PC taken a serious hit

[Castout]

My PC has been having problems of random restarting, BSOD(Blue screen of death), BIOS hang and blackscreen ALL WHEN connected to the internet.

On Friday I noticed that the command prompt was suddenly running in a quick flash after the CPU load suddenly rose and two minutes later the usual problem occurred.

This morning is the worst yet, PC shut down randomly and it was beeping and I was unable to boot into windows though I didn't try safe mode.

I was unable to connect online either. Finally I was able to get into windows though the internet was still unavailable. Strangely no CTD, blackscreen occurred while not being connected to the internet. I have suspected foul play by means of hacking ever since I spotted the command prompt suddenly running.

The thing is the last episode has taken a serious blow on my system. Games now run slower than ever to the point of being unplayable though everything else seems to be in perfect order. I'm afraid that last shutting down took the toll on the GPU at the very least.

I'm still unsure what could have caused all this. Just a year ago in 2008 for several months I was forced to reinstall windows sometimes as often as twice a week(but msotly once a week or once biweekly) due to unknown reasons. Fatal BSOD caused the windows to be unable to boot. It still happened after I migrated to Vista but stopped when I cracked my Visa disc because of the reinstallations I was forced to do. I did no hardware changes until a bit later so I know it wasn't any hardware fault.

On the other hand if it was indeed hackers I'm happy to know that I'm matter enough to obligate such attack. I consider it a compliment . Ill buy myself a present for this and I promise to write more if I concluded it was definitely a hacker attack. And umm I wasn't impressed nor intimidated perhpas you should scale up to reach me personally instead of my PC. Come on don't be shy! I'm not exactly hiding myself.

[Castout]

Umm I'm suspecting the CPU's failing. Can't really recall the beeping tone which is actually a code.

I'll apologize through my blog if it wasn't due to hacking. I wouldn't blame myself though for quick to point my finger at certain party. Past experience made me otherwise it wouldn't be wise not learning from the past. The only thing I learned is never trust anybody especially that certain party

[Reece]

Strange but if you have the same problem in XP and Vista I would guess at some hardware problem or if the internet then you don't have a good enough firewall/virus scan setup, I certainly would recommend using an app like Norton Ghost, this way you can rebuild very quickly your whole system, then see if the problem is still there!

[Castout]

Hmm if it was hardware problem from the beginning the problem would not disappear for the whole year .

My firewall is good enough.

I noticed a sudden spike on CPU load on Friday and right after that a command prompt like windows was run and two minutes after that the PC just reboot.

The symptoms are the following:

Random restarts

Blue screen of death or BSOD after random restart

CPU spiking full load under no particular reason several times and continued that way until restart

BIOS hang

BIOS failed to load(black screen) after random restart.

Power turning off when BIOS loading happened once today

Most often when just starting the PC for the first time in the early morning or a few hours after that.

Games now run at half performance that it used to rendering them unplayable, other than that it's okay.

Shutting down once today, then beeping sound, internet kept failing to connect until one or two hour later.

Sounds in game now crackling and only sounds in game that's crackling

Windows failing to load a few times

Quite a lot of times Vista would load much longer than usual and control would be lost until network icon appears to be connected(online)





Ran memory diagnostics and memory was reported to be fine
Benchmarking Vista didn't change the Vista index experience.

Ran AV everything checked out no malware or virus reported though I know there's a very high probability of a malware that CIS unable to detect since it would sometimes and often enough cause the screen to switch to desktop even when a full screen game was running. My suspicion grew stronger after a friend who connected his usb suffered the exact symptom on his Windows 7 laptop that the screen suddenly switching to desktop as if a program just started itself. If it spread then it's definitely a virus or a malware.

Protected with CIS all the time

Ran registry cleaner regularly

Umm I wasn't planning to get myself a new rig at least until next year this could ruin my plan.

My suspicion s either CPU, PSU or GPU failing or worst PSU failing that's already damaging GPU.
I'm hoping it's just the CPU which is failing.

That or hacker attack.
Or hacker attack that damaged the PC.

[Reece]

I and many others have had nothing but trouble with Registry Cleaner, I use Norton Win Doctor and have no problems, I have tried Registry Cleaner a few times (different versions) and after use the computer slowly died, very similar to what you are reporting, just bear this in mind!

[SteamWake]

The only surefire trouble shooting method would be to wipe the drive and install a clean operating system.

But first it does sound like a hardware issue. Check the fan / heatsink on the CPU make sure that it is properly seated. Sometimes also the heatsink paste will dry out and break its contact between the cup and heatsink.

If its a socket 775 it is real easy to knock the heat sink loose so its not properly seated onto the cpu and will lead to this kind of behaviour.

[kiwi_2005]

LAst resort: Reformat the PC reinstall windows and see if problem persist.

[AVGWarhawk]

I suspect you have RAM failure on one of your memory sticks.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

LAst resort: Reformat the PC reinstall windows and see if problem persist.

yea only that I no longer have my OS disc :-). Planning to migrate to 7 but will only do that next year witht he new rig.

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I suspect you have RAM failure on one of your memory sticks.

Yea I suspected that too. I removed the CPU heatsink and fan cleaned the area on the mobo surrounding it(everywhere else is clean) and swapped RAM positions.

My first suspect was the RAM then the CPU then power supply.
The thing is I have four RAM sticks could take a while to check which one's causing the problem.

Today so far it has been going fine. Reinstalled Direct X and the games performance is back and crackling sound in game is now gone.

Memory diagnostics didn't report anything wrong either so I have my doubts about the RAM causing all this. Further more the motherboard beeping didn't indicate a RAM problem it was a repeated beeping instead of a continuous looping beep and it can't explain the sudden continuous CPU load spike.

Checked BIOS for signs of voltage failure but all was stable. GPU and CPU temp all monitored, checked and within acceptable range.

The worst would be a PSU failure because that could damage the whole system. I'm very hesitant to buy a new gaming rig atm. I hope it isn't the PSU. Second worst possibility is the mobo itself.

What makes it hard is the problem is intermittent ranging on days. I usually run the PC for more than 12 hours each day and it's usually okay without any problem. Mostly when I turn on the PC in the early morning or a few hours after that that the problem will show itself. Umm could it be static caused by dust accumulated. Cleaned them up yesterday and now I'll see if I need to check the RAM sticks.

even if I brought the rig to a technician he probably could not identify the problem because all would be running just fine. It happens when it happens and when online or that could be because I'm mostly online.

[SteamWake]

Im almost positive it was the heatsink/fan on your cpu not properly seated.

Ive seen these symptoms before and thats what it usually is.

You did carefully clean and put down new heatsink paste right?

[kiwi_2005]

Probably already mentioned but have you tried changing video cards, if you have a spare lying around throw that in and see if the problems stop.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Im almost positive it was the heatsink/fan on your cpu not properly seated.

Ive seen these symptoms before and thats what it usually is.

You did carefully clean and put down new heatsink paste right?

Was afraid of that too. I didn't put on new heatsink paste perhaps I'll buy those and apply new paste later(Yea I know that's a bit sloppy haven't got the chance to visit the PC shop). I made sure that the heatsink was properly attached. It was a bit of a hassle though. CPU core temperatures are always at acceptable limits idling at 35-36 degree with room temperature at 29-30 degree Celcius.

NO crashes since I repositioned the memory sticks and reattached the CPU heatsink and fan and cleaned the motherboard area surrounding it.