problem by reading the motherboard manual to find out what the beeps meant and then downloading "asus probe" which is a motherboard diagnostic app which shows you what your main voltages are (turned out my 3.3V was only about 3.0V).

pslewis

Thanks for the advice - please keep it coming!

Quote:- 'Do you use ad-aware and/or spybot?' Errm, no, should I? and why?

PSU problem? well, I've had the PC for about 18months or more - so, unless its breaking down, then the PSU should be man enough?

More RAM? yes, maybe - but surely its got what it had when I bought it, 256? or 512? - so, it should act the same? I regularly defrag and clear-out. I have an 80Gb HD split into 3 drives 35 + 35 + 10

Windows keeps saying its a device error - then says there is a later Video Graphic driver for my card .................. I download it and it makes things worse!

Could I have an undetectable virus, worm or whatever?

Pete

mattstant

same problem i had with a recent rebuild took it back to the shop where i bought all the bits from they swapped ram etc and one of the more expereinced members of staff spotted the psu was underpowered.

By the way thats power supply unit for Pete or the bit you plug the mains supply into

also cheap part to replace pete

mattstant

psu could be faulty

You are describing the exact symptoms i had including the graphics card update advised by microsft xp (seems to be its answer to everything though)

pslewis

Any advance on PSU failure?

Pete

Huxley

Pete give me a call at home or my mobile !


Should be able to help lots of bits here if you need help

pslewis

Huxley - my man!

I will certainly give you a call if it packs in again - bits come in useful then!

It seems to be behaving itself at the moment?

Could it be heat? I have moved the main PC unit out of its enclosed space and its working well - funny!?

Pete