Aspire M3802 and BSOD

Hi, other specs on PC.

64 bit win 7 home premium

8 gb ram

Nvidia GT 220

Intel Q8300

I have been having random BSOD (blue screen of death) shut downs for the past several months. Took to Fry's and they said all hardware functioning properly. They did a complete restore and I have had only 1 BSOD in past 2 weeks so better but not fixed. I suspect NVIDIA card and driver becuase I have never been able to update NVIDIA driver offered via Win update or directly from Nvidia site. Updated drive cause unstable system and freezes. I'm thinking of upgrading video card (I'm not a gamer) but before exploring that want to try the support forum to see if similiar problems. What would be a good video card which will work for watching movies and videos primarily. Thanks for any help. A new PC is a possibility as working on one that might shut down any moment is not acceptable.

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finlux

Hi skarnes

You didn't happen to write down the BSoD error code did you? That will help us pin point the likely cause of the error.

If you think it may be your nvidia graphics card, then an ideal replacement would be something like GT 630, this is more than capable of HD video, and has good reviews online. The only thing is a recommendation of a 300 watt power supply minimum, so check what you have in your PC. You may need to upgrade that as well!

skarnes

thanks for the info on the graphics card. I have recevied numerous error messages with the BSOD so its not always the same one. Here is the latest one since I did the re install.

Additional information about the problem:

BCCode: 1e

BCP1: 0000000000000000

BCP2: 0000000000000000

BCP3: 0000000000000000

BCP4: 0000000000000000

OS Version: 6_1_7601

Service Pack: 1_0

Product: 768_1

finlux

The error code 0x00000001e is an evasive one! It can either mean a memory error (which could be the graphics card memory or the system memory) or some form of file corruption, possibly by malware.

Some suggestions:

1. Do a full & complete Anti-virus & an Anti-malware scan to see if it comes up with anything.

2. If the scans come back as clean, then do a memtest from the Advanced boot menu to see if there are any errors in RAM.

3. Remove the graphics card and use on board graphics to see if the BSoD's appear. If after using the on board graphics for a few days the BSoD's disappear, then it will be the graphics card at fault.

4. If all else fails, backup everything & reinstall Windows from scratch from your recovery partition or disks.

It is not a simple cure, I'm afraid, but let us know how you get on!

skarnes

Instead of doing any further testing I bought the GT 630 card and so far the computer is stable. What I noticed is the cards fan seems to run all the time and while this is not a deal breaker just wondering if normal? And my system does have a 300 watt power supply.

finlux

You're JUST OK with a 300 watt supply. That isthe minimum power needed for that card.

Fans normally spin continually, but at varying speeds, depending on the temperature generated.

I wouldn't worry too much, although keep a check on things for a short while, just in case!

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