# Very Strange Problem



## Kornowski (Jun 7, 2008)

Ok, So here's the problem, a strange one at that!

The CoD4 1.6 Patch had come out but the Clan I'm in hadn't updated their servers (as they're Linux based), So I copied the 'Activision' folder to my Desktop and named it 'Activision Test'. This was so that I could play in the Clan on the 1.5 Servers and install the 1.6 Patch on the 'Activision Test' to try out the new maps.

The Servers updated and I (Stupid I know) went to update CoD4 (forgetting that I could have just copied the already 1.6 'Activision Test' Folder back over). It told me that I had already installed the 1.6 Patch. So, I went back to a restore point before I had made the 'Activision Test' folder and tried to install the 1.6 Patch. Same thing happened... 

So, I un-installed all of CoD4 and deleted all the folders. Installed it all again, put all the patches on fine. Went to play, and it's un-playable, it runs at about 18FPS. I should be getting 100FPS + like I normally do!

I tested GRID out to see if it was just CoD4, but no, that runs at about 30FPS, When I should be getting like 70+  WTF

I went back to a restore point well before any of this, and I have the same problem... Nothing I do can get rid of this "lag"... I really don't know what's causing it.

Help is greatly appreciated, Any ideas?


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## Irishwhistle (Jun 7, 2008)

Well, I don't know much of anything about COD and I don't know too much about graphics cards either, but the first thing I thought of is that maybe your graphics card isn't inatalled properly. When you went back to a restore point could it of gone back to a period of time before you had your current graphics card? Or on Windows does it change only the files you want changed when it goes back to a previous time? Sry, I'm not very familiar with Windows restore... just Leopard TimeMachine and the Linux thing like it.


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## Kornowski (Jun 7, 2008)

I've had this card for a while, so the previous restore points all have this card...

I have also noticed a crackling with the sounds, in the games and also, when I'm listing to music with Media Player... Only ever so slightly though.


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## pies (Jun 7, 2008)

Did you try it again without the 1.6 patch?


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## Kornowski (Jun 7, 2008)

pies said:


> Did you try it again without the 1.6 patch?



I didn't, no. But I did have 1.6 Installed prior to all of this and it worked fine...


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## pies (Jun 7, 2008)

I don't know if it would help but you could try reinstalling your card drivers and check the settings in the game.


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## Kornowski (Jun 7, 2008)

Yeah, I'm just downloading the drivers again now... Hopefully!


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## Kornowski (Jun 8, 2008)

Video drivers didn't do anything... 

I tried going back to a restore point and got a BSOD...

My RAM just passed 9 pass' with Memtest too...


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## Ramodkk (Jun 8, 2008)

Poor Danny, you really deserve a new mobo/cpu after all these errors and BSOD's!!  I feel ya' 

I don't think restore points work the way they're supposed to. I guess some files still get messed up during the restoration. Try, reinstalling the whole game again, after you reinstalled your video drivers. Also, you mentioned there's a small crackling sound when gaming and listening to music? What a conicidence with the video part, maybe the drivers are messed up as well. 

I'm almost sure that during the restore, some dll's got messed up maybe and are causing this. Try running CCleaner or some kind of regedit.


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## Kornowski (Jun 8, 2008)

I've tried re-installing the games and it didn't help anything 

I know, I want a new MOBO and CPU...

I may, make a new partition and put Windows on that and see if a fresh install helps anything... Although, It's pretty much the same problem I was having not so long ago, remember?

I've tried CCleaner too, Nothing


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## ThatGuy16 (Jun 8, 2008)

Did you make sure the patch didn't mess with your COD4 graphic settings, make sure it didn't enable dual video cards by chance?


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## Kornowski (Jun 8, 2008)

I tried changing the settings to 'Low' and it didn't help, still 20FPS.

I tried GRID too, and that does the same thing... Also, I had the 1.6 Patch installed prior to this and it worked just fine... 

Could it be the MOBO at all?


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## Kornowski (Jun 9, 2008)

Now my computer won't even boot, it BSOD's on the Loading Bars...


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## Kornowski (Jun 9, 2008)

Bump


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## Kornowski (Jun 10, 2008)

Seriously, No ideas!?


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## jimkonow (Jun 11, 2008)

i think its the MoBo man.... they take more of a beating than they let on. you said you heard slight crackling in the audio, and that might be a sign its starting to go bye-bye 

you should at least *try* a new MoBo and processor... although its stupid to, because youre doing a summer upgrade anyway. 

my diagnosis: the mobo is tired.


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## Kornowski (Jun 11, 2008)

Thanks a lot for the reply, dude! I thought CF was dead 

Yeah, I think it's the MOBO too, but I don't have any others to test in there... Which is awkward. I was looking at the summer upgrade because of this problem actually, but I don't want to get all new stuff, only to find the problem is still there.


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 12, 2008)

i won't go and assume it's a hardware problem. Uninstall cod first.
Then go through your registry and delete any keys that are affiliated with cod.
or use some registry program (like jv16 powertools) to clean out your registry.

Most programs leave tons of registry keys which really can screw up your computer


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## jimkonow (Jun 12, 2008)

or use the registry cleaner in CCleaner...that works really well.

he already re-installed COD4, viper


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

I did un-install CoD, and I also ran CCleaner, but it didn't help... I will try doing a clean install, and if I still get problems, then I'll look into getting a new Motherboard.

Thanks for the help though


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## jimkonow (Jun 12, 2008)

ooooh, wait a minute, it could be an HD error.
bad sectors FTL? run chkdsk and reboot, let windows run through all the bullcrap and scan the HD for errors...maybe itll help, it sure as hell is worth a shot, right?


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## Archangel (Jun 12, 2008)

I'd reinstal the display drivers if I were you


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

Arch, I tried that also, it didn't help 

The thing is now, I mentioned a few posts back, I can't even boot into Windows, I get a BSOD on the loading bars


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## Archangel (Jun 12, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> You beat me to it there



who, what, when?


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

jimkonow said:


> ooooh, wait a minute, it could be an HD error.
> bad sectors FTL? run chkdsk and reboot, let windows run through all the bullcrap and scan the HD for errors...maybe itll help, it sure as hell is worth a shot, right?



I can't get into Windows, so I can't try it...

I was told last time I had a very similair problem, that it was the HDD, so I bought a new one, Which is the one I'm using now.



Archangel said:


> who, what, when?



Haha, That was a post to Jim, He beat me by like seconds


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## jimkonow (Jun 12, 2008)

hmmm.....
do you have your vista disc, or an XP disc?

i know you can run chkdsk off of the XP disc, although im not sure about vista. just set your BIOS boot order to load the CD first, HD second.


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

jimkonow said:


> hmmm.....
> do you have your vista disc, or an XP disc?
> 
> i know you can run chkdsk off of the XP disc, although im not sure about vista. just set your BIOS boot order to load the CD first, HD second.



Yeah, I have my Vista CD... I'll try that, Thanks. If that doesn't work too, I'll try a re-format... 

Not looking forward to getting a new MOBO and trying to get my OEM Vista on it...


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## jimkonow (Jun 12, 2008)

korn, check your messages


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## Archangel (Jun 12, 2008)

did you reinstal the grafics drivers yet?


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

Archangel said:


> did you reinstal the grafics drivers yet?



Yeah, I tried that a while ago, but my computer will not boot now, I mentioned it a few posts ago 

I'll check them now, Jim!


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## Archangel (Jun 12, 2008)

sorry,...   kinda falling asleep here.. 

it just doesnt load windows?   or what does it do?   (resetted the bios jsut to be sure?)


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 12, 2008)

reinstall, if that doesn't work download ihavethepassword from somewhere
burn it to cd, boot from it.
then select slim rescue disk.
and then run pccheck

you can check your mobo, cpu and some other stuff with that program.
the ihavethepassword disk also includes a program to scan your hd for bad clusters.

i really don't know if this bootcd is freeware or shareware or something you'll have to pay for. it's being distributed through the torrent protocol. I kind find anything close to an official homepage or something.


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

Ok, I'm trying to re-install and I can't... 

I boot from CD, It does that grey bar, 'Windows is loading files'...

Once it has done that, it gets to the green loading bars (just like the ones after boot) and it BSOD's... Even though I'm not booting, I'm trying to load the Windows DVD! 

STOP: 0x00000024
Ntfs.sys

Viper, I'll check that program out, thanks!


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 12, 2008)

you could also try installing xp to another hard drive. then recover the data from the old drive.
after that you can format the disk and try to get it working again. it could just be the ntfs file structure or ntfs drivers that are causing this.


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## Kornowski (Jun 12, 2008)

I don't think it's the disc that's at fault, It's only about 2 weeks old...
I'm really stumped, I don't know what it could down to. I'll try putting XP onto it...


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 13, 2008)

sometimes it just are the last things you expect. When i got this build i transferred a 2 months old hard disk. And it suddenly just came up with random errors. Not being able to transfer data and other things.


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## Kornowski (Jun 13, 2008)

I'm just thinking, If I did get a new MOBO, It may not solve the problem, and I'd be miffed then!


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## shenry (Jun 13, 2008)

You sure you got yourself a good Barracuda? The comments on newegg say there's a 50/50 chance of you getting a bad one. I think I remember seeing one person writing how they bought 6 or something and 2 only ended up working. It's half put me off the barracuda. Hah Hah, pun not intended.


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## Kornowski (Jun 13, 2008)

Yeah, It says Barracuda on it 

I guess I could try putting my old HDD in and see if it boots... If it doesn't, I know it's not the HDD.


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## Kornowski (Jun 14, 2008)

I tried the other HDD, That BSOD'd too...

I also tried taking out two sticks of RAM, That didn't work. Took them out and put the other two in, Again, Didnt work.

So, I tried each stick on it's own and that didn't work either.

Could it be the PSU?


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## TFT (Jun 14, 2008)

I think in your own mind Danny, it has to be the MB or PSU. Last time you had problems if I remember right you had a spare PSU but not powerful enough for your GPU. Your MB should have onboard graphics to at least prove a bootup. 
Is it possible to try this?


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## ducis (Jun 14, 2008)

to me it seems very possible that your patch had a trojan and when you opened it you released it.


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## Kornowski (Jun 14, 2008)

Dave, When you say in my own mind, do you mean that I'm thinking that it has to be them, or what?

Also, my Motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics.  I only have an Antec Earthwatts 380watt lying around.

FTB, I can't even boot up off a second HDD, so it can't be a virus or anything.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I would go ahead and buy a new MOBO, but I don't want the problem to persist...


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## ducis (Jun 14, 2008)

what kind of consistency are you getting with your fps? like is it constantly low or dippy? 
and is it both multiplayer and single player games?


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## Kornowski (Jun 14, 2008)

firsttimebuilder said:


> what kind of consistency are you getting with your fps? like is it constantly low or dippy?
> and is it both multiplayer and single player games?



At the moment, I can't even boot my computer...

When I was able to and noticed this problem, I was getting a steady 20FPS in Two games, on  and offline.


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 14, 2008)

i would say run to the local computershop and get yourself a 20 dollar el cheapo graphics card and switch the psu then test, if it doesn't work it's probably your mobo.


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## Shane (Jun 15, 2008)

i cant believe your systems still dead,i have no clue what else it could be.

i also suspect its the motherboard though.

cant you just buy the cheapest crappy LGA 775 motherboard and try it out?


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## ducis (Jun 15, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> At the moment, I can't even boot my computer...
> 
> When I was able to and noticed this problem, I was getting a steady 20FPS in Two games, on  and offline.



really sorry to hear that man 
I guess all that you can do know is try to swap components, its very possible that multiple components have failed so overlook nothing


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## TFT (Jun 15, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> Dave, When you say in my own mind, do you mean that I'm thinking that it has to be them, or what?
> 
> Also, my Motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics.  I only have an Antec Earthwatts 380watt lying around.
> 
> ...



I'm no expert but by deduction it seems that it has to be the Motherboard or bad voltage from the PSU. It looks like you will have to bite the bullet and purchase one or the other to move forward. Has any of your friends got anything that may help you out on this one.

It sucks I know


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## PabloTeK (Jun 15, 2008)

Try removing the graphics card, I know when I rebuilt mine after my Gigabyte board was returned it beeped at regular intervals because there was no graphics card.


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

Vipernitrox said:


> i would say run to the local computershop and get yourself a 20 dollar el cheapo graphics card and switch the psu then test, if it doesn't work it's probably your mobo.



Yeah, That's a possibilty I guess, I can try and see if it'll run on my Antec 380. I'll try that today, and if it doesn't work, then I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard, right?



Nevakonaza said:


> i cant believe your systems still dead,i have no clue what else it could be.
> 
> i also suspect its the motherboard though.
> 
> cant you just buy the cheapest crappy LGA 775 motherboard and try it out?



I know, It's strange isn't it... 
Again, there's another posibilty, I'll look into how much they are. Thanks.



firsttimebuilder said:


> really sorry to hear that man
> I guess all that you can do know is try to swap components, its very possible that multiple components have failed so overlook nothing



Don't be sorry, It wasn't your fault... Was it? 
Yeah, Well so far;

I've tried a different HDD, Nothing.
Ran 10+ Passes with Memtest and it's come up with no errors.
Tried re-installing Windows, Can't, BSOD's.
Taken out sticks of RAM, tried different combinations, Nothing.

I'll try that PSU today.



TFT said:


> I'm no expert but by deduction it seems that it has to be the Motherboard or bad voltage from the PSU. It looks like you will have to bite the bullet and purchase one or the other to move forward. Has any of your friends got anything that may help you out on this one.
> 
> It sucks I know



Yeah, It does seem as if it's one of those two. Although, I'm more willing to say it's the motherboard, the PSU is good quality, so I doubt it'll die, but if it is that, it has a 5 year Warranty from Corsair.

Nope, None of my friends have anything that I can try. They're all on different sockets or have DDR1 RAM and an AGP Card... So I'm stuck there, lol.



PabloTeK said:


> Try removing the graphics card, I know when I rebuilt mine after my Gigabyte board was returned it beeped at regular intervals because there was no graphics card.




What do you mean? 


Thanks a lot for all the input guys!


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 15, 2008)

i guess your last option would be to start swapping components.

But one last thing before you go and do that. Try swapping some of the cables. I actually had a computer and i really didn't know anymore what the problem was. The guy i was doing it for also wanted me to tidy up his pc on the inside because he had a window and it looked like a total mess. After i started replacing his standard ide cables with rounded and meshed ones. The thing just worked again. And it has similar problems as yours.

- buy an el cheapo graphics card and switch the psu to rule out that one.
- to rule out the mobo you can still try the ihavethepassword disk. Or you can swap it for this from newegg.
- and as the very last option buy this from newegg to rule out the cpu.

how about that you helped me get my 600th post


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## PabloTeK (Jun 15, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> What do you mean?



I mean if you have no graphics card the system will POST by beeping about every second.


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## lovely? (Jun 15, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> Yeah, That's a possibilty I guess, I can try and see if it'll run on my Antec 380. I'll try that today, and if it doesn't work, then I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard, right?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



i cant exactly remember danny, but are we all sure that the cpu is perfectly fine? its obviously not software related, not ram, probably not video card if it does it on windows install, im sure you've turned down the frequency and tried that already, but maybe the processor really is shot.


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

Vipernitrox said:


> i guess your last option would be to start swapping components.
> 
> But one last thing before you go and do that. Try swapping some of the cables. I actually had a computer and i really didn't know anymore what the problem was. The guy i was doing it for also wanted me to tidy up his pc on the inside because he had a window and it looked like a total mess. After i started replacing his standard ide cables with rounded and meshed ones. The thing just worked again. And it has similar problems as yours.
> 
> ...



Hmm, Yeah, I did use a different SATA cable & Port when I tried the other HDD, so it isn't either of them...
I'm going to try a different PSU, Maybe that'll do something... I'm hoping it doesn't though, I don't want to have to wait to send my PSU off to Corsair, I'd rather buy a new MOBO 

Haha, 600th, Nice! 



PabloTeK said:


> I mean if you have no graphics card the system will POST by beeping about every second.



Ah right, But a graphics card wouldn't cause a BSOD, it'd just artifat if there was anything wrong with it.



lovely? said:


> i cant exactly remember danny, but are we all sure that the cpu is perfectly fine? its obviously not software related, not ram, probably not video card if it does it on windows install, im sure you've turned down the frequency and tried that already, but maybe the processor really is shot.



We aren't sure about the CPU. I'm running it at stock at the moment, and when I had it OC'ed, I wasn't running over the recomended vCore, I was actually under-volting it @1.31v.

I haven't tried running it below stock though...


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## just a noob (Jun 15, 2008)

sounds like the motherboard, take it to best buy and see what the employees say? they probably say that a transister on the ram is causing your computer to malfunction or something like that


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

I don't live in the US, So it'd be pretty expensive for me to take it there 

I think I'm going to buy a new Motherboard (EVGA 750i FTW) and new CPU (Q6600), But I want to try the power supply before that... Just incase.

I also want to know what works and what doesn't so that I can sell what does work.


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

Ok, Got around to testing a different PSU before, Some strange results;

Plugged the Antec Eathwatts 380 in... Only connected it to the 24Pin, 4Pin, PCI-e and an old HDD with Vista on it = Booted, Played GRID Demo with a perfectly acceptable FPS.

Plugged my Cosair HX520 into 24Pin, 4Pin, PCI-e, old HDD with Vista on & all the case fans, as they were already plugged into it = Booted, Played GRID Demo with, again, acceptable FPS.

This was kind of strange as last time I tried the Corsair and the old HDD, it didn't Boot, It BSOD'ed on the loading bars.

Tried the Corsair with my current HDD, and it wouldn't boot.
I haven't tried the Antec with my current HDD.

JUST before my computer stopped booting, I found that I was getting 20FPS in every game that I played. When I tried it for the first time with the Antec PSU, I put this down to the Corsair being bad, and not providing enough power. But when it booted with the Corsair, I was, to say the least... Confused.

I really don't know anymore, Any ideas at all? Thanks in advance!


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 15, 2008)

throw out the whole thing and get yourself a new one?


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## Ramodkk (Jun 15, 2008)

It could be the power supply. I mean you had your GPU and CPU overclocked, you have 10+ fans total and cathodes.


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

Vipernitrox said:


> throw out the whole thing and get yourself a new one?



Heh, I wish, but there's one thing stopping me, the bane of my life... Money!



ramodkk said:


> It could be the power supply. I mean you had your GPU and CPU overclocked, you have 10+ fans total and cathodes.



I was running them at stock when it wasn't work... Then today, at stock, it booted with the HX520 in there.

And what's wrong with 10+ fans and cathodes?


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## just a noob (Jun 15, 2008)

do you get 20 fps when playing crysis on ultra high with 16x aa on a 30" moniter?


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## Kill Bill (Jun 15, 2008)

Irishwhistle said:


> Well, I don't know much of anything about COD and I don't know too much about graphics cards either, but the first thing I thought of is that maybe your graphics card isn't inatalled properly. When you went back to a restore point could it of gone back to a period of time before you had your current graphics card? Or on Windows does it change only the files you want changed when it goes back to a previous time? Sry, I'm not very familiar with Windows restore... just Leopard TimeMachine and the Linux thing like it.



Ditto.


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## Kornowski (Jun 15, 2008)

The card has been installed for a while... There isn't a possibility that, that happened... Thanks for the suggestion though. 

Noob, Yeah, I think so, LOL/


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 15, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> Heh, I wish, but there's one thing stopping me, the bane of my life... Money!
> 
> i got the same problem here
> 
> ...


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## Kornowski (Jun 16, 2008)

Yeah, I'm going to see if I can pay the difference and get the Corsair HX620... That should be enough. Luckily my PSU coms with a 5 Year Warranty.

Haha, We need to start growing money trees 

What about the HDD, Think it'd be worth RMA'ing that one?


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 16, 2008)

mehh not really, you already got 2 lying around for testing purposes and you get same (strange) results so i don't think it's the hdd


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## lovely? (Jun 16, 2008)

yeah if you get the exact same results then it cant be your hdd.


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## Kornowski (Jun 16, 2008)

I'm going to send my PSU back, I mean I don't have a computer at the moment, so it's no trouble.

I may try and see if I can pay the difference and get the HX620, With would ensure that I could run two GTS'.

Strange problem though... I'm not too sure if it is the PSU, I mean, it worked with both PSU's... I really don't know.


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## Kornowski (Jun 21, 2008)

Revival of an old thread!

I got around to trying it again today... Won't boot with the new HDD I bought. I put the old one in and it will boot. I even tried the old one with the same SATA Cable and Port to see if they were bad and it still worked.

So, I have it booted in Windows and it won't even detect the new one when I plug it in, so I'm guessing it's dead. Which could explain the sloooow FPS? As it may have been on it's way out then?

Should I RMA the PSU too, to be safe?


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 21, 2008)

errrr, i probably wouldn't but if you got that backup psu you can at least do some web browsing and stuff.


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## Kornowski (Jun 22, 2008)

Tried both HDD's again this morning and both of them won't work... so I think it's safe to say it's the MOBO. 

I'm debating RMA'ing the new HDD as it hasn't worked once, but the old one has, but I'll wait till I get a new MOBO and try it then. I think I'll send the PSU back, Just to make sure.  I hope they don't send it back and tell me it's Ok...


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 23, 2008)

yea why not, just send it back. You won't be able to work anyway.
if you get the mobo back before you do the psu, just use the other one for as long as it takes to get the corsair back.


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## Kornowski (Jun 23, 2008)

I actually took it all out of the case so that it was easier for me to work on it, changing stuff around... I've discovered that the new Seagate HDD is dead, and I need to RMA that. Also, I've been running the old HDD and Corsair PSU for about a day now and no problems. Maybe it was shorting in the case or something 






So for now, That's what my rig is staying like! Till I get the HDD back and probably buy a new MOBO and CPU anyway... I'm going to keep the PSU also.


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## Vipernitrox (Jun 23, 2008)

i'd swap it in the case one more time and see if it gets problems again.
Then it's probably shorting somewhere and you need to figure out where.

Try putting rubbers in between the mobo/spacers and your case.
check out your psu and hard disk to for anything that could short it out.


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## Kornowski (Jun 24, 2008)

Yeah, I'll try that, Thanks man


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## ThePossessedOne (Jun 24, 2008)

Use this site to find your problem by selecting COD4

http://systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

it should highlight whats wrong


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