My computer, it no worky!

[Askthepizzaguy]

Greetings all.

For a while now, my computer has been acting up and I can't play games on it, such as Medieval 2 Total war, or Civilization IV, and it also seems to take a whenever I try to watch videos on it. If I do things which don't take a lot of graphical wizardry, the computer crashes a lot less. Yet it still does.

What happens is, randomly, the screen will go pitch black, and the audio will become distorted and start looping a tiny audio fragment like a skipping record. The audio will stay distorted for a few seconds, then it will come back normally for a few seconds, then it will just die and make a loud electronic garbage noise. There's no cursor, nothing on the screen at all, and none of the buttons on my keyboard do anything. It looks like the operating system is messed up, because if it just wasn't displaying properly, it wouldn't affect the audio, and my buttons would still work, but nothing changes anything. I have to do a reset by pressing the power button for 5 seconds.

Needless to say, when this happens a few minutes or seconds into whatever I was doing, I can't ever finish anything I wanted to do. So now video games and movies are forbidden tasks, on a 2,000 dollar laptop.

This is a Toshiba Qosmio, a few years old, top of the line in its time. I spent a good deal of my savings on this machine I was hoping would last for a while. Now I can't even do basic stuff without it freezing and forcing me to reset.

I am no technical guru. There's no viruses I can find with multiple different scanning tools. I just want to know if anyone out there knows what could be causing this, but I'm not looking for random guesses. If you've seen a problem like this before and have actual technical expertise or experience, then please let me know what you think.


I am trying to decide if this is something I can fix, or if I need to break down and buy another computer. I really don't want to do the latter.


If you can identify the problem correctly for me, I will be eternally grateful.

If you can tell me how I can fix it, and it works, I don't know what I'd do but I'd be really happy.


Help! Help!

[rajpoot]

Overheating?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Overheating?

Nope, got a rather large fan pointed right at the back of it, and the laptop is on "stilts". I've got seasons 4 and 5 of star trek the next generation on dvd propping up the left and right sides of my machine. Air flow is not just good, it is frickin' freezing my wrists while I type.

I thought it was overheating too, but the bottom and back of the machine is cool to the touch.

[drone]

Overheating?

This would be my guess as well. Just because the case is cool doesn't mean the interior components are cool. To me, a cool laptop case is a warning sign that heat is not being dissipated properly. Try running a diagnostic like SpeedFan to check the CPU/GPU temps under load.

[Askthepizzaguy]

This would be my guess as well. Just because the case is cool doesn't mean the interior components are cool. To me, a cool laptop case is a warning sign that heat is not being dissipated properly. Try running a diagnostic like SpeedFan to check the CPU/GPU temps under load.

hmmm ok.

With my computer doing nothing but having firefox open, and me typing this, I've got temperatures ranging from 46 to 34 degrees Celsius on 4 different displayed components. That tells me that at least one part of my computer is still pretty hot on the inside. It will only get worse if I do something strenuous.

What could I do to lower the temperature?

[Double A]

Have you tried carbonite?

Or, you know, cleaning off the dust? I know you have a fan, but that doesn't get rid of 100% of dust. More like 20%.

And then there's google.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I tried cleaning out the dust, but other than poking it out of my fan vents with a paper clip, I can't open up this machine to save my life. Thing has like 97 different screws and when I get them all out, it still won't open up. I'm afraid I'm going to break it.

[Double A]

Can you take some purty pictures of the sides?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Nope. Don't have a camera.

Last time I had a camera, I tried to take a picture of myself and it ran away.

[johnhughthom]

I may be wrong, but I don't think 34-46C is actually overly hot for computer components.

[Vuk]

Isn't there a hardware/software help forum?

[drone]

With a laptop, dust and hair are serious culprits. I try to vacuum the keyboard surface and the table I usually have it on at least once a week. You will want to run the vac over the various laptop vents (with a crevasse tool for more suction) to get as much hair and dust out as possible. There should be a couple of vents on the bottom, one each for the CPU and GPU intakes, make sure those are clear.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Isn't there a hardware/software help forum?

Yeah on further inspection there is. It could probably be moved there.

[rajpoot]

Ahh, I missed the part about it being a laptop till I re-read the post just now. My bad.
Still the crashes and lags you're describing basically sound like processor overheating. This is from personal experience. One of the cooling fans in my rig had stopped working and I ignored it without realising the cause of lag. Then the day I replaced that fan, it started working smoothly again.

[El Barto]

Just a thought, check the power supply.

[DaveShack]

I agree with the others regarding heat being a possible cause of this type of problem.
Lowering the max clock rate in advanced power settings might help it live through more stuff, at the cost of running slower of course.
You might be able to get at more of the interior to try dust vacuuming by going through the memory, cpu, and disk access doors.
I once had flaky memory which caused similar problems. If it's a model that doesn't require dual bank occupancy, try rotating memory or pulling a bank at a time.

BTW I turned on signatures, and thereby had to endure flying ponies. But it's worth it if it heals up your computer so you can continue playing and hosting.

[El Barto]

You can just vote:Double A if you have a problem with that horrible signature.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I've underclocked my, uh... thingy. And I also vacuumed every port and fan hole on my computer.

Still pointing fan at it, still cool to the touch. Not sure this is resolving the problem. Maybe it's packed full of dust bunnies and I just can't get em all.

Won't know until someone opens it up. But none of my temperature readings indicate anything too hot.


Could I have accidentally installed or uninstalled something that is now causing problems with my graphics card?

[DaveShack]

New driver levels can have surprising effects, in fact checking driver levels is one of the first thing most game support lines suggests.

[El Barto]

Well, once my father deleted all the sound and video drivers from our old PC (Windows 98) and I had to spend 7 hours with the floppy, the Win98 CD and booting on DOS. After that, I haven't allowed him on my computer again.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Viewing "Problem reports and solutions"



Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem
WD-20120723-1540.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA80065C0010
BCP2: FFFFFA60026154A0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_0_6002
Service Pack: 2_0
Product: 768_1



Other stuff:


Download updates for your computer
Your computer encountered a problem that can be caused by the NVIDIA display driver or the computer’s basic input/output system (BIOS).

Product updates might be available for your computer.

To try to solve this problem, follow these steps.

Go online to the Toshiba Corporation website to check for a BIOS update

Go online to check for an updated NVIDIA display driver

Additional information

If this problem continues to occur after installing the latest product updates, we recommend you go online to the Toshiba Corporation website for additional assistance and troubleshooting information:

Click to go online to the Toshiba Corporation website for more information and support options
What is a driver?

A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware or devices. Without drivers, the hardware you connect to your computer (for example, a video card or a webcam) won't work properly.

What is the BIOS?

The basic input/output system (BIOS) is software built into a computer that is run when the computer is first turned on. Among other things, this software starts the operating system and supports the transfer of information between hardware devices (such as the keyboard and the monitor).



Technical Information
Take the HP survey




Download and install the driver for your graphics adapter
Your graphics adapter has stopped working properly.
An update is available that solves this problem.


Click to download and install the new driver from the Hewlett-Packard website
Download instructions

Click Run or Open. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Follow the steps in the installation wizard.

Additional info

About your graphics adapter

The model name of your graphics adapter is Your graphics driver.

What is a driver?

A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware or devices. Without drivers, the hardware you connect to your computer (for example, a video card or a webcam) won't work properly.

In addition to this solution, Hewlett-Packard would like to gather more data to help you. Use the link in the Technical Information box to take a survey. The information that you and other customers submit will be used to investigate this error.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Attempted to find updates to BIOS, display drivers, etc, but none of the links my computer provided were working.

Does not feel like overheating, but a display issue. Tried googling myself out of this mess, but my google-fu, she is not so strong.

I am looking for a Jedi Master Yoda of the computer repairing world. I am barely even force-sensitive.

[Double A]

Oh. A laptop. Your cold fingers make considerably more sense now.

You can just vote:Double A if you have a problem with that horrible signature.

vote: this joyless bum

[Askthepizzaguy]

Updated nvidia driver. No changes to my problem. Still happening.

[HopAlongBunny]

BIOS update might give you some joy.

Windows updates might make a BIOS update required; ie:some change in the OS changes the way some routine is interpreted by your machine=>causes crash because unable to complete/solve, or overheating due to wasted effort going nowhere. I had to do it once for my motherboard; check manufacturer site for updates; read installation instructions carefully; do as directed :)

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9502M10000R01.htm lists some updates; don't know if your machine is there

I hope the solution is easy as that; if it's been running for years, it might be a good idea to take it to a good shop and have it cleaned.

[classical_hero]

Have you done a system reboot?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Have you done a system reboot?

Every ten minutes or so, involuntarily.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Okay. Updated BIOS for my machine (I think). Got correct BIOS for my machine (I think).

Now attempting to do a thing which causes my machine to crash, which is anything more complicated than displaying words. BRB!


EDIT: Crashed again.

Pizza is sad now.

[Fisherking]

Pizza, it sounds like you need professional help.

It sounds like you have some defective part that keeps crashing the system.

As it is a laptop chances are you won’t have much luck trying to replace or diagnose which part your self.

So sorry.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Weird. The computer is several years old... any defective part would have to have simply worn down.

Well, will be interested to know what the heck is wrong with it. Won't be likely to be fixed today or tomorrow. Will have to aim for Monday.