Pc Keeps Freezing/no Log In Screen

Since my pc possibly crashed on me, it now freezes on me and I have to force the computer to shut down. When I start it back up, it won't load the windows log in screen. It just sits there with a black screen. The only way I've been able to get back into my computer is by going into safemode and shutting down my computer normally, then turn it back on (only after it freezes on me).

What happened first is I was playing Rift and the my pc froze, then the screen became colorful pixels. I had a friend help me, we thought it was the GPU, so we rolled back the driver, but I'm still having problems. The next time something happened, I exited out of Rift, then the background on my computer froze, but I could still move the mouse for a bit.. though that became glitchy then eventually froze too. The past few nights my pc has been freezing on me here & there just doing simple things, and I have to keep going back to safe mode, etc.

Does anyone have any idea what may be going on or what I need to fix/replace?

PC Specs:

PSU: 430w
MOBO: ASUS M3N78-VM
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.70GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT
HDD: 160GB
RAM: 3GB

I'm running windows 7 ultimate 64bit. This is the first time I've had any issues with it. Built it back in 2009.

 

Hi and welcome to CHF.
There are many reasons why this could be happening, so lets first start with one of the likely culprits which is the RAM, how many sticks do you have in to make up the 3GB?
If three 1GB, take one out and run on two, it may be a bit slower but if all is OK, that is the faulty stick, if not OK, put it back and remove another, try all three then let us know what happened.

Nev.

 

Hi and thanks

I have 2x 1GB and 2x 500MB. I have not tried taking any RAM out, but I can give it a shot. Small update, freezing is becoming more frequent and when I go to choose to boot the HDD, there's green lines (vertical) on the screen. Now sometimes when I go through safe mode, shut down, and restart it, doesn't always work. It just hangs there with the black screen again.

 

Further to Dragnets sound advice I think you have more than one issue.
As Dragnet suggested the PSU is next to look at.
Are you Overclocking?

This Graphics card requires to be powered separate as it draws upwards of 82watts.
The card has a SLI connector and a six-pin PCIe power connector.
I also think the PSU is not supplying enough to power everything under load.

Did you fit this card yourself?
Is it getting seperate power by means of the 6pin cable which came with the card package.?


The 7950 GT does require an external power supply cable (6-pin)

I am reasonably confident that this points to a power supply issue.

Green vertical lines can be a pointer to the Graphics Card and power could possibly be the cause.

 

I have never overclocked my pc.

I had my brother help me install the card. The GPU was a hand me down, already used. It came with no cables. There's I believe a 6-pin plugged into the GPU from the PSU.

Some updates:

Freezing has stopped since removing the 2x500MB RAM sticks. Going to do a memtest just to double check things. I probably will up the RAM too, to 6GB.

When turning on the computer, sometimes it sounds like a truck with the noise possibly coming from the PSU.

My computer crashed giving me a blue screen saying something about "this is the first time you've seen sceen, etc" when I was trying to burn a disc with some backups. I tried a second time and it stopped responding.

 

Further to the Dragnet's advice given,can you visually check the fans are all running at normal rpm's

Only 2 places noises come from normally. Fans or Hard Drive.
Was the disc in the drive when you tried to boot?
I would set the bios boot order to the Hard Drive as first boot.

I would definately change the PSU as I'm thinking a lot of these issues can relate to the PSU not suppling enough power.
I have a similar card and run a 600 watt PSU.

We advised you to try another PSU (Borrow or buy)
Until you do that we are getting nowhere really.

 

I tend to agree with DSTM I think regardless of what you are hearing your PSU appears to be insufficient. As for the sound, we can only hope that it is a fan and not the Hard Drive. Is the sound something like a grinding sound? Sounding like a truck is a bit subjective and may mean something different to anyone who reads your post.

 

Thank you for all your help and responses. I'm currently looking into a new PSU. I also took off the side of my case as it started up. the sound seems to be coming from near the PSU and the HDD. It sounds more like a truck trying to start up, if that makes any sense. As for grinding, idk.

 

Ok, my guess it is a rumbling sound, that is likely to be the fan motor bearings and if so will slow down the fan, therefore not getting enough cooling to the CPU, leading to overheating.
As well as the advice for the PSU replacement, look at replacing the CPU fan as well, as sooner or later it will sieze up.

Nev.

 

Some updates:

Ran memtest, the memory is fine, no errors.

Reinstalled windows and the freezing is completely gone. I haven't had any issues yet. I have not tried playing Rift yet, as I'm still looking into a new PSU and possibly a CPU fan. I'm also considering upgrading the mother board and cpu now, so it can better handle Rift and my multi-tasking.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Hi, thanks for the update and letting us know what you plan next, let us know how successful it all is please.

Nev.

 

Another small update: The pc decided to shut down on me and gave me a blue screen while I was viewing a web page. Still going to try to pinpoint what's causing issues, as some of the parts (GPU/HDD) would be moved into the newer build. Hate to have issues with a new build!

 

New Build is up and running, thank you for your help, I would had never looked into a new power supply unit.