[sapguar]

Hello, I recently purchased a new computer from CyberPowerPC and so far, it's pretty good except for some problems I have been having. Let's get right to the specs on this rig.

AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+
2.41 GHz.
1 Gig Ram
Windows XP Professional (Computer came with Vista installed, reformatted
with my own XP pro CDs)
NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
500 WATT Power Supply
MOUSE : Razer Copperhead (Blue)
KEYBOARD : Razer Lycosa

And now for the problems.

Problem #1

Random freezes. It seems that about every 2 hours my screen will just "fuzz" up causing me to hardboot the computer. The picture will get disoriented and I have to reboot the computer to get back. If I'm playing music, the music will continue but the screen will be fuzzed. My guess is that it has something to do with my graphics card. I've tested it on games and on desktop and it does it on both.

Problem #2

Both my mouse and keyboard will randomly spaz out. Each do it at there own times and never simultaneously. My keyboard's backlights will randomly start to flicker and if I'm typing while I do this it will sometimes lock it so I can't type. After about 5 seconds of this it will settle down and if the flickering lands on a different light setting, I have to put it back to full light setting. (the three light settings are WASD only being lit, full keyboard light and nothing). The control system for the light switching is a touchpad in the corner of the keyboard. But it shouldn't be something interfering with the keyboard because the media control buttons don't spaz out like the lights so it's got to be a keyboard problem.

For the mouse, while playing my game, it will randomly shut up and come back on. I will hear the sound as if someone was behind my computer unplugging it and plugging it back in. It can get quite annoying because when it does shut off, I have no use in it causing me to wait for it to plug itself back in. I'm sensing a power problem but whatever.

Those are pretty much the big ones.
I have money left over to buy upgrades if needed. I was thinking of actually purchasing another gig of ram to make it 2 gigs. But I would like to hear some of your responses and hopefully they can be fixed without paying anything. I'm open to all suggestions so anything is welcomed. Thanks for reading my post and hope to see some positive replies. If you need anymore information, please do not hesitate to ask. I will be watching this thread whenever I can to hopefully respond to anything you have to say as quick as I can. These problems are livable but it would be nice to eliminate them.


~Tyler

[serverguy]

Hi and welcome to TCF! Very clear first post

If I was you I would not be happy with the system if you have bought it new from a manufacturer. Am I right in thinking that you bought the whole computer assembled allready?

I have added some comments as to what might be causing the problems but if I was you I would be going back to the computer shop and asking for a replacement.

Originally Posted by sapguar Hello, I recently purchased a new computer from CyberPowerPC and so far, it's pretty good except for some problems I have been having. Let's get right to the specs on this rig. AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ 2.41 GHz. 1 Gig Ram Windows XP Professional (Computer came with Vista installed, reformatted with my own XP pro CDs) NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 500 WATT Power Supply MOUSE : Razer Copperhead (Blue) KEYBOARD : Razer Lycosa

The computer has quite a good spec. The RAM upgrade will definitely help but I would hold back on it until you have the other problems sorted.

Originally Posted by sapguar And now for the problems. Problem #1 Random freezes. It seems that about every 2 hours my screen will just "fuzz" up causing me to hardboot the computer. The picture will get disoriented and I have to reboot the computer to get back. If I'm playing music, the music will continue but the screen will be fuzzed. My guess is that it has something to do with my graphics card. I've tested it on games and on desktop and it does it on both.

This seems to be to do with the graphics card. It could also be to do with a faulty PSU. I don't think it is anything you could fix and a dodgey component is probably causing the crashes.

Originally Posted by sapguar Problem #2 Both my mouse and keyboard will randomly spaz out. Each do it at there own times and never simultaneously. My keyboard's backlights will randomly start to flicker and if I'm typing while I do this it will sometimes lock it so I can't type. After about 5 seconds of this it will settle down and if the flickering lands on a different light setting, I have to put it back to full light setting. (the three light settings are WASD only being lit, full keyboard light and nothing). The control system for the light switching is a touchpad in the corner of the keyboard. But it shouldn't be something interfering with the keyboard because the media control buttons don't spaz out like the lights so it's got to be a keyboard problem. For the mouse, while playing my game, it will randomly shut up and come back on. I will hear the sound as if someone was behind my computer unplugging it and plugging it back in. It can get quite annoying because when it does shut off, I have no use in it causing me to wait for it to plug itself back in. I'm sensing a power problem but whatever.

Now you say that the mouse and keyboard have 'spaz' attacks to it seems to me as if the motherboard could be dodgey. As you say, could also be PSU.

Originally Posted by sapguar Those are pretty much the big ones. I have money left over to buy upgrades if needed. I was thinking of actually purchasing another gig of ram to make it 2 gigs. But I would like to hear some of your responses and hopefully they can be fixed without paying anything. I'm open to all suggestions so anything is welcomed. Thanks for reading my post and hope to see some positive replies. If you need anymore information, please do not hesitate to ask. I will be watching this thread whenever I can to hopefully respond to anything you have to say as quick as I can. These problems are livable but it would be nice to eliminate them. ~Tyler

Once you have the problems sorted the extra RAM will definitely help with performance. Good luck in sorting out the problems!

[sapguar]

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I think I wasn't thinking clear when purchasing this computer. But I think it's too late, I won't be purchasing a new one any time soon. Was hoping to just get this one and if anything is wrong just upgrade it.

You said a faulty PSU.. is there a way to check basically how it's doing. Like to check if it's too low to handle this computer or if it's not working as intended to it's fullest? That was my number one guess with the mouse and keyboard because it seems to surge and have a power loss just in the direction of the mouse and keyboard. IE, the mouse shutting off and coming back on.. lights flickering on the keyboard.

[philthomas]

Are you having any other problems ? .... i.e. inconsistent results, blue screens, error messages ?

[sapguar]

Not that I've known. The last problem I had was a game would give me the "Don't Send/Send" error but that was because I had to lower my DirectX level down to 8. I also had a problem with my sound which was sketchy and low.. a quick system restore fixed that and I haven't had that problem since. But other then that, no blue screens or anything I've noticed.

[serverguy]

The PSU is not underated for the computer so you can rule that out. I would have thought that a dodgey PSU would have given you more problems than you describe. You can test them with a multimeter but it is tricky.

I think that the motherboard is probably playing up. You could eliminate things that might be wrong with it by taking out components one by one. Start with the graphics card and use onboard graphics. Then take out any extra hard drives etc until you are just left with Motherboard, PSU, RAM and Hard Drive.

[philthomas]

Regarding Problem #2 ..... have you got a PS2 Keyboard & Mouse or other USB models, you can try. I'm just thinking that if Problem #1 is being caused by a bad PSU, the use of PS2 or less demanding stuff, may help to eliminate things.
Also, if you have any other USB devices attached, try unplugging them, whilst trying to diagnose.

[sapguar]

Well, I fixed the mouse problem. It was the mouse. I switched it with a MX500 and no more blacking out. I haven't really noticed the keyboard as much but I will watch it. The only thing that is getting me is the freezes.

I got 3 freezes on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The weird thing is, I remember it happened when I was running music through windows media player. I will keep testing it to see if that's the problem. But if you are curious, I mainly only run a program called Xfire, the game World of Warcraft and Steam in the background.