FUCKING WINDOWS 98!!

March 1, 2011 3:16 PM

What could possibly be going on with my new (to me) Windows 7 desktop? Windows seemingly installs fine, then eventually (most recently after the first reboot), it hangs at a black screen. More details inside...

I've been having this reoccurring problem with a computer I was given. I install Windows 7, everything seems to be fine, and then soon after it will start freezing at a black screen right after the first bios splash screen on startup. I've reinstalled Windows about 4 times now, and eventually get the freeze happening within a week. Most recently it happened on the first reboot after installing and everything seemingly working fine. I also tried Ubuntu and it froze on me while running, then I had the same trouble rebooting.

Any ideas what could be happening? I replaced the hard drive - no change. Ran startup repair and it wasn't able to help.

I can still boot into safe mode.

I can't remember all the specs - but I think it's a gigabyte ep45-ud3p board, Core Duo processor, Geforce 9800 vid card.

Any ideas on what might be happening?

posted by pilibeen to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Since you can boot into safe mode, my guess is that it's a driver issue, probably with the graphics card. Try updating to the very latest Geforce drivers, and make sure you get the 64-bit drivers if you're running Win7 64. If that doesn't work, try switching it out for another graphics card, or onboard graphics if possible, and see if the problem persists. If you check Windows's event log, it should tell you what caused the hang or where or when the hang occurred.

Other things it could be are an underpowered or faulty PSU*, partially-fried CPU or RAM, or a bad HDD controller.

*Though it mostly happens with Radeons, if the graphics card isn't getting enough juice then the crash might be blamed on its drivers. Make sure you have enough amps on the +12 volt rail to keep it happy.
posted by clorox at 3:32 PM on March 1, 2011

If it happened on Ubuntu as well as Windows, I'm guessing a failing power supply and or hard drive. Possibly bad RAM. Get the Memtest ISO, burn it to CD (me-mail or ask if you need help burning an ISO) to test the RAM. Failing that, try something like the BurnInTest from PassMark (free 30 day evaluation) to test all the system components. If neither of those turn up anything, then my guess is you are looking at a Power Supply, with 99% certainty.
posted by deezil at 3:55 PM on March 1, 2011

...I'd shoot for Power Supply - if you've managed to do a number of installs, that points the finger away from RAM.
posted by nicktf at 4:21 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

My first thought was bad RAM, I had a similar problem a few years ago and it was the RAM. The fact that it happens with two OSs is a sign that it's hardware. The fact that you can boot into safe mode isn't necessarily a good sign, since you probably aren't using it for long enough for the problems to materialize. If you boot into safe mode and run that for a while (a few days?) will in crash? Do you know if the previous owner of the computer had similar problems?
posted by Simon Barclay at 4:23 PM on March 1, 2011

Could also be a failing hard drive. If random sectors are disappearing, especially on fresh installs, these could interfere with windows starting up correctly. Is there a flashing cursor up in the left corner? Almost for sure, then.
posted by gjc at 7:25 PM on March 1, 2011

Unplug all USB devices other than KB & mouse and see if that helps. My desktop occasionally hangs the same way because it's decided it wants to try and boot off of a non-bootable USB device (and yes, BIOS is set so it shouldn't want to do that).
posted by kjs3 at 8:54 AM on March 2, 2011