FIX HOTDOGS COMPUTER 4 FREE HUGS! :'C

[hotdogs]

Yay! Thank you for the step by step xD Decactus is all like "Okay do this and be done." And i'm all like.. "O.O?"


And thank you so much everyone for your input, eventually I will get this fixed so I can knife more people in TTT.. er i mean, be innocent forever. <3 C:<

[Alex]

Yes, that's how I am. Just lazy.

[DelusionalSyko]

Another reason why It's doing this is because you have a bad stick of memory. But I'm aiming more twords a failing onboard graphics card.

[hawkiee552]

As I said, try hooking it up to a monitor or a TV screen. Then play while using the monitor/TV for a while and see if the problem persists. If it does, then I bet you it's your graphics card messing up.

That would make no difference, both the laptop monitor and TV monitor is connected to the same graphics card (ofc) and with the same type of cable (DVI/HDMI).

What it sounds like is that it's of course hardware and software compatibility related (i.e drivers or OS not communicating with the hardware properly). What I would've done is to format the laptop and install all the drivers and programs again, and if the peoblem is still there, it might be total hardware failure, which is no use of repair on a laptop. It doesn't sound like it, because it's only when you play a game. My solution to laptop problems is; Format, then if not working, diagnose with try and failure like changing RAM, checking the power supply, if it's not working after that, disassembly it and take the valuable parts ;p Like I said, it might even be your power supply putting out too low voltage or too unstable voltage? Ever tried playing on the battery to see if the problem is still there?

I've had 94737637262 problems with all of my computers, and still have, so I know it's frustrating.

[DelusionalSyko]

Hawkie, your solution to fixing a laptop is to format the drive? Really?

The problem she's experiencing when launching the game is the resolution changing to compensate for the game. When that happens, the computer crashes. So, it has something to do with the graphics portion of the laptop. Freezing colors on the screen and stuck displays mean either outdated software, or defective graphics.

However, with laptops and onboard graphics, they use the memory of the machine itself. Aftermarket or PnP graphics cards have there own dedicated memory. So, if she's experiencing problems with onboard graphics it could even be a memory issue.

Formatting the drive is completely unorthodox. She loses all her files, and it gets her no where.

[hotdogs]

@_@ okies. Uhm, that was a lot of big words so I am going to start with updating my drivers and go from there.

UPDATE: My windows 7 is now genuine thanks to Decactus, so now i CAN update my drivers, LOL!

[DelusionalSyko]

The amazing thing about Windows 7 is that it takes the liberty to update your drivers for you. Awesome possum.

[hawkiee552]

Hawkie, your solution to fixing a laptop is to format the drive? Really?[...] Formatting the drive is completely unorthodox. She loses all her files, and it gets her no where.

Yup, it is, and it has fixed 9 different laptops that I've had either myself or my friends' several times. It has been everything from just a slow PC to similar problems that hotdogs has. External hard drives are very useful to back up files and programs, so losing them shouldn't be worried about. You see, when you uninstall and install drivers, you actually leave traces of corrupted files and registry keys which will cause problems, and the driver itself might not be the problem. It can be DirectX, Windows itself, other programs and even Steam..

A full format is the only way to completely clean a PC and start over, most of the problems are fixed by that. I'm only saying what I've experienced and know.

[DelusionalSyko]

Formatting a hard drive is the last possible solution in fixing a computer. Not the first.

Corrupted registry and bad drivers can be fixed without a format. Very easily, in fact. And that seldom happens. If there's a corrupt driver being used, it definitely shouldn't cause entire system failure. That's a sign of weak/failing hardware. Hardware can work with the wrong/outdated driver. It won't work up to par, but it should definitely not crash or cause any problems if the hardware is in pristine condition.

On my old computer I had a defective motherboard. It would BSoD on a regular basis and it took my forever to find out what it was. Originally I thought it was the GPU funneling the CPU. I had an insanely over powered graphics card pared with an AMD triple-core processor. I would update drivers religiously, and continuously monitor heating issues. I then saved up a good amount of money and replaced it with my current rig. I formatted it and sold it to my brother for cheap thinking it was most likely a driver failure, or some sort of software causing the problem. Ended up being the motherboard being defective. I contacted Asus about it and they told me that I needed to run the memory at a throttle. Lower speeds and lower voltage. Which is horse crap. So I took the motherboard outside and smashed it with a hammer, and bought my brother a new motherboard to replace the defective one I sold him.


When I was 15 and told everyone I was smart with computers...that's what I did to fix things. "Oh you have a virus? Well, let me reformat it!"

Now I know there are billions of other methods in fixing problems. And formatting the drive only happens when intense software or operating system corruption has happened.

[hawkiee552]

Formatting a hard drive is the last possible solution in fixing a computer. Not the first.

When I was 15 and told everyone I was smart with computers...that's what I did to fix things. "Oh you have a virus? Well, let me reformat it!"

I didn't say that it was the first solution, she was going to update her drivers anyways, but if that didn't work, it might be a little bit harder to find the solution.

If someone has a virus on their computer, the easiest solution is to format, but not always the best. What I would've done is to connect the hard drive to my desktop, boot up Ubuntu and then scan and remove every single virus/spyware/adware that is hidden on the drive. Also, if their OS is corrupted and I have to fix it, I'd do the same thing except scanning, and instead looking for corrupted files that cause the freeze (or better, a BSoD with error code)
Then, if that doesn't work, and the OS is either Windows 7 or Vista (oh noes), I use Microsoft's own startup repair program. (That program is not always fixing the problem, rather never, but it's worth a try)

Then, last solution is to back up the files and settings, format the drive, install the OS again and replace the files and settings. It would be like it was before, only faster. Anyways, this is getting a bit off-topic, we're here to help hotdogs.