Windows 7/Hardware Problem

[Kjesse]

I'm hoping someone from the CP collective can diagnose this issue.

I have a Windows 7 64 bit install on an SSD, with a Radeon 4870 x2. Those are the components that might be part of the problem. The SSD is relatively new, about 3 months old.

Sometimes, when I boot I can hear the windows sound, which suggests the OS boots, but there is no signal going to the monitor. I have to unplug the machine to reboot, as anything else leads to the same problem of nothing on the screen, but then it goes into a check disk function and seems to find lots of orphan files, correct them/reindexes them or something, then reboots fine, and I can see the screen again.

This has happened a lot over the last month. I've reinstalled windows twice, updated all my drivers, so I think its a hardware problem.

I'm not sure if the problem is my video card or perhaps my SSD (though I think it could be the motherboard too, I suppose), since my act of unplugging the machine might be leading to SSD file indexing issues.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking I'll have to take it in to Memory Express and ask them to fix it but recreating the problem sometimes takes a day or so.

[psicodude]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago and it turned out to be a video card hardware failure. MemEx has some really good testing tools and should be able to diagnose it fairly quickly.

[Buff]

My fist guess would be video card problems. Try to make sure you've got the latest drivers and firmware for it, and make sure they are 64-bit.

Instead of unplugging your computer just hold down the power button until it turns off. Usually 5-10 seconds, if it doesn't turn off that quickly, just wait longer, you may be counting too fast (had a client count too fast)

[Rathji]

Kind of reminds me of a problem I had with a client's machine, where it would boot but the monitor would occasionally remain blank. Since she had 2 monitors, she could see on the second screen the mouse etc, so we knew it was running. Once and a while it would work, and if we logged in blind, it would turn itself on.

Best I could figure without making her spend through the nose was that either her primary monitor (or port on video card) was having problems on boot/wake from hibernater. We just switched her monitors around and it solved her problem.

[Hanni]

Shot in the dark but have you tried removing 1 of the video cards. Mine has problems with SLI that I was never able to find a proper resolution to. Or maybe try one card on it's own, if the problem persists try the other, you may be able to isolate the issue to one of them.

[Kjesse]

Thanks for all your responses. Ultimately I had such major problems I took it into Memory Express and had them look at it. Memory Express is a victim of its own good service, I took it in on August 13th and it wasn't looked at until the 24th. I got it back today.

The diagnosis:

-Video card running way too hot (it was a 4870x2, a power hog)
-Secondary hard drive failing
-Viruses on main Windows install
-SSD was fine

So I pulled the failing backup drive, put in a Geforce 660 ti in place of the Radeon, and resinstalled Windows 7. All is working well.

I'm very surprised I had virus issues, I had reinstalled Windows a few times and barely was able to use the machine given the video card issue. I'm also surprised the backup drive caused some booting issues.

Again, thanks for the help!

Edit: I should add that MemEx said it was only a virus problem on the phone. I said, check the video card, and let it run for a while to get up to temperature. That's when the main problem was found.