pc hangs during video playback

[simonh]

I tried what you said and I am getting a display on the internal, so how is it I turn that off please?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Simon, This is actually one area I am not very sure of, I think it is either done in the BIOS, or even device manager, but which way and in what order is where I am unsure about, as the last thing we need is to have no display. Hopefully Randy or Dalo might pick up on this and advise further as graphics cards are not my strong point.

Using the on board graphics, have you seen any of the previous problems though?

Nev.

[RandyL]

According to the following article it can be done via device manager while in safemode. http://www.ehow.com/how_5470175_disable-graphics-card.html

[simonh]

Not yet Nev but I'm going to give it a longer test just to make sure, thanks for getting back to me, I did have a look myself but struggled to find any instructions i understood.

 

Thanks for the link Randy, I'll give it a go and see if that makes the difference. I unplugged all non essential HDD's yesterday and the problem still exists so it might be my C drive which is the cause of all this, I'll keep you posted.

[simonh]

Hi, sorry for the late reply, amongst other things, I've been away on holiday.

 

I have tried running my pc with and without my main card and the problem is still there. It seems to be fine for ages then once it sticks for the first time then it just keeps persisting intermittently.

[RandyL]

Most drive manufacturers will have a drive test program you can run. Do you know what drive you have?

[simonh]

If you mean HDD Randy it's a SAMSUNG HD154UI

[RandyL]

Yes that is what I mean. Download, unzip and burn to a cdrom this file ESTOOL301v_CDROM.zip from http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_es.html

 

The instructions are on that page as well as the link to the file. It's an ISO file so when I click on it my burning software opens so it can make the ISO (image) file on a cdrom.

 

I've used these utilitities many times. It really is quite easy to do. At least this way you will know if it is the drive or not.

[simonh]

Cool I'll try that thannks, how worried should I be by the disclaimer? I'm not backed up at the moment

[RandyL]

If I remember right the disclaimer is to not use the format option which would wipe the drive.

 

The disk can be used to just check the drive status. No harm with that option.

 

However if you can back up files then you should. That is good advice whether you have issues or not.

[simonh]

Finally got around to doing this, hasn't come up with any errors though

[RandyL]

I would think that rules out a drive problem then. Don't know what the problem might be though.

[simonh]

Is it possible that there is a compatibility issue between my graphics card and my motherboard? I only ask because I've read a few things from people having the same issues and that seems to be a common response. I don't know how to check though.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, blimey this is taking some time to sort out and bet you are near to tearing your hair out, :D

 

You may have a point about compatibility though, so please post the make and model of both the graphics card, and also the full details also of your mother board, oh and for good measure the make and model of the CPU or processor, someone may spot something if those are known.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

is a compatibility issue between my graphics card and my motherboard?

I think you said earlier ( correct me if I am wrong ..........just read through the whole thread ) that you tried running from the on-board video and got the same problem.

If this is the case then it is unlikely to be a compatibility issue.

 

Have you disabled on-board video from Device Manager ?

 

=================

 

Wait for the system to crash again then make a note of the date and exact time.

Boot the system again.

 

Open Event Viewer.........[ Start ....type in ...event viewer ......ENTER ]

 

Click on the > left side of panel ( mine is boxed in red below )

You are looking for an !Error that has the same date and time that you noted above.

 

You will get further information relating to it in the red boxes shown below.

This information may help to identify the cause of the problem.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]683.vB5-legacyid=1446[/ATTACH]

[simonh]

Hi guys, yes Nev I'll admit it's been quite a pain, I've been able to ignore it for a while but I've recently been trying to use my PC for streaming but as it keeps locking up it keep dropping halfway through films so I thought I'd give it another go, I'll also admit (KenB) that I'm clutching at straws at the moment which is why I'm just trying to go through every thing again to make doubly sure that I did it right the first time. I'll certainly have a look at the event viewer next time I get this issue, thanks for the instructions but how do I disable my on-board via device manager?

 

The specs are as follows

 

From Belarc

 

Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. G41M-ES2L

Bus Clock: 266 megahertz

BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. F6 11/04/2009

 

2.93 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo

64 kilobyte primary memory cache

3072 kilobyte secondary memory cache

64-bit ready

Multi-core (2 total)

Not hyper-threaded

NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT [Display adapter]

 

Windows 7 64bit

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Simon, to disable the on board graphics, open device manager first, it should look something like this,

 

http://i48.servimg.com/u/f48/14/68/69/96/device10.jpg

 

As I only have on board graphics, the N Vidia is the only thing showing after clicking the expansion arrow as per the little red one!!

In your case you should see both the on board and the graphics card.

 

Only do this next move if you do see the separate graphics card and it shows as working OK,

double click on the on board as mine is highlighted blue, you should then see this window, click on the drivers tab at the top as in my shot here=

 

http://i48.servimg.com/u/f48/14/68/69/96/graphi10.jpg

 

Then click on the disable button as arrowed and click OK.

 

Nev.

[simonh]

Cheers for the instructions Nev but all I'm seeing is this, Is that good or not?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, that NVidea GeForce 9600 GT is according to what you said earlier about it, is your card that is showing and not the on board, this means that it must have automatically disabled the on board when fitted. Some Graphics cards do that, so at least we can now rule out any conflicts with the on board graphics I think. You don't need to disable anything, in fact if you did you would possibly not have any graphics.

 

Nev.

[simonh]

Yeah that's what I figured, so it's not that then. It did just do it again but nothing is showing up in the event viewer matching the date/time. The only things that are matching are systems starting and stopping but apparently those are normal and don't need resolving.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Simon, just read back yet again and just to check,

you have changed RAM to all new.

You have changed power supply to one bigger.

Have you looked at the paging file?

Have you changed the primary hard drive?

 

Paging file is a part of the hard drive that Windows uses as vitual memory when there may be a need for memory above what the RAM can support.

Ideally this should be system managed. to find out and change it if needed, click start, control panel, system.

 

• In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
   
  
• On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
  
• Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change.
  
• Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box if there is a tick in it.
  5. then put a dot in the button for System Managed Size.
  6. click "Set" then OK.
   
  

 

 

Nev.

[simonh]

Cheers Nev, I'll try that.

 

To answer your questions. RAM changed, PSU changed and no i haven't changed my primary HDD.

 

Simon

[simonh]

I thought you'd cracked it there but no, it's still doing it

[simonh]

Shot in the dark but would my disk transfer rate have anything to do with this? According to windows my score is way low on this.

[Plastic Nev]

After a look around the drive spindle speed is 5400, which should be fast enough. Data transfer isn't that slow from the spec I found here=

 

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=663&pgno=2

 

So, unless there is some strange fault making it slow down now and then which the checks done so far haven't shown, I doubt it is the drive itself. That can only be proved by fitting a new one though.

 

Nev.