Does it sound like a bad motherboard?

[Vendayn]

I'm upgrading no matter what...I'm mostly curious.

 

First

 

i5 CPU (very low end) 3.3 GHz...it is 7 years old and was 50 dollars. Its a really crappy brand, forgot what it was...but super crappy.

Windows 7 64bit (cause no 32bit for games! )

8gig DDR3 ram (7 years old)

Regular 1 TB hard drive (SSD are a bit expensive for me) (2-3 years old)

Geforce 660 GTX 2GB (bought last year for christmas, so still pretty new)

Kinda crappy power supply

 

What is happening

 

Computer is very slow, locks up doing pretty much anything

Drivers crash any time they are being used (mostly graphics drivers, but today I had another driver crash)

Recently, windows is re-downloading system files and restoring registry

Windows taskbar or whatever, task host? main thing...sometimes crashes when in heavy use

Games are getting slower and slower, to the point of artifacting

Just recently, my files are disappearing. Windows settings are restoring to the default from when it was like newly installed.

My skyrim mod settings are getting reset to brand new, mods completely deactivated...like they were just installed

 

So, tons of problems...and my motherboard is ancient and super crappy. But my PSU was kind of a crappy brand too.

 

I'm upgrading to an i7 no matter what and getting modern ram, new PSU and new hard drive. They are all ancient and really bottle necking my video card.

 

But what are all those symptoms caused from? Is it likely motherboard related? My dad thinks it is, because a bad motherboard can cause a lot of weird issues he said.

 

In any case, I'm upgrading the likely suspects no matter what...due to how old they are. It is already set it in stone with what I'm upgrading. I'm just asking to see what you guys think of it all. Btw, getting a new hard drive as well in case of a hard drive failure...so getting 4 new things.

 

[mojodajojo]

I don't know jack from apple butter about hardware, but I do know that failing hard drives can cause strange crap as well.

[24242]

Your i5 is probably 1st generation which is about 5 years old (maybe i5 660?)

its still a good cpu and you should have no problems with it.

 

Wipe your hard drive and reinstall everything first to check if its a software problem.

Or you could open your pc and see if theres a lot of dust in it (probably not if you installed a new GPU recently)

 

If its not software or dust then try to run some benchmarks/stress tests(Check ram for errors, see if GPU/CPU is overheating, when does your PC crash, etc)

If you find whats wrong just replace that part.

 

You shouldnt get an i7 unless you just want to waste money(you arent going to notice a difference between an i5 or i7 unless youre doing editing or w/e)

I guess you should replace a PSU just in case because its getting old.

 

If you have any more info just post it and ill try to help i guess.

 

edit: also your ram and cpu arent bottlenecking your gpu pls stop

[Vendayn]

Well, something is bottlenecking it. Probably the PSU if not the CPU. I went from a 260 GTX 896 MB Geforce to the 660 GTX 2 GB Geforce and my Skyrim went up...3-5 FPS. I should have gotten a WAY bigger increase than that. 20-25 to 23-28 with still dips to 20 isn't much of an upgrade Though it is heavily modded, it should still have been better.

 

The PSU is 3-4 years old actually, because I got it when I got the 260 GTX. Its 600 wattz, but its up there in age.

 

The CPU is actually something I got at a computer swap meet some years back...so its actually probably a fake knock off of an i5 since I got it for 35 instead of 50 dollars the guy was selling it for. Lots of fakes at those places...was meant to be temporary. In any case...that is what I've been using for 7 years.

 

I'm still upgrading, because I want a more modern PC. Not a bunch of old parts.

[endgameaddiction]

Vendayn, if you grab CPU-Z it will tell you your hardware info, like what motherboard you have. And for some things it won't pick up like what PCIe version you have GPU-Z will.

[sorsharavenwing]

I'm a techie type by profession. And I have to agree with mojodajojo. It sounds like a dying hard drive to me. That's what I'd look at first. If you know what brand it is, you should be able to go to the company's website and download a diagnostic utility. Or you can download the Ultimate Boot CD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ which has hard drive diagnostics and utilities from many hardware companies. It also has diagnostic tools and utilities for many other components.

[zzz72w3r]

It sounds like a HDD problem to me as well. 

 

Having said that, bad MB can lead to early failure of components as well.  I had a MB with a poor capacitor and I am convinced that poorly regulated current caused unrecoverable head crash on my HDD before my MB failed.  MB makers usually try to save costs by using cheaper capacitor, PCB and connector in that order.  

 

Check if there is leakage or strange discoloration on the capacitors.  Stop using the PC immediately if there is leakage. 

[badbat111]

have you scanned it it could be a virus or 2 thats causing the problems scan it then do a disk defragment make sure your hard drive isnt heavely loaded with tons of programs check its % could be either to much crap on your machine or viruses

[psammeticus]

I'm a bit late to the thread, but I concur with all the above. HDD failure is most likely, but it wouldn't hurt to give the case a good dusting and reinstall the OS.

 

Personally, I would also reseat all the cards, but that's probably a bit extreme.

[sorsharavenwing]

I'm a bit late to the thread, but I concur with all the above. HDD failure is most likely, but it wouldn't hurt to give the case a good dusting and reinstall the OS.

 

Personally, I would also reseat all the cards, but that's probably a bit extreme.

 

It's actually not really extreme. It's pesky physics at work. When components heat up they expand. When they cool down they contract. This leads to something we in the biz call "creep" - ie. the components are no longer properly seated in their slots. When I diagnose a system that has a hardware problem, after trying to reproduce the issue, one of the steps is to reseat all components. Sometimes that's all it takes to fix a computer. Most often I see it with RAM.

[DJFrosted]

BTW i5 isn't low end...

I know this is a double post but here
 

first things first..

 

A reformat and clean isntall will eliminate probably like 80% of your problems

 

For that you'll need to also...

 

A.)Do a disc check before you reformat and check for any errored sectors and read / write errors.

 

B.) Make sure your PC isn't a potato.. ( Have more than 2gb of ram lol and a half decent processor / GPU ) 

Also don't lie about hardware as it makes things A LOT harder to fix.. (we've all had bad PC's dont feel bad IF THIS IS THE CASE)

 

after that you should be solid unless you have failing hardware..

 

If you dont wanna format / reinstall windows...

 

1.) Install avast and remove your antivirus after it's installed as it will conflict with your antivirus 

( NEVER run two anti viruses at the same time it creates security holes and false positives. don't let any noobs tell you any different )

 

2.) Run a full scan delete / quarentine anything it finds.

 

3.) Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware run a threat scan and delete / quarentine anything it finds.

 

4.) Install CCleaner (it will free up space and fix broken links in your regisrty 

(Registry values that are left over from programs you've deleted or uninstalled)

 

5.) Read up on how to use MSCONFIG (read up on it.. it can really mess things up if you have no clue what you're doing)

 

6.) Use MSCONFIG to check what auto start programs and services are starting and minimize the amount of stuff auto starting.

 

7.) USE SFC to check system file integrity

 

A.) Go to all programs -> accessories -> CMD Prompt (RUN AS ADMIN)

 

B.) Type SFC /Scannow 

 

C.) Let it run and if it finds errors it will repair them automatically (a restart is required)

 

8.) Schedule a DSKCheck 

 

A.) Go to "computer" from the start menu

 

B.) Right click your HDD (the one with your OS installed on it..most likely C:) and go to properties

 

C.) Click scan now under "Error Checking"

 

D.) check "Automatically fix file system errors" and check "Scan_ for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" and hit start.

 

E.) It's gunna prompt "Disc in use" just click "Schedule Disk Check" and restart

 

F.) LET IT RUN ( it takes a while based on how bad your drive is currupted and / or how big it is ) It will auto fix any problems.

 

9.) Although it doesn't really matter too much you can run a defrag aswell

 

If these steps arent working.. 

 

1.) Make sure drivers are up to date..

 

2.) Reformat and do a clean install.

 

 

Hope this helps! 

 

Cheers

 

Frost

 

 

[DJFrosted]

Also i forgot to add if your motherboard is super cheap etc etc if you have a powerful cpu i5 is still pretty good.. it could bottle neck your FSB and lagg you like a mofo.. remember when you build a computer.. pick the parts you want and ALWAYS double and triple check their compatibility.. (just cause its the same cpu socket doesn't mean its good with the particular motherboard you want..JUST GOOGLE IT)

[psammeticus]

^This is the problem I ran into. I have an awesome i5, but the cheap ass MB I've got it on sucks.

[DJFrosted]

yep the bottle neck is real