Re: Repair Utility / Full Reinstall

Your past diagnostic procedures are best described as speculation.
For example, using that latest post, you have zero reasons to suspect
any hardware. One program is stalling. Why? Is the program starved
for CPU time? If so, what is consuming CPU time? Well, you opened
Task Manager. What did those numbers report? What is loaded and
executing CPU time?

Task Manger has numbers. If those numbers mean nothing to you, then
post them. You want the better informed to reply? Then give them a
reason to reply. Your replies can only be as useful as facts you
provide. Else you get wild speculation about a graphics card.

This WoW program - what are the various parameter numbers for that
task when it is and is not stalled? Memory usage and memory delta?
Page Fault deltas? What percentage of CPU time does it get?

While WoW is executing, what is happening to another multitasked
program? Can notepad still work? Or does notepad also lock? Does a
file download using the modem continue or stall?

One reason why your replies from others have been so fruitless:
implied was the computer was crashing. It was not crashing. The OS
did not need be rebooted. Hardware was working perfectly fine -
according to your last post (except for the video displays - another
evidence line to be followed later). Previous posts were so short on
solid technical facts (especially every number you don't understand)
that, for example, the only other reply was wild speculation about bad
graphics card. That other post has absolutely no reason to make that
conclusion. Instead, learn how to follow the evidence.

Those examples of trashed video displays can be symptoms of bad
video memory. Due to lack of information, we don't know if you
executed a video processor diagnostic and did so with hardware heated
to uncomfortable temperatures by a hairdryer on highest heat. With
only vague answers, then view from my perspective. Having not done
everything 'definitively' means no useful answer was obtained. So
integrity of the video hardware is still 100% unknown.

Forget and eliminate everything you have done. Start all over
again. Look only at what you know. From your latest post, the WoW
program is stalling or locking. That is what we know. Get details
associated with that lockup. What are the many important numbers from
Task Manager when lockup does and does not happen? Follow that
evidence. What do other programs do when lockup occurs? Follow those
facts. Do all tasks stall or just work slower? Does that slowdown
correspond to numbers in Task Manager? How much virtual memory is
being used when things work and when things stall? Most important,
what are the numbers? Spend sufficient time to know those numbers,
confidently.

Is it a hardware problem? Yes, maybe. But near zero information
exists to go there; to suspect hardware. Any hardware suspicion, at
this point, is only classic wild speculation. The OS is not crashing.
Therefore all hardware, as best we can say, is OK.

To learn from past efforts, when you ran those diagnostics, did you
heat components such as with the hair dryer? If not, then diagnostics
were not completed - you did not learn something 'definitive'. A test
without a 'definitive' conclusion is wasted time - tells us little to
nothing. This paragraph is about an attitude necessary to answer
questions in earlier paragraphs. For example, numbers for various
parameters from Task Manager must be provided. Just because Task
Manger loaded tells us little to nothing useful by itself. Take
sufficient time so that you are confident about what those numbers
really are both when program is working and stalling. With those
numbers, then we need not look back because an answer is now
'definitive'.

Also not reported are other basic information - the basic facts -
that are collected before trying to fix anything. Previous post asked
what does Hardware Manager report? What problems are reported in the
event (system) logs? These were asked previously and still not
provided. They were not rhetorical questions. How do event
timestamps correspond with system operation? If you want replies
from the better informed, then you have a list of every question AND
post answers to every question. For example, asked was what video
diagnostic was used. Still not provided is the diagnostic
manufacturer, whether that diagnostic ran under Windows or was self
booting, whether your computer manufacturer provided such diagnostics,
what the revision level was for the diagnostic, where is was obtained
from, etc. The question was asked because you probably have no idea
of its importance. Another recommendation was to heat all parts to
uncomfortable temperatures before running diagnostics. Do not select
what you want and do not want to do. To make replies from the better
informed useful and to learn, you must answer everything. Unlike some
others, my posts are not based in wild speculation. Every question
has a purpose - to follow the evidence.

Why do we fix things? Number one reason is to learn. Appreciate
the completely different attitude (how to solve problems) that can be
learned. A mindset that applies well beyond computers. Many hear
'CSI' say "follow the evidence" and yet do not grasp the concept.
Above is about following the evidence.

On Mar 4, 5:09 am, "Jonathan" <jonat...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have no idea how to diagnose this problem, I feel like I've tried
everything short of replacing hardware and praying. I have been testing WoW
to try to get screen captures or some different behavior, hoping for an
error message or some sign of what is going wrong.
Tonight I logged in a character and it kept freezing, though I could
still move my cursor, and after 20 seconds or so it would start working
again. Then I walked to the ocean in Grom'Gol and every step I took the
entire ocean would flash from blue to white and light blue stripes. I tried
but could not get a screen capture. Otherwise I didn't get any of the crazy
graphics gaps I've been having, just the freezes and the ocean thing.
So I logged on another character in Orgrimmar to see what would happen
in a crowded place. It loaded and I may have taken a single step forward
before the graphics above the character stretched out and got distorted.
This time I lost my cursor when it froze which usually doesn't happen. I
decided to wait and see what would happen so I didn't hit any keys or enter
any commands. It sat there, frozen, for several minutes and then my system
rebooted without any prompting from me!
Here are the kinds of graphics issues that have been coming up along
with the freezes, the third one I just took tonight in my testing.
http://www.badspatula.com/images/buggy01.jpg
http://www.badspatula.com/images/buggy02.jpg
http://www.badspatula.com/images/buggy03.jpg

Here's the full history of my problems with WoW leading up to now:
First I was playing as usual and I froze for quite some time, then the
game caught up again and I was able to move. I was able to move my cursor
during the freeze but I couldn't get the game to react. I quit for the day,
tried again the next day, and shortly after logging in the exact same thing
happened. I discovered that if I brought up Task Manager (I am running
Windows XP) via CTRL+ALT+DEL the game would suddenly start working again and
unfreeze as soon as Task Manager opened. However, the game would freeze
again very shortly after and most of the time I couldn't get it to work
again by reopening Task Manager.
Every time I logged in it would freeze in the same way, allowing me to
use my mouse but not to enter any commands or interact with the game in any
way. I took a long break to do some research and find time to bring another
relative over to look at things. I tested things again and now in addition
to freezing the graphics would act up; big trapezoidal parts of the world
would break off and spin around, changing colors or just showing up as
black. Sometimes they would move, sometimes they would just sit there.
Every time the graphics broke up I would freeze, though I could still move
my cursor and usually Task Manager would run.
I followed all the WoW tech support suggestions; cleaning out folders,
resetting all the settings, etc. I was able to log in for a few more
seconds before the freeze after these changes, but it didn't fix them.
Tonight was the second time that it has frozen without a cursor and then
rebooted without prompting.
Yesterday I had the same freezing / graphics problems happening but
between freezes I was able to get the options window open and I told it to
log out. It sat there for a long time and then the screen went, well,
crazy. It looked like the very bottom of my WoW screen, but pixilated and
distorted, and it repeated in horizontal rows covering the entire screen. I
had to reboot manually after that.

I ran Memtest, all the diagnostic and manufacturer tests on my video
card, checked drivers for everything, ran virus scans, defragged things, I
have done every diagnostic test I can think of. I come from a family of
computer people; my father runs a software company and is a programmer /
game designer, and my uncle has done tech support for many companies for
years. I've shown them the problems and they've helped run diagnostic tests
but we're all at a loss. Right now our best guess is to try a new video
card because the graphics issues are recurring.
My power supply sometimes sounds like it turns off, the fan whines and
dies and then comes back on, so I already know there is something odd about
it. That's why I am replacing it, just to be safe. I picked up a new one
for cheap so, while I don't know how the power supply could be related to
these problems, at least that's one thing I can take off the list and know
is not a problem.
Nothing else is crashing, though I don't run anything else as graphics
or resource intensive on this machine. I tried a few older games and they
ran just fine, but they have pretty basic requirements.
Right now the best thing I can think of is to replace the video card, or
at least test it in another machine, and hope that it's as simple as an old
card going bad. What do you think?
Thanks so much, to everyone, for the suggestions and support. This is
well beyond frustrating to the point where I'm starting to think it's just
time to find a new hobby.
-Jonathan (Heatvision on Frostwolf)
.