The Technology Help Corner.

[Professor James]

After a few hours of use on my computer, the connection fails and I can't get it to work again without restarting. Also, if I restart using the start menu and not manually, my computer will say "Shutting Down" for 5 minutes and I then get a BSOD saying something about driver failure.

 

[Twinrehz]

After a few hours of use on my computer, the connection fails and I can't get it to work again without restarting. Also, if I restart using the start menu and not manually, my computer will say "Shutting Down" for 5 minutes and I then get a BSOD saying something about driver failure.

Stuff I need to know:
1) What kind of computer? Laptop, desktop, tablet? What brand?
2) Are your drivers up to date?
3) What operating system are you on? (I'm assuming Win7, but assuming never got me anywhere).
4) Have you tried anything yourself to remedy the situation?
5) How skilled are you with computers and operating systems? (It tells me how technical I can get without confusing the shit out of you).

 

[Professor James]

1. Cybertron PC Desktop, Exact Model escapes me now.
2. I just updated my graphic and audio drivers, I'm having trouble finding updates for the others but they're all game/accessory related and should have nothing to do with my problem.
3. Windows 7 64 bit
4. Just Basic Troubleshooting and not much else.
5. I know how to basic troubleshoot and know terms like CPU and RAM but I don't know what to do with them or even where they're located.

I haven't tried restarting yet but it has been some time since the problem occurred so it might have passed on.

 

[Twinrehz]

-snip-

I'm assuming that's a prebuilt machine. If the BSOD pops up again (or if you can make it pop up again), check the text and see if you can find the name of said driver that caused it. It will be possible to google that, and it might give you a name on the driver that requires update.

There is also the possibility that the BSOD is caused by hardware failure, so if updating the driver doesn't help (or if it's caused by a driver you've already updated), then that sounds like something in the hardware is failing. How old is it? Is it still under warranty?

Gaming peripherals seldom cause BSOD, as they're not critical for system operation. Unless one of them are short circuiting the port they're connected to, it's not likely to be the problem.

EDIT: Won't be back until sunday, so I won't be able to respond any more to your problem until then.

 

[Professor James]

-snip-

I'm assuming that's a prebuilt machine. If the BSOD pops up again (or if you can make it pop up again), check the text and see if you can find the name of said driver that caused it. It will be possible to google that, and it might give you a name on the driver that requires update.

There is also the possibility that the BSOD is caused by hardware failure, so if updating the driver doesn't help (or if it's caused by a driver you've already updated), then that sounds like something in the hardware is failing. How old is it? Is it still under warranty?

Gaming peripherals seldom cause BSOD, as they're not critical for system operation. Unless one of them are short circuiting the port they're connected to, it's not likely to be the problem.

EDIT: Won't be back until sunday, so I won't be able to respond any more to your problem until then.

It just says Driver power state failure although I'm not what the numbers after STOP means.

 

[Twinrehz]

-snip-

This can apparently be caused by a faulty USB-device, are any devices you have connected via USB acting up under normal use? Disconnect all USB devices, and see if you can reproduce the error again.

 

[Dyan]

Hello! I've been having a strange problem recently with my internet. I recently moved to a new place and got a new ISP. Got two computers one a laptop and one a desktop, but I use one cable for both (switching the cable between the 2). The laptop is fine, but whenever I use my desktop my internet speed becomes horrendously choppy. Sometimes it works decently enough, but othertimes it's completely useless.

I thought it was a problem with the port, so I bought a network card, it worked for 5 minutes, and then fell back into bad habits. Any ideas on what the problem could be?

 

[sandykumar]

thank u guys post is very informative

 

[Elberik]

I've recently got into PC gaming and I've run into a issue with my gamepad (Xbox 360 wired PC controller).

Whenever I plug it in all my other USB devices become unrecognizable. I have to restart my computer in order for everything to work again. It only happens with the devices that are plugged into an external hub; my mouse, keyboard, & printer (plugged directly into the tower) are not affected.

The gamepad works fine. If I unplug everything else before plugging the gamepad in then unplug the game before hooking it all back up, everything still works.

any ideas or am I in the wrong place?

 

[kurokotetsu]

I'm having problems with the forums because it says I'm sussing a proxy server, it won't let me send PM at the moment. As far as I know i have no proxy connections configured, nor have fiddled with anything of the sort. But my ISP does give the service but as far as I know they don't own the cables and probably servers renting it from another ISP. Could that be the cause?

 

[Twintix]

Hello!

Lately, I've had a problem with trying to play videos on Youtube with Google Chrome. I know it's a problem with Google Chrome because the videos play just fine with Internet explorer. What's really weird is that older videos play just fine on Chrome, but when it comes to later updates, the videos just won't play.

I thought at first that it was because my Flash Player needed to be updated, but I noticed that I already had the latest version. I then checked if there were any problems with my plug-ins, but I couldn't find any.

I'm honestly at loss as to what to do. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have a clue as to what's wrong?

 

[saluraropicrusa]

I have a major issue that I need to solve, hopefully without having to spend money on a new part for a computer I don't plan on keeping much longer.

So, recently I upgraded to Windows 8.1 on my desktop. As someone who actually likes the OS overall, it was all good until I started having issues with my internet. I'm on a wifi connection shared by myself and my parents, and though I'm in the basement and the router is upstairs, before this I've never had issues with my connection and even now I have next to no problems on my laptop or phone.

I can connect to our home wifi no problem, and most webpages load fine (though loading is generally slow). However, I can barely watch youtube videos (having to constantly pause them and wait for them to load), and when I try to play Champions Online I experience severe lag and constant disconnects.

I did my best to find up-to-date drivers for my network card, and that helped a little, but not much (and not for very long). I've tried a few other "solutions" I found through google but so far nothing has worked. I'm about ready to throw my computer out the window, I really don't want to be stuck on my laptop all the time.

Here are my computer's specs and the network card I'm using:
Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit)
Pentium Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz
4 GB RAM

Network adapters:
DW1525 (802.11n) WLAN PCIe Card (Qualcomm Atheros driver, version 3.0.1.155, which my PC tells me is the 'latest version')
Realtek PCIe Family Controller

The computer is a Dell, Windows is up-to-date, and while it's no gaming rig it's decent for whatever else I need to do--or was, before this problem arose. I'd rather not have to reinstall Windows 7 (my computer was much slower with it and I don't have an installation disc).

I'm at my wit's end with this problem, I have no idea how to solve it.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Welp, another question for the thread here.

I got a little question about upgrading. You see, I'm running an AMD Phenom X4 965 CPU with an AMD 6870. I've been noticing that my video RAM ain't really cutting it any more in modern days. So I've been thinking of buying an AMD Radeon 270, which is quite affordable.

Question is; is it really worth upgrading with my current CPU, or will my CPU bottleneck anyway? Hell, is the 270 even good enough an upgrade over the 6870? At least one that warrants spending about ?120. You never know with rebranding and all that.

 

[Professor James]

Okay this problem is getting worse and I don't know what is causing it. Within 3-8 hours, my internet connection stops working and no troubleshooter can fix it; the only solution is restarting the whole computer. I have a Belkin N F5D8053 adapter but I don't think it's the problem because the light is still on after the problem hits. If I restart the computer through windows and not the program after this happens, I get a BSOD (it said caused by driver failure). Can anyone provide insight on what is causing this issue?

 

[Dyan]

So I'm upgrading my computer (new mobo and cpu) and was wondering if they would work all right with my PSU.
The new parts are:

1. Gigabyte AM3+/70A-D3 Motherboard

2. AMD FX8320 X8 CPU

And my current specs are as follows:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 730

RAM: 8GB

PSU: Chieftec GPS 550-AB-A

UPDATE: Forgot the PSU...

 

[bobthebot]

So I'm upgrading my computer (new mobo and cpu) and was wondering if they would work all right with my PSU.
The new parts are:

1. Gigabyte AM3+/70A-D3 Motherboard

2. AMD FX8320 X8 CPU

And my current specs are as follows:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 730

RAM: 8GB

PSU: Chieftec GPS 550-AB-A

UPDATE: Forgot the PSU...

Get rid of that power supply before upgrading anything else, make sure the replacement is from a reputable manufacturer and is at least 80+ rated.

 

[bobthebot]

Welp, another question for the thread here.

I got a little question about upgrading. You see, I'm running an AMD Phenom X4 965 CPU with an AMD 6870. I've been noticing that my video RAM ain't really cutting it any more in modern days. So I've been thinking of buying an AMD Radeon 270, which is quite affordable.

Question is; is it really worth upgrading with my current CPU, or will my CPU bottleneck anyway? Hell, is the 270 even good enough an upgrade over the 6870? At least one that warrants spending about ?120. You never know with rebranding and all that.

A phenom 965 will handle anything up to a R9 280 without bottlenecking, especially if you apply a modest overclock. To answer your second question, a 270 is definitely a worthwhile upgrade over a 6870.

 

[KhaoticOne]

Hey guys got offered a deal for a MSI Geforce GTX 660 for $100. Should i go for it or wait for something better? Current card is Radeon HD 5770.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Welp, another question for the thread here.

I got a little question about upgrading. You see, I'm running an AMD Phenom X4 965 CPU with an AMD 6870. I've been noticing that my video RAM ain't really cutting it any more in modern days. So I've been thinking of buying an AMD Radeon 270, which is quite affordable.

Question is; is it really worth upgrading with my current CPU, or will my CPU bottleneck anyway? Hell, is the 270 even good enough an upgrade over the 6870? At least one that warrants spending about ?120. You never know with rebranding and all that.

A phenom 965 will handle anything up to a R9 280 without bottlenecking, especially if you apply a modest overclock. To answer your second question, a 270 is definitely a worthwhile upgrade over a 6870.

That's pretty sweet. Now my question is; I know the 270 gives you a lot of bang for your buck, but does the same apply to the R9 280? Because I could save up just a little more and go for that one instead of the 270. Or is the R9 270X a better choice?

I can get the 270 for around ?165, the 270X for about ?185 and the 280 for about ?205. What to pick what to pick...

 

[bobthebot]

Welp, another question for the thread here.

I got a little question about upgrading. You see, I'm running an AMD Phenom X4 965 CPU with an AMD 6870. I've been noticing that my video RAM ain't really cutting it any more in modern days. So I've been thinking of buying an AMD Radeon 270, which is quite affordable.

Question is; is it really worth upgrading with my current CPU, or will my CPU bottleneck anyway? Hell, is the 270 even good enough an upgrade over the 6870? At least one that warrants spending about ?120. You never know with rebranding and all that.

A phenom 965 will handle anything up to a R9 280 without bottlenecking, especially if you apply a modest overclock. To answer your second question, a 270 is definitely a worthwhile upgrade over a 6870.

That's pretty sweet. Now my question is; I know the 270 gives you a lot of bang for your buck, but does the same apply to the R9 280? Because I could save up just a little more and go for that one instead of the 270. Or is the R9 270X a better choice?

I can get the 270 for around ?165, the 270X for about ?185 and the 280 for about ?205. What to pick what to pick...

Video cards tend to have diminishing returns when it comes to gpu horsepower, but I would still go with the 280 just for that extra gig of vram. When you make your decision, keep in mind that AMD is probably going to have a new line of cards out by q2 next year.