Computer problem - opinions?

[serai]

So my computer is going bugfuck bananas.

A few days ago, the guy who made this computer for me came over to do a wipe and reinstall on it. Everything seemed okay for a couple of days, then the computer froze during a video game. This game was one of about 15 that I had installed for months before the wipe, and which had always worked perfectly before. I had re-installed it after the wipe, and had been playing it okay up 'til then. I restarted the computer, but it happened again, twice more in a row. I tried installing some of the other games. All of them, having worked perfectly before, now reacted badly, but each in a different way. One lost the video but not the sound, one would shut down after only a second or two of opening, one claimed there were no HAL devices, whatever they are, etc.

Also, all my video files suddenly had a hard time playing. The audio was fine, but the video was sticky and slow. This started the same time as the trouble with the games.

Manny happened by again the next day and we went over things - drivers, settings. We could see no reason for this. He played a bit with the drivers and managed to clean up the problem with playing vid files. But the game problem persisted. He said he'd look into it.

Now there's another thing. Suddenly, all my video files are playing upside-down. I've never seen that before, or heard of it happening.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm not well-versed in a computer's innards, but I'm hazarding that I need a new video card. This computer's guts are almost 8 years old now, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's time to replace some stuff.

Comments

[oohasparklie.livejournal.com]

I've had problems with the videos playing upside down thing...I think it might be something with Windows Media Player 11. At least, that's the only player I've noticed it in. As far as the rest of it...dude. I don't know. I think your video card is a good guess though.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking 1 of 3 things, with an appendix:

1. new video card needed
2. you have a bad memory chip (or more than 1)
3. bad harddrive - partially

appendix: after you get that fixed, upgrade your video drivers and codecs for playing back multimedia

[rachstonebreakr.livejournal.com]

It may be your video board. They're terribly complicated these days with all sorts of functions on board that get exercised only with certain applications.

Why did you wipe and reinstall? Was there a problem before?

Did you go out and get the absolute latest drivers from the board manufacturer (not just off of some site)?

Do any of your other applications (not gaming) exhibit any problems?

The upside down thing is VERY common in XP. Try to fix it by holding down the CTRL, ALT and UP (arrow) keys.

I suspect, if it is not a video board failure then you've got codec problem, or a mismatch between your installed hardware and the new drivers. Try loading up Gspot, a free utility. It may show you where your AVI files or other video's are having problems.

And then there's the problem that sometimes the NEW drivers barf all over each other and don't play nicely together. Sigh. Do you have any of the original driver disks?

I'm not familiar with the missing HAL file (oh my shades of 2001 Space Odyssey) but here's a site that talks about it: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm
It sounds like the hard drive may have been set up in an incompatible mode.

Let me know if you don't get this fixed. I'm directly connected to many, many geeks.

~ Rach

[ferretdad.livejournal.com]

Ohio State recomments CTRL-ALT-UP. This page (https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0075.mspx) from the MS knowledge center has a section at the bottom regarding upside-down video.

The game crashes could be a dying video card or dying RAM. I don't know why txvoodoo suspects your hard drive; I don't see any smoking gun...