Windows will not boot

Since you said you tried restoring that means you can boot into safe mode?
Try setting your resolution lower in safe mode if you can.
Are you using a a video card or onboard video?
If you are using a video card then try using the onboard video instead.
What happens when OS starts. Does it just go black or does it give you a
blue screen error message (BSOD).
If it just goes black then it is probably a video hardware problem (bad setting,overheating etc)
If you get a blue screen (BSOD) what error does it tell you?
I will check for your reply tomorrow Friday US time

maybe it might be time to change your gpu,due to those artifacts on screen,or better often try to boot in safe mode pressing f8 and reinstallind your graphics card driver n.n hope this will help.



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asus p5q pro turbo/q6600 @ 3.4 ghz 24/7/asus silent knight II/
8 gb ocz sli edition/wd green 1 tb/seagate barracuda 250 gb/
antec 300/ gtx 280 @ 690 mhz/1572mhz/1300mhz,
apevia iceberg 680 watts/lite on dvd r/lite on cd r.

Get into the BIOS and increase the shared video memory to 256MB, that's the maximum you board is going to allow.
Boot into safe mode..... go to display properties, advanced, check if the driver for Intel Extreme Graphics is installed
If not, install it from the Driver disk that came with the PC.
If it is already there , than, reduce the resolution to 800 by 600 and apply
Restart the system.

Thanks for your reply. After pulling the graphics card I noticed some caps swelling and the thermal compounds on the video card show over heating. It looks like it couldn't be a better time to upgrade since the video card is a Nvidia GTS 8600 which is 5 yrs old.

I went out purchased a Radeon HD 5770 and a 550w PS. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to install.

One piece of advice:
Install the 5770 first without the PSU (as long as your current PSU can power it).
This way if there is a problem you arent adding too many variables to your diagnostics.
Good luck and enjoy.
Let us know how you made out.
If any of the answers to your post really helped you please pick one as best answer
even if it is not me.  

Well as it turns out the 5770 video card was defective right out of he box. Can you believe that. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong. Unfortunately I could not try it in another PC. Took it back to Tiger Direct and the tech said it was bad but they didn't have another 5770 so I purchased a Radeon HD 6870.

Now I have a performance issue with the new game Call of Duty "Black Ops". It seems my machine is too slow to play the game but ok for online gaming. The system I have is duo core 2.0 Mhz FSB 1100 w/ 4G ram.

Any recommendations for a new system? Processor, motherboard,etc.

2.0 MHz? Jesus no wonder why you can't play it. All jokes aside, though. Many people are reporting serious issues with the frame-rate in Black Ops.

As for the motherboard and CPU, I have a an ASUS P7P55D (which supports the 1156 LGA socket) and am going to be purchasing an Intel Core i5 650 clocked at 3.2 GHz with Hyper-Threading. It's relatively cheap, too. ($180 for the mobo and $240, so $420). It is great for a gaming rig, IMO, especially since a lot of games do not have full support of quad-cores right yet (give or take two years or so and games will have minimum CPU specs of quad-core).

Wanna know a secret, actually? The i5 650 3.2GHz processor actually acts as a quad core.

http://www.intel.com/technology/platform-technology/hyp...

So, technically speaking, you are getting a 3.2GHz faux quad-core processor for $210.

Got a budget?  

It's problable be better to do so or else you could be recommended for hardware that you'll never use fully in a long time and could break the bank * cough "core i7 980x", cough*

As far a a budget kinda. I would like to stay within $400 considering I will have to purchase a new OS. Will the 550W power supply be enough for the upgrade?

It sounds like the i5 650 3.2GHz processor is the way to go. Does it support DDR2 & DDR3 Ram? I have DDR 2 Ram.

Hi sbryan6, I am going to have to disagree with the i5-650 recomendation and say to go for a i5-760, as HT cores do not perform as well as a real core and your going to want the extra performance of the i5-760 for your gaming. The price difference between them is minimal to nothing and may even be cheaper for the i5-760 if you get the right parts and sales/MIR. Take a look at these benchmarks to get an idea of what I am saying: i5-650 vs i5-760

They both support DDR3 dual channel RAM.

Mobo = $130
CPU = $180
RAM = 4GB(2x2GB) $65 - 8GB(2x4GB) $140

TOTAL = $375 - $450