I apologize for posting this in the homebuilt systems section, but it didn't seem appropriate to the systems or graphic cards section either as this is much more geared towards technical help.
I started having computer problems tonight and I'm not sure how to resolve them or pinpoint the problem.
I'd been on the computer for maybe 1-1.5 hours when I started getting some wierd graphical glitches while playing World of Warcraft. The game would freeze for a second and then I'd get a lot of wierd false colors (mostly green and red overlays) and icons suddenly appeared midscreen in distorted fashion. Things returned to normal the first couple of times, but then my system locked up. I was able to log back in, but 15 minutes later, the same thing happened. On my third attempt, I got the blue screen of death with the following error:
Hardware malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
The system has halted
After that, any time I tried to run WoW, I'd get those false colors overlaid on the login screen and the system would freeze (and was unresponsive to ctrl-alt-del, requiring a hard restart). Normal web browsing worked fine, although scrolling seemed choppy and slower than usual. After a couple of restarts, I started seeing a dot pattern over the Windows loading screen.
I Googled the error message and got very vague reports. Based on their recommendations, I ran a quick memory check using Windows Memory Diagnostic, which reported no errors on the first pass of the extended tests (I'm using 2 1MB DIMMS, if it matters). I also went in and removed the CPU heatsink cover and blew all the dust out of it with compressed air in case it was a heating problem. After leaving the computer off for an hour, the glitches on the Windows login screen were gone, but I had the same issue once I tried running WoW again.
I had somewhat similar graphical issues less than a year ago (finally devolving into large green blocks over the Windows loading screen), which went away when I replaced my graphics card. The graphics card is less than a year old (BFG nVidia 9800 GT, factory overclocked) and didn't seem especially warm (I installed a second exhaust fan right near the card after the last one went belly up). Is there any way that I can test the card to see if it's the problem? Are there other issues that may cause this error (Google links suggested just about anything, including the motherboard, could be the source of the problem).
Any help would be extremely appreciated.
I started having computer problems tonight and I'm not sure how to resolve them or pinpoint the problem.
I'd been on the computer for maybe 1-1.5 hours when I started getting some wierd graphical glitches while playing World of Warcraft. The game would freeze for a second and then I'd get a lot of wierd false colors (mostly green and red overlays) and icons suddenly appeared midscreen in distorted fashion. Things returned to normal the first couple of times, but then my system locked up. I was able to log back in, but 15 minutes later, the same thing happened. On my third attempt, I got the blue screen of death with the following error:
Hardware malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
The system has halted
After that, any time I tried to run WoW, I'd get those false colors overlaid on the login screen and the system would freeze (and was unresponsive to ctrl-alt-del, requiring a hard restart). Normal web browsing worked fine, although scrolling seemed choppy and slower than usual. After a couple of restarts, I started seeing a dot pattern over the Windows loading screen.
I Googled the error message and got very vague reports. Based on their recommendations, I ran a quick memory check using Windows Memory Diagnostic, which reported no errors on the first pass of the extended tests (I'm using 2 1MB DIMMS, if it matters). I also went in and removed the CPU heatsink cover and blew all the dust out of it with compressed air in case it was a heating problem. After leaving the computer off for an hour, the glitches on the Windows login screen were gone, but I had the same issue once I tried running WoW again.
I had somewhat similar graphical issues less than a year ago (finally devolving into large green blocks over the Windows loading screen), which went away when I replaced my graphics card. The graphics card is less than a year old (BFG nVidia 9800 GT, factory overclocked) and didn't seem especially warm (I installed a second exhaust fan right near the card after the last one went belly up). Is there any way that I can test the card to see if it's the problem? Are there other issues that may cause this error (Google links suggested just about anything, including the motherboard, could be the source of the problem).
Any help would be extremely appreciated.