Nailing down PC problems
 

My editing PC is giving me fits. It's a year-old home build that started out great yet has developed multiple problems over time. Early this month we reformatted and reinstalled the OS and programs but the problems are still there--maybe even a few new ones have cropped up (errors on renders, errors opening clips in a timeline, 12-second lag when closing an explorer file if a program is open, etc.)

This particular problem is a hold-over from before. It started appearing about 6-8 months ago, only when I am viewing or transferring video files from one drive to another. My screen freaks out like what you see in the photo; the cursor still moves but I can't do anything with the keyboard. Only a hard shut down resets everything.

I thought it was only hating mp4 files but this time it happened while trying to view a NeoScene avi.

Any ideas? Don't know what info might be helpful: Intel Core I7; 2.67 GHz; 2.99 GB RAM; ASUS P6T motherboard

Hi Lorinda.............
 

Long time, no speak.

What a bizarre set of symptoms.

I could list the usual suspects: Power supply, memory, drive configuration etc etc but there really doesn't appear to be any other way to root this out but to get some diagnostic software on board and thrash the living daylights out of that PC.

Not too up with the latest or best, tho' plenty of people here seem to be, from other posts.

The only one I'm familiar with is this:

SiSoftware Zone

I'm sure there'll be many others put forward.


CS

Sounds like a hard drive issue, I would think it would be the one that you installed the OS on... I wouldnt think it was the RAM as you dont say anything about BSOD, I would take a spare hard drive( if you have one) and install an OS on that one and just boot from the second drive and see if the problem persists, and go from there..

David Grinnell

Hey Chris--yeah, been awhile! I thought about "thrashing the living daylights" out of this machine, but not in the manner you suggest. :)

Thanks for the great suggestions, guys. A faulty OS drive may have never crossed my mind. I will get busy and let you know if any of these steps produces an answer.

I'd unplug each component and reseat them in the computer.... when you reseat the memory switch the sticks around to see if that helps..

Good idea! I'll try that first since it is the least amount of work. Glad I hadn't got started on the other suggestions yet. Thanks!

I'm not sure about it being a hard drive (curious to learn why you think so).

I'd say video card--could be bad ram or just needs to be reseated.

So any time your hard drive is pushed hard it does this? I am wondering if the extra power draw from the hard drive is just enough to cause the system's power load to be a bit too much for the power supply?

Can you list the manufacturer and watt rating of your power supply, and the make and model of the video card? Maybe that would help us help you.

Wow! You guys are helping me learn more about my computer instead of calling my friend when I get in a jam. Thanks! It's about time I grew up. :)

I decided to try one fix at a time to "nail down" the problem. Started by shuffling and reseating the memory. So far that seems to be the ticket!! I did notice the lag when I closed the explorer windows and Vegas was open...the first time. After that, everything I threw at it trying to recreate the problem worked great. It's screaming along like it did in the old days.

I don't understand the downhill progression over time rather than trouble all at once...just a connection slowly working loose, I guess.

Still getting an error message when I open one project but I have a feeling that problem is unrelated. All the troubles that seemed hardware-related seem to have been resolved. I hope, anyway!

You all are the best. I'll keep throwing stuff at it, hoping I won't be back here, but knowing there is great help available if needed. Thanks again.

Does the computer run really hot? Do you shut down the computer at night? If so, that continual heating up and cooling down can cause the components to gradually become unseated. If you already have a memory slot that doesn't quite grip the DIMM like it should, the heat/cool cycle would really exacerbate the problem.