Computer spaz bother... Help!

[Rass]

Yeah well that pretty much nailed it on the head, my PC's being a massive ass and im in need of someone vaugely tech minded to assist.

Long story short it wont start, i turn it on it gets to the Windows XP loading screen then when it would normally come up with the log-in page it just comes up with a blank black screen. So i've left it to clunk around for a while on the black screen, as it sounds like it is still running healthily, but to no avail, it seems quite happy to just sit and stare blankly at me.

So i've tried restarting and turning it off and on using the 'cold hard cut' buttons on the front of the unit but then it comes up with a dos-style page saying windows didnt load properly (duh) with a list of options. A few variations on safe mode, a revert to last working conigurations options and start running windows as normal.

the revert and and start as normal options just take me to the same black screen with no change, safe mode does exactly as it says on the tin and launches it into safe mode but as i have absolutlely no clue as to whats causing the bother i dont really know what to do.

This did happen before once, once again i came to my wits end, left it over night then tried again and it worked as if nothing had happened. Alas this time i did the same and its still being an arse.

I know my symptoms are incredibly vauge but any form of assistance will be greatly greatly appreciated!

Cheers, Rass.

[Scootray]

You might have to format the hard drive.

I've had to do this on many occasions, but I always forget how to do it until I try out evrything know. So I'm afraid I can't help you there. maybe someone else has a better idea though because I hate formatting, such a pain in the arse installing stuff again.

[Diesel]

Bummer.

Could be a dodgy drive.

If it persists, it might be worth getting a boot disk made up so that you can backup any unreplaceable data before you reformat the disk.

As the Thumper of Tubs rightly point out, we've all had to to that from time to time.

With any luck it won't be component failure - only hooky data and you wont have to spend any money!

If you are really stuck and you can get the base unit to me, I'll have a look at it (IT pro, me!) for usual Aberdeen-Music rates - i.e. fuck-all

[Guest NULL]

boot up to a black screen take a note of the time reboot into safe mode, go to start>control panel>administrative tools>event viewer - look in the system and applications sections around the time of the bootup and post a screenshot if you can

also have you plugged anything new into it like usb devices?

[stuartmaxwell]

same thing just happened to me

had to get a new hard drive as there were clusters or somehting.

bah

[Rass]

cheers to everyone for the help, i'm hoping that if it's a faulty drive it's the one windows is installed on, not the one i have all my stuff saved in or i may break things.

Null-i'll away and attempt to take a screenshot like you suggested, tho im not sure how to get it onto this pc as if i remember correctly all devices are disabled in safe mode and this thing doesnt have a floppy drive, i'll see what i can do, cheers tho man. Also nothing has been plugged in recently that would cause it to screw up. May try unplugging everything and starting up and start from scratch.

[Rass]

boot up to a black screen take a note of the time reboot into safe mode, go to start>control panel>administrative tools>event viewer - look in the system and applications sections around the time of the bootup and post a screenshot if you can

also have you plugged anything new into it like usb devices?

i got a screen from both, the time of the last freeze was about 20:35, it didnt note anything, tho there was a heap of errors from when i opened the thing in safe mode, in applications, there was nothing since yesterday when it last worked, but i dunno if it might be relevant, here are both the screens anyway if you can make any sense of any of it.

Cheers again man.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/rass_atom/system.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/rass_atom/applications.jpg

[Guest NULL]

if you have a windows cd you should be able to install a second copy onto the hard disk.

once you do that you can either try and solve the problem from the new copy

or

backup everything from the first copy using the new copy and then wipe the hdd and try again - which, if it works could save you money on having to buy new parts

if you can double click the 12 which have a red cross beside them and post up the screenshots in a zip file - using alt + print screen with the window selected will take a screenshot of just the window in question, hopefully from the info in them a solution should be forthcoming

[Rass]

Right, i'm stumped.

After all your suggestions (which i am so greatful for) i figured, that a hard drive wipe was probably inevitable, so instead of trying to avoid it i just started scavanging as much of my important stuff off as possible and getting ready to wipe.

Then just a moment ago the missus' PC went down with exactly the same syptoms this one had. i dont really understand how that works, they're not connected by anything other than we both get net access from the same router. Anyway after a couple of failed re-boots, in a panic she unplugged her usb flash drive and restarted and everything was fine.

So, inspired i tried the same, unplugged all usb's (yeah, like i said i would try about a week ago) and the fucker works fine?! plugged the modem in and its like nothing ever happened.

I think im still going to go ahead with a format at some point soon, as i've taken most my precious belongings off it anyway, but any ideas as to what may of caused this? its not the first time and im kinda concerned it might happen again with slightly worse concequences.

Cheers again

Rass

[Jesus.H.Christ]

If anyone could help I also have a question.

When im playing Football Manager my computer sometimes crashes, before it crashes It normally says 'Windows is dangerously low on Virtual Memory' or something else about virtual memory. How can i stop my Pc crashing because of this? Do i need to increase the virtual memory or something?

[Neil]

When im playing Football Manager my computer sometimes crashes, before it crashes It normally says 'Windows is dangerously low on Virtual Memory' or something else about virtual memory. How can i stop my Pc crashing because of this? Do i need to increase the virtual memory or something?

Yeah, sounds like your computer is running out of system memory (RAM + virtual memory) and eventually crashing. I seem to recall that Championship Manager used to be quite a memory hog and so maybe Football Manager is the same. There is a few things you can do to try and resolve this problem. Namely:

1. Make sure your Football Manager game has the latest patch/fixes applied as there maybe bugs in the game that might cause memory leaks and thus exhaust the amount of system memory you have available.

2. Close all other applications you might have running (e.g. MSN, iTunes) before starting to play Football Manger so you free up as much system memory as you can beforehand.

3. Increase the amount of virtual memory available. In Windows XP you would do this by going to Control Panel -> System -> Click on the Advanced tab -> Click on the Settings button under Performance -> Click on the Advanced tab -> Click on the Change button -> Select the Drive with the most free space (this might just be the C: drive) -> Select System Managed Size -> Click on Set.

Then reboot your computer for this setting to take effect.

4. The best solution of course, is a hardware upgrade. If you upgrade the amount of RAM you have in your computer then this problem should disappear and you will hopefully get better performance as well. RAM is cheap nowadays so it might be worth considering this option.

Hope some of the above helps.

[Jesus.H.Christ]

Yeah, sounds like your computer is running out of system memory (RAM + virtual memory) and eventually crashing. I seem to recall that Championship Manager used to be quite a memory hog and so maybe Football Manager is the same. There is a few things you can do to try and resolve this problem. Namely:

1. Make sure your Football Manager game has the latest patch/fixes applied as there maybe bugs in the game that might cause memory leaks and thus exhaust the amount of system memory you have available.

2. Close all other applications you might have running (e.g. MSN, iTunes) before starting to play Football Manger so you free up as much system memory as you can beforehand.

3. Increase the amount of virtual memory available. In Windows XP you would do this by going to Control Panel -> System -> Click on the Advanced tab -> Click on the Settings button under Performance -> Click on the Advanced tab -> Click on the Change button -> Select the Drive with the most free space (this might just be the C: drive) -> Select System Managed Size -> Click on Set.

Then reboot your computer for this setting to take effect.

4. The best solution of course, is a hardware upgrade. If you upgrade the amount of RAM you have in your computer then this problem should disappear and you will hopefully get better performance as well. RAM is cheap nowadays so it might be worth considering this option.

Hope some of the above helps.

Thanks for all your help Neil.

Now nothing can get in the way of global domination with Fiorentina!