Troubleshoot my computer

[WacoKid]

Hi all,

I know I don't post often, but I really need help with this, and I figure there are a lot of people on the forums with wayyy more computer know-how than me.

I got a new desktop (assembled by ibuypower), and it's great, except for the fact that it randomly freezes up whenever the graphics card is being used to any extent. It happens very infrequently while on the web or playing an old game, but MUCH more frequently when playing, say, Oblivion, Fallout 3, NWN2, etc. It's to the point now where I really can't enjoy the computer, and I want to. I believe it's a hardware issue, as in two pieces of hardware maybe not being completely compatible, as the problem occurs no matter what program I'm using, albeit with varying frequency. Here are the stats:


Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Casegears ECO-Element 80 Plus Certificated High Efficiency Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9400 (4x 2.66GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR Intel P45 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1333 Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [5X Blu-Ray] Sony Optiarc BC-5100S BLU-RAY Reader & DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard w/ 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse Black )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )

Can anyone see any problems? Please let me know i more info is required, I am not too good with hardware issues.

[Darth Wong]

I assume you've already tried the usual options of reinstalling the OS or updating the video drivers? If that doesn't help, you may have a video card hardware problem; some video cards are just shitty out of the box. It does happen. It could also be the MB, although MBs seem to be more reliable than video cards, at least in my experience. You could run memtest for a day or so if you want to make sure the MB's basic non-video processing is OK.

[General Zod]

The first problem is you got it from iBuypower, I've heard of a number of quality issues from them. You might want to try opening the case up and poking around to see if any components are loose or jiggly. A graphics card that wasn't properly seated or a heatsink without enough thermal paste might do weird stuff.

[phongn]

You may have a defective GPU, a defective CPU or your system may be overheating.

[WacoKid]

I don't think it's overheating or the MB, I'll try updating the drivers, which I stupidly did not do. I may have to open the unit and poke around a bit.

So no compatibility issues that are obvious to begin with?

Thanks for the help guys.

[Uraniun235]

Run Prime95 for a couple of hours; if your computer's still working well after that, it's probably not a CPU issue or an overheating issue.

After that, run FurMark for awhile; if it fails that, it's probably a graphics card issue.


Either way, you should be able to get some warranty service on it.