Please help with Computer Problems

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Vitrolic

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Hi there,

I got a new pc about a month ago. Worked fine for the first few weeks.

A few days ago I had a blue screen error (can't remember what it was).
Anyway after that I have been getting shocking lag spikes about every 15 minutes.

If I'm playing music it freezes for about 5 seconds, If I'm watching a movie it freezes for about 10 seconds and if I'm playing a game such as Call of Duty 4 it freezes for about 20 seconds. Also now whenever I minimize a game and come back into it it lags for about 20 seconds aswell - and often the graphics get completely screwed after this lag, buildings turn purple guns white e.t.c.

Specs are an E7200, Chaintech 9600GT OverClock Edition, 2gb Transcend RAM, Cheap Biostar Motherboad and a quite old 500Gig WD Hard Drive (IDE).
I can't remember the blue screen error but it was something along the lines of some sort of read error.

Does anyone know what it might be?

Thanks for your time in advance,
Stephen
 
I'd start by checking your graphics card's temperature. Have a look at RivaTuner (link should be in the FAQ) :)

Also make sure you have the latest drivers installed.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like overheating to me. RivaTuner is great, also give speed fan a try.
 
Could be a gazillion different things....

The lag after minimizing game thing is fairly normal. Purple/white graphics usually happens when one tries to run DX/shader functions on a GFX that doesn't support it...not sure why its happening in this instance.

Blue screen errors are usually memory related. Try running memtest86+ for a few hours. (You need to create a boot cd to do this)

Kill all apps/tasks running in the background and see if that helps.

Some of the symptoms sound like HDD issues and/or IDE controller problems. If you are running VIsta, switch of power saving on the HDD.

But the symptoms you are describing are all over the show...so its difficult to pinpoint one cause.

Did you by any chance plug your old harddrive with OS into a new PC without formatting it?
 
You do not mention psu, what make and wattage ?

Though would also think over heating, have you oc'ed the system ?
 
HavocXphere said:
Could be a gazillion different things....

The lag after minimizing game thing is fairly normal. Purple/white graphics usually happens when one tries to run DX/shader functions on a GFX that doesn't support it...not sure why its happening in this instance.

Blue screen errors are usually memory related. Try running memtest86+ for a few hours. (You need to create a boot cd to do this)

Kill all apps/tasks running in the background and see if that helps.

Some of the symptoms sound like HDD issues and/or IDE controller problems. If you are running VIsta, switch of power saving on the HDD.

But the symptoms you are describing are all over the show...so its difficult to pinpoint one cause.

Did you by any chance plug your old harddrive with OS into a new PC without formatting it?
Click to expand...

I agree the problems are so sporadic. My first guess would also be your graphics card heating but i dont know if that can cause a blue screen? Blue screens are generaly Memory or HDD errors.

Next time if you get that blue screen try write down what it says!
 
HavocXphere said:
Could be a gazillion different things....

The lag after minimizing game thing is fairly normal. Purple/white graphics usually happens when one tries to run DX/shader functions on a GFX that doesn't support it...not sure why its happening in this instance.

Blue screen errors are usually memory related. Try running memtest86+ for a few hours. (You need to create a boot cd to do this)

Kill all apps/tasks running in the background and see if that helps.

Some of the symptoms sound like HDD issues and/or IDE controller problems. If you are running VIsta, switch of power saving on the HDD.

But the symptoms you are describing are all over the show...so its difficult to pinpoint one cause.

Did you by any chance plug your old harddrive with OS into a new PC without formatting it?
Click to expand...

I did plug in an old hard-drive with no OS on and installed XP and I didn't format it it had about 400gb of stuff on
 
lol im sorry but i simply cant risk helping someone who uses the term "computer problems"
 
It sounds to me like hard drive problems. maybe your hard drive is faulty
 
BSOD can be caused by both hardware or software malfunctions, the most typical cause is a hardware malfunction.

The error does the BSOD give?
 
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