LF Help Troubleshooting...

[Haliaeetus]

Sorry if this is off topic / in the wrong forum, but the last few hours, when I've launched WoW and entered the game world... my computer crashes... it usually locks up / freezes, but has powered down once (it didn't shut down - it was as though the power got cut).



The comp seems to be working fine otherwise, it just goes to hell when I enter the WoW game world.



I routinely (once a month or so) open up the side panel and hit it with some canned air to clear the dust out - it was an hour or so after doing this today that it started fucking up.



So... since the problem seems to be triggered by WoW, it might be something with the video card...? [ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series]



...now that I'm thinking about it though, I did notice a mild burning smell earlier, so maybe that was coming from the comp? Like maybe I pushed the dust further IN to the components opposed to away from them? Can video cards get hot enough to burn dust? Or would that more likely have been the processor? [AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 630 Processor, 2800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)]





Anyone know what the problem might be? Anything specific I should or should not be doing?

 

[Elodnav]

There are many things it could be.



Do you get this with other games? Or is it JUST WoW?

 

[Playroom]

I've heard of people before that managed to fry pc parts by not cleaning their fans right... something about having to prevent the cpu fan from spinning.



You should check your pc's specs for something unusual... decreased processing power... graphics card not recognised...? If you've broken something, you'll see it there - if there is something simply malfunctioning but still working, well... "I'm doctor not a computer engineer!" ;p



I highly doubt it's wow's fault but if you don't find anything wrong with pc parts, do try another demanding game just in case.a

 

[Warshark73]

Unfortunately, that sounds like a hardware issue. Most likely with the video card. I would suggest checking the cooling fans on the CPU and the video card while the computer is running to make sure they are moving. If they're not concealed, that is...which may be the case with the video card's fan(s). As Playroom suggested, try running some other graphically intensive game (newer FPS games would definitely do it) and see if the same thing happens.



To cover all bases, how often do you clean your OS: clean junk files, defrag, scan for viruses, malware, etc.? If you don't, some programs I would recommend are:

-CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner)

-Auslogics Disk Defrag

-Auslogics Registry Cleaner

-Malwarebytes Anti-malware



All are freeware. Also, since almost everyone has anti-virus programs nowadays, I assume that you already have one. But if you don't, I recommend Avast free anti-virus.



Edit:

Rescinded suggestion to get downloads from download.com after reading Beefstock's post:

Normally I would suggest download.com (cnet central) for downloads, but according to the nmap team, they have been bundling some nasty stuff into their downloads. You can read about it here - http://insecure.org/...com-fiasco.html



Avast is what I use and recommend to ALL my friends.

Thanks for the warning

 

[Haliaeetus]

shorlty after making the original post, I poked around google for a bit but didn't find anything... tried logging into wow one last time - screen went black and I saw a spark come from the computer (pretty intense one too... it was comperable to a camera flash, and made an audible 'pop' noise) so I immediately pulled the power cord.



I took it to a local computer repair shop (they do free diagnostics) and said the power supply is pretty much fucked, but everything else looks normal... although they were unable to test the videocard because they lakced the equipment to do so (I guess the AMD Radeon 4800 series graphics cards connect to the comp differently than 'standard' ones, so they couldn't plug their testing equipment into it...

Hopefull the powersupply is the only thing that needs replacing... money isn't one of my strong points at the moment '>_>



Anywho, thanks for the replies, all! I didn't get a chance to actually utilize your feedback cuz it blew up only minutes after posting this, but I do appreciate it!

 

[Pookums]

All are freeware and available from download.com. Also, since almost everyone has anti-virus programs nowadays, I assume that you already have one. But if you don't, I recommend Avast free anti-virus.

Normally I would suggest download.com (cnet central) for downloads, but according to the nmap team, they have been bundling some nasty stuff into their downloads. You can read about it here - http://insecure.org/...com-fiasco.html



Avast is what I use and recommend to ALL my friends.

 

[Freeranged]

shorlty after making the original post, I poked around google for a bit but didn't find anything... tried logging into wow one last time - screen went black and I saw a spark come from the computer (pretty intense one too... it was comperable to a camera flash, and made an audible 'pop' noise) so I immediately pulled the power cord.



I took it to a local computer repair shop (they do free diagnostics) and said the power supply is pretty much fucked, but everything else looks normal... although they were unable to test the videocard because they lakced the equipment to do so (I guess the AMD Radeon 4800 series graphics cards connect to the comp differently than 'standard' ones, so they couldn't plug their testing equipment into it...

Hopefull the powersupply is the only thing that needs replacing... money isn't one of my strong points at the moment '>_>



Anywho, thanks for the replies, all! I didn't get a chance to actually utilize your feedback cuz it blew up only minutes after posting this, but I do appreciate it!

Never skimp on a PSU. Most people do, and it's the first thing to break and cause issues. On top of it, a bad PSU failing can kill EVERYTHING with it.

 

[Shft]

Normally I would suggest download.com (cnet central) for downloads, but according to the nmap team, they have been bundling some nasty stuff into their downloads. You can read about it here - http://insecure.org/...com-fiasco.html



Avast is what I use and recommend to ALL my friends.

Wow they really stepped in it big time. GL getting things worked out Hal