Hi,
I built a PC nearly two months ago.
It was working fine for about a month.
However, for... about a month, I've been getting graphics glitches(Colours distorting madly, fuzziness, black blocks) and random errors(programs crashing). First of all, for a few weeks, I was only getting glitches when playing a certain game, Halo. But this was every time I played the game. Then I also started getting glitches in Batman Arkham City occassionally(though only occassionally). If I ever got glitches, any programs open would begin to crash and then the PC would crash entirely.
I also had glitches in VLC Media Player IF I played network videos. DVDs work most of the time strangely(though audio stops working sometimes) (This leads me to the theory that my harddrive might be corrupted)
The Witcher 1 and 2 as well as Team Fortress 2 and Need for Speed World have worked flawlessly up until almost a week ago. Last week, I started getting glitches on EVERYTHING. I could browse the internet fine unless I watched videos or played any web games up until a couple of days ago. Now, just opening Google Chrome or any other program glitches out the computer.
The only program that strangely opens perfectly well is AVG Internet Security. AI Suite also opens usually(crashes sometimes though).
I've run the memory diagnostic tool and I've run AVG Tune-Up diagnostics.
I've also tried to run a harddrive error scan but it froze at 29%(which is more evidence towards harddrive corruption, but read on)
The memory diagnostic tool did find errors. Of course, it's the Windows memory diagnostic tool and it didn't actually tell me what the errors are. It just told me there are errors.
So I bought new RAM seeing as it's quite cheap and I figured if that is the issue and new RAM fixes it, I can send my original RAM back on warranty and I'd have 8GB.
Unfortunately, I tried the RAM today and the issues remain. And it seems they're worse, though that might just be because the issue is getting worse anyway.
But the biggest problem to look at from this test is that the memory diagnostic tool did find errors with both memory DIMMs. Hoping it's not a faulty motherboard. Apparently Asus Tech Support and returns service is extremely poor.
Also, the RAM error light does flash whenever I turn the PC on. However, it's apparently supposed to flash when the PC is first turned on to show that the RAM has power. Not sure whether it's supposed to flash again when I go into BIOS though but it does turn off when Windows boots up.
I've also used HWMonitor to check voltages and temperatures. Everything looks fine. Voltages are stable and temperatures rarely, if ever, go above 50 degrees.
I have four main suspicions now(in order of most likely/least hopeful in my opinion)
1. Harddrive corruption.
2. Both DIMMs might have been faulty(doubtful but eh)
3. Faulty graphics card. (Kinda my most hopeful but not as likely)
4. Faulty motherboard.
I should probably also mention that I've reinstalled Windows twice via the in-built Reset tool.
Specs:
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
Asus M5A97 R2.0
AMD Phenom II X4 965
Corsair XMS3 1600MHz (4GB, single stick)
Nvidia Geforce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 (Not sure of sub-brand. It's from another PC)
Western Digital 250GB SATA 1 HDD (Not sure of specifics. Again, from another PC)
(Both the 9500 GT and the HDD were working fine in the PCs I took them from)
Oh and also, I've tested the GPU in another PC and it worked fine. I also tested another GPU in my PC and it still didn't work(And yes, that GPU works perfectly fine in another PC). So unlikely that it's a GPU issue, even if I have been really hopeful that it is a GPU issue since the start as I want to buy a new GPU anyway and I don't really want to have to buy other new components while saving up for the GPU.
I really want to fix the issue as I don't have much money and don't much want to buy another new PC. (I kinda need a PC of my own because of the noise I can hear from where my dad's PC is. I have bad enough headaches already)
If I've cluttered everything a bit too much(wasn't exactly sure how to structure all the information. I've done a lot of tests), just say so.
E: I forgot to mention that I've also tried rolling back graphics drivers to the previous version and the version before that. (304 and 296 I believe)
I built a PC nearly two months ago.
It was working fine for about a month.
However, for... about a month, I've been getting graphics glitches(Colours distorting madly, fuzziness, black blocks) and random errors(programs crashing). First of all, for a few weeks, I was only getting glitches when playing a certain game, Halo. But this was every time I played the game. Then I also started getting glitches in Batman Arkham City occassionally(though only occassionally). If I ever got glitches, any programs open would begin to crash and then the PC would crash entirely.
I also had glitches in VLC Media Player IF I played network videos. DVDs work most of the time strangely(though audio stops working sometimes) (This leads me to the theory that my harddrive might be corrupted)
The Witcher 1 and 2 as well as Team Fortress 2 and Need for Speed World have worked flawlessly up until almost a week ago. Last week, I started getting glitches on EVERYTHING. I could browse the internet fine unless I watched videos or played any web games up until a couple of days ago. Now, just opening Google Chrome or any other program glitches out the computer.
The only program that strangely opens perfectly well is AVG Internet Security. AI Suite also opens usually(crashes sometimes though).
I've run the memory diagnostic tool and I've run AVG Tune-Up diagnostics.
I've also tried to run a harddrive error scan but it froze at 29%(which is more evidence towards harddrive corruption, but read on)
The memory diagnostic tool did find errors. Of course, it's the Windows memory diagnostic tool and it didn't actually tell me what the errors are. It just told me there are errors.
So I bought new RAM seeing as it's quite cheap and I figured if that is the issue and new RAM fixes it, I can send my original RAM back on warranty and I'd have 8GB.
Unfortunately, I tried the RAM today and the issues remain. And it seems they're worse, though that might just be because the issue is getting worse anyway.
But the biggest problem to look at from this test is that the memory diagnostic tool did find errors with both memory DIMMs. Hoping it's not a faulty motherboard. Apparently Asus Tech Support and returns service is extremely poor.
Also, the RAM error light does flash whenever I turn the PC on. However, it's apparently supposed to flash when the PC is first turned on to show that the RAM has power. Not sure whether it's supposed to flash again when I go into BIOS though but it does turn off when Windows boots up.
I've also used HWMonitor to check voltages and temperatures. Everything looks fine. Voltages are stable and temperatures rarely, if ever, go above 50 degrees.
I have four main suspicions now(in order of most likely/least hopeful in my opinion)
1. Harddrive corruption.
2. Both DIMMs might have been faulty(doubtful but eh)
3. Faulty graphics card. (Kinda my most hopeful but not as likely)
4. Faulty motherboard.
I should probably also mention that I've reinstalled Windows twice via the in-built Reset tool.
Specs:
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
Asus M5A97 R2.0
AMD Phenom II X4 965
Corsair XMS3 1600MHz (4GB, single stick)
Nvidia Geforce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 (Not sure of sub-brand. It's from another PC)
Western Digital 250GB SATA 1 HDD (Not sure of specifics. Again, from another PC)
(Both the 9500 GT and the HDD were working fine in the PCs I took them from)
Oh and also, I've tested the GPU in another PC and it worked fine. I also tested another GPU in my PC and it still didn't work(And yes, that GPU works perfectly fine in another PC). So unlikely that it's a GPU issue, even if I have been really hopeful that it is a GPU issue since the start as I want to buy a new GPU anyway and I don't really want to have to buy other new components while saving up for the GPU.
I really want to fix the issue as I don't have much money and don't much want to buy another new PC. (I kinda need a PC of my own because of the noise I can hear from where my dad's PC is. I have bad enough headaches already)
If I've cluttered everything a bit too much(wasn't exactly sure how to structure all the information. I've done a lot of tests), just say so.
E: I forgot to mention that I've also tried rolling back graphics drivers to the previous version and the version before that. (304 and 296 I believe)
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