Surprise! My computer doesn't work!
October 4, 2010 11:25 AM Subscribe
I accidentally pulled on the video card on my computer, and now it will only boot in safe mode. What is going on?
I have a second video card (so that I can use multiple monitors) and I pulled on the monitor cord, jostling the video card. Now, my computer will only boot in safe mode, and hangs when I try to boot it in normal mode. When I try to boot in normal mode, I get a BSOD for a fraction of a second, and then it reboots. I am running Windows Vista.
The first time it did it, it gave me a warning about my memory having been changed. I haven't gotten that message since, now it just bluescreens and reboots, but it seems relevant.
What could be wrong with my machine? I opened it up and everything looks ok to my eyes, but I have to admit that I don't really know what I'm doing.
What can I do to diagnose and fix it?
I have a second video card (so that I can use multiple monitors) and I pulled on the monitor cord, jostling the video card. Now, my computer will only boot in safe mode, and hangs when I try to boot it in normal mode. When I try to boot in normal mode, I get a BSOD for a fraction of a second, and then it reboots. I am running Windows Vista.
The first time it did it, it gave me a warning about my memory having been changed. I haven't gotten that message since, now it just bluescreens and reboots, but it seems relevant.
What could be wrong with my machine? I opened it up and everything looks ok to my eyes, but I have to admit that I don't really know what I'm doing.
What can I do to diagnose and fix it?
Ditto Oktober, with the slightly advanced version of "just reboot it": have you tried taking out the video card and the memory card(s) and reseating them? Be careful for any latches that might prevent the cards from being easily pulled out, especially RAM (if you're unsure, check this Lifehacker how to install RAM).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on October 4, 2010
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on October 4, 2010
Response by poster: I just got the message again; it says: "The amount of system memory has changed. Press F1 to continue or F2 to go to setup." When I go to the setup, nothing looks amiss with my memory (all the sticks of RAM show up).
Do I still need to reseat the memory cards if they're showing in my BIOS? The video card is really far away from them inside the machine, and I kind of doubt that anything I did with the video card messed with the memory, but I'll try it now.
posted by k8lin at 11:32 AM on October 4, 2010
Do I still need to reseat the memory cards if they're showing in my BIOS? The video card is really far away from them inside the machine, and I kind of doubt that anything I did with the video card messed with the memory, but I'll try it now.
posted by k8lin at 11:32 AM on October 4, 2010
And don't forget to ground yourself, and set yourself up to avoid building a static charge (socks on carpet, clothing that could rub together a lot, etc).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2010
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2010
Best answer: Turn the PC off at the mains, then remove and re-insert both graphics cards - check all the gold pins on the card are pushed right into the slot. Check other components inside the PC that you may have bumped - the RAM (again, all gold edge pins into the slot on the board), and the CPU cooler. Check the fans are still plugged in - BSODs can be caused by components overheating, and CPUs will overheat very, very quickly if the cooler is not firmly mounted.
Check the cables running to the hard disks - again, you can try removing and re-attaching them (one at a time so you don't lose track of what goes where!)
Turn the PC on and see if it boots properly. If it doesn't, you can try going into safe mode and either...
a) uninstall the video card driver, then reboot, reinstall it (it may have been corrupted)
or
b) using system restore to go back to an earlier point in time when the PC was working.
posted by Sifter at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2010
Check the cables running to the hard disks - again, you can try removing and re-attaching them (one at a time so you don't lose track of what goes where!)
Turn the PC on and see if it boots properly. If it doesn't, you can try going into safe mode and either...
a) uninstall the video card driver, then reboot, reinstall it (it may have been corrupted)
or
b) using system restore to go back to an earlier point in time when the PC was working.
posted by Sifter at 11:34 AM on October 4, 2010
While the memory is far away from the video card, pulling on it might have flexed the motherboard, causing one of the RAM sticks to get slightly unseated.
posted by zsazsa at 11:50 AM on October 4, 2010
posted by zsazsa at 11:50 AM on October 4, 2010
I had this problem once on an ASUS motherboard. I nudged a memory dimm and unseated it. Apparently ome older motherboards don't deal well with memory being removed and re-seated.
So:
Reseat your memory cards and video card.
When the computer starts to boot, open the BIOS setup screen. (Usually by holding down the F12, F1 or the delete key to enter setup before the boot screen.)
Check your installed memory to confirm that it is correct. Save changes. Reboot. See what happens.
If it opens normally, then you should be good to go. If the BIOS doesn't recognize a memory stick properly, then you'll need to remove and test them one by one. However, some motherboards require two, paired sticks (for dual channel memory buses, sometimes the case when a mboard requires buffered memory sticks) to boot properly. So if you do need to test, please post here before you test. The instructions can be memory/motherboard specific.
posted by zarq at 12:12 PM on October 4, 2010
So:
Reseat your memory cards and video card.
When the computer starts to boot, open the BIOS setup screen. (Usually by holding down the F12, F1 or the delete key to enter setup before the boot screen.)
Check your installed memory to confirm that it is correct. Save changes. Reboot. See what happens.
If it opens normally, then you should be good to go. If the BIOS doesn't recognize a memory stick properly, then you'll need to remove and test them one by one. However, some motherboards require two, paired sticks (for dual channel memory buses, sometimes the case when a mboard requires buffered memory sticks) to boot properly. So if you do need to test, please post here before you test. The instructions can be memory/motherboard specific.
posted by zarq at 12:12 PM on October 4, 2010
If after all this it still gives you the RAM error, reset your BIOS to defaults ("fail-safe" defaults, if possible). This will basically "re-save" your information so that the reported RAM is no longer different than what it's expecting.
posted by rhizome at 12:30 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by rhizome at 12:30 PM on October 4, 2010
Response by poster: It's fixed! Thanks for all the help. I removed and reinstalled all the video card drivers. I have no idea how or why that worked, but it did.
It was, weirdly, not unseated RAM.
posted by k8lin at 1:05 PM on October 4, 2010
It was, weirdly, not unseated RAM.
posted by k8lin at 1:05 PM on October 4, 2010
Glad you fixed the problem. I had a problem with a slot on my motherboard many years ago, and it affected my RAM. Basically the slot caused a blockage of data/power to the SIMM slot, effectively removing it from the machine. Since the slot was bad, I had to move the SIMM to another memory slot, but if it were a card, I can imagine it would be fixed by reseating/replacing the card.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:36 PM on October 4, 2010
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:36 PM on October 4, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Oktober at 11:27 AM on October 4, 2010