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#1 Computer issues
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:06 am
by Ace Pace
My PC has been acting up for the past day, every 30 minutes or so, mouse would freeze(Windows would keep functioning), then return to normal.
Suddenly it froze up, watching Youtube. Restarts now have Windows loading, getting stuck, and rebooting the PC. Getting to a BSOD screen gave an utterly random error code with a random error adress and no further information such as what module failed.
Memtest running from an ubuntu LiveCD revealed a single RAM adress(at the 492MB range, so high up) that has a small bug, but nothing bigger then that. Knoppix and uBuntu both seem to run fine, though Knoppix froze up randomly. Stressing the RAM beyond that sector in uBuntu didn't make anything odd happen.
Not sure if to just reinstall windows, or play around with RAM sticks.
#2
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:51 am
by B4UTRUST
Sounds like a RAM issue to me. But I'm no expert
#3
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:58 am
by The Cleric
Hey Ace, a friend was asking for some advice as far as hardware for a new gaming rig he's building. Would you be willing to dispense your knowledge?
#4
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:29 pm
by Ace Pace
Yes, price range and target usage?
#5 Re: Computer issues
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:43 pm
by Destructionator XV
Ace Pace wrote:Memtest running from an ubuntu LiveCD revealed a single RAM adress(at the 492MB range, so high up) that has a small bug,
The physical location is irrelevant, as the OS can map physical memory to wherever it wants for each application.
D/OS's memory allocator right now works from the top down, with system files all at the bottom, then maps it in the opposite way to applications - I dunno what Windows or Linux does, but you never know, they might do something like that too. The point is you can't be sure what they do.
If Windows' kernel happen to hang out up in that area, a single bit randomly messing up could lead to lockups or crashes.
Try swapping out your RAM sticks and see what happens.
#6
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:42 am
by Ace Pace
No change from taking out the bad stick. Going to try following Bountys advice and checking the event log.
#7
Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:59 pm
by The Cleric
Ace Pace wrote:Yes, price range and target usage?
Higher-end gaming. Price isn't an issue, within reason. He needs some tax write-offs, and a new gaming rig seems to be a good idea. He prefers Pentium chips and NVidia, but it's not a sticking point. He asking if quad-core was a good idea over dual-core as well (and single core I'd imagine :P).
#8
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:22 am
by Ace Pace
The Cleric wrote:Ace Pace wrote:Yes, price range and target usage?
Higher-end gaming. Price isn't an issue, within reason. He needs some tax write-offs, and a new gaming rig seems to be a good idea. He prefers Pentium chips and NVidia, but it's not a sticking point. He asking if quad-core was a good idea over dual-core as well (and single core I'd imagine :P).
Tech report system guide and
Anandtech guide. Look around there.
Quad core just got interesting with Crysis, but overall, Dual core works great. Stay away from single core.
Things to watch out for, is make sure it's a Core2Duo CPU, motherboard doesn't have to be top of the line(look at their reccomendations) as everything is getting replaced next year(don't worry about that). nVidia graphics card, wait a few weeks and get a 8800GT instead of any of their current reccomendations. Two GB of RAM is a must.