[peda]

Hello there!

I am having a terribly annoying computer problem on my new rig that i've pieced together!

Vista sometimes slows down and jumps into a blue screen before restarting
& When using programs like games or video editing/playing software It suddenly shows many horizontal coloured lines for half a second then turns off (power button then dowsnt work until i unplug the mains for a few seconds). This also happens when installing software.

This is pretty much it. I suspect it to be hardware, or the OS. Here are my specs;

Vista Ultimate 64bit
Not sure about my Mobo but it's an ACPI x64-based PC
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core 2.60GHz
4GB 1066Mhz Kingston Hyper X RAM (problems started before installing this with 8GB of samsung 800Mhz)
ATI Sapphire HD4850 512Mb Graphics card
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201A ATA Device
Hitachi HDP725050GLA360 ATA Device 500GB HDD
And my antivirus is avast! 4.8 Home
Power supply 450W

I'm pretty sure I've updated all drivers for the hardware and Vista OS and security updates.

If anybody could help me with my problem I would be extremely grateful as I need a working and reliable system for my video production. If you need any more information, please ask and I will find out what you need. Thank you!

-Peter Kimball-Evans

[Curiousclive]

What rate is power supply should be at least 400W to run that graphic card 750w would be better.

[peda]

Power supply is 450W, sorry for not mentioning!

[Curiousclive]

Are you able to buy a new 750W power supply? As described problem seems to be graphic card struggling for power, getting hot, then turning itself off to protect itself.

[peda]

I shall purchase a atx12v 750 or above psu and reply with the results when i install and test it. see you later!

[peda]

I checked the requirements for my graphics card and it needed at least a 450W PSU which I had. I have since bought a 600W OCZ Stealth X Stream and installed it and have experienced the exact same problems

1) Crash and auto shutdown in the middle of encoding a video to DVD
2) Crash in the middle of a game installation

And once again on restart it froze on the boot screen after the line;

Auto-Detecting SATA1 Device..IDE Hard Disk:Hitachi HDP725050GLA360 GM40A5CA

Please help me further, I suspect the HDD after this message, as nothing else has worked so far! Any way to test my HDD?

[Curiousclive]

You could try this to check hard disk:
Check your hard disk for errors

You can help solve some computer problems and improve the performance of your computer by making sure that your hard disk has no errors.

1. Open 'My Computer'
   
2. Right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check Now. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
   To automatically repair problems with files and folders that the scan detects, select Automatically fix file system errors. Otherwise, the disk check will simply report problems but not fix them.
   To perform a thorough disk check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This scan attempts to find and repair physical errors on the hard disk itself, and it can take much longer to complete.
   To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
4. Click Start.

Depending upon the size of your hard disk, this may take several minutes. For best results, don't use your computer for any other tasks while it's checking for errors.

[peda]

Finished error checking. Said it found and repaired a couple of problems, but nothing was fixed in regards to my sudden shutdowns, same problems occurring!

[Curiousclive]

Seems to have eliminated hard disk for software errors. (Unless it is failing mechanically which checkdisk may not detect).
It still could be the graphic card.
Are you able to borrow another graphic card from a friend to see if that card has same problem, even if it a lower spec.

One other thing is possibly something wrong in bios setup.
May be worth seeing if can reset bios to factory safe settings.

Is graphic card AGP or PCI?
How many PCI slots do you have and what colour are they? Blue or white?

[peda]

Graphics is PCI-E. I also have on-board ATI graphics that I had disabled. I will disable my PCI-E card and re-enable my on-board graphics and try the same install and the same video encoding that has always failed, then tell you the results.

[peda]

Just to note, turned it on again and it crashed on the Vista logo after the loading bar, rebooting and freezing on the line where it detects my HDD.

[peda]

Nope, I had encountered the same problems with my PCI-E graphics removed when using only on-board graphics. Perhaps I should try swapping out the HDD?

[Curiousclive]

before going to expense of replacing Hard Disk, have you reset bios to default safe mode just in case it bios not recognizing it correctly?

[peda]

Reset bios. Now windows will not load to desktop. On a restarting loop

[peda]

Got new HDD, installed Vista 64. Still crashing in the same old way.

Methinks my motherboard is to blame.
Knowing the specs I posted above, will this be sufficient? http://tinyurl.com/nyoy56