The screen turned blue after playing for two hours straight. If the card needed to be reseated, it wouldn't have allowed me to play that long.
Also, I went 3 hours of playing last night with no problems at all. Again, not the card.
I want to know what caused this. Again, it's in the dell manual with the suggestion of turning the machine off and then back on, but there is no explanation for why.
It is commonly known as the BSOD ( Blue Screen of Death )
It is a common thing with windows computers and usually is because of a memory problem.
You dont say what game it is you are playing. Some games have bugs and or memory leaks that can cause this. Basically it is the game crashing and because of poor code it takes the whole system down with it.
I get the impression from your tone you think its some secret Dell conspiracy and some flaw in dells computers.
You dont say if you are running any other progams (in the background) while you play this game. Virus scanners? Firewalls? How many icons do u have in your taskbar?(programs running)
you may want to check this link. gives you tips on how to diagnose the blue screen problem
You are playing game...with no warning..POOF..a blank blue screen, computer locked up and no activity(hard drive) only way out is to reboot. The computer works fine after the reboot? does it blue screen again? how soon after you reboot if it does?
well then as you said. it could be related to heat. What is the game you are playing?
What video card do you have? are you sure the fans are working properly?
What are the conditions like where your computer is? (room temp)
you say you can play for 2 - 3 hrs before the blue screen. Does this happen regular with just this game or every game and application you use?
could be something with the videocard and or drivers. Have you changed everything recently? (drivers)
PS
i found this thread u may find of interest.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=game-gen&message.id=23206&query.id=33733&c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs
The game you are playing wouldnt be KOTOR ? people in this thread have exactly same symtoms as you. Blank blue screen and beeping.
Message Edited by Blintok on 08-11-2005 04:14 PM
something from the thread... "All these drivers are freshly installed after a reformat. I really do hate SB cards, and I'll never buy another as long as I buy PCs, lol. I've had more problems with SB cards than any other piece of hardware, yet I kept thinking they would change as time goes on. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was a sound card related problem. The only 2 games I've experienced this problem with are kotor2 and WoW--no problems with hl2, cs:s, doom3 or any other games. How would I go about disabling hardware accelerated sound? And what kind of performance issues would it create while playing games/movies/music on my computer?
edit: ah, found it under dxdiag.. on my last PC i disabled hardware acceleration, and I had very bad delays playing games and watching movies.. not sure if that's a real solution, I don't know, maybe that won't be a problem with this card--I'll have to test it out."
It's not the BSOD. It's a SOLID blue screen with no text on it. A win blue screen of death usually has some sort of fault message on it.
ALso, windows blue screen of death doesn't make your motherboard beep.
Both of the above happened to my system. And again, the "solid blue screen" is mentioned in the dell manual under troubleshooting. It's something that happens....
So, the question remains, what causes a SOLID BLUE SCREEN with the MOTHERBOARD BEEPING that requires you to turn the pc off to fix it?
My Dell just started getting the SOLID BLUE SCREEN while playing BattleField 2 (BF2) (not the blue screen of death), some dots running down the screen some times some times not, just SOLID BLUE, looks like the Matrix, and a high pitch sound for a couple seconds, then it reboots. Can play 30 min or 2 hour, but all ways get it now, only playing BF2. Reseated CPU, memory, video card HDs, (took the side off while playing, bought a new video card on game machine).
Was only getting it on my other game machine (Intel 3.2GHz, Gigabyte MB, 2GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz, ATI X800 Pro 256MB,2-WD 120GB HD), new 430W PS. And still getting it and just a black screen and kicking you out to windows or rebooting.
MS error reporting says its a device driver error, but doesn't know witch one.
Any one have any idea?
Dell XPS 3.73GHs Extreme Edition, 256MB ATI X850 XT PE, 2GB DDR2, Serial ATA DAID 0 /dual WD 250 GB HD, Audigy 2zs, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Norton Antivirus 2005, Zone Alarm Pro are running, some times I turn them off, makes no differance. I turn every thing else off.
Don't know, I never tried hitting the caps lock key, or the enter key, or the space bar, or etc.... Does that have anything to do with the SOLID BLUE SCREEN?
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
•
17.9K Posts
0
August 10th, 2005 17:00
Spomo,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
What system do you have? What is the beep code sequence? Any information that you can provide will be helpful in resolving your issue.
Spomo
16 Posts
0
August 10th, 2005 19:00
Spomo
16 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 02:00
So anyone from Dell know? It's in the Dell manual for the XPS Gen 5... so it obviously occurs...
The million dollar question is: WHat causes it and should I be concerned?
Dell tech people....?
Thanks....
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
•
17.9K Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 12:00
Spomo,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
Open the system and reseat the video card and the memory to see if that will resolve your issue.
Spomo
16 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 15:00
Blintok
118 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 16:00
It is a common thing with windows computers and usually is because of a memory problem.
You dont say what game it is you are playing. Some games have bugs and or memory leaks that can cause this. Basically it is the game crashing and because of poor code it takes the whole system down with it.
I get the impression from your tone you think its some secret Dell conspiracy and some flaw in dells computers.
You dont say if you are running any other progams (in the background) while you play this game. Virus scanners? Firewalls? How many icons do u have in your taskbar?(programs running)
you may want to check this link. gives you tips on how to diagnose the blue screen problem
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1068518&c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs
Message Edited by Blintok on 08-11-2005 01:02 PM
Blintok
118 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 19:00
You are playing game...with no warning..POOF..a blank blue screen, computer locked up and no activity(hard drive) only way out is to reboot. The computer works fine after the reboot? does it blue screen again? how soon after you reboot if it does?
well then as you said. it could be related to heat. What is the game you are playing?
What video card do you have? are you sure the fans are working properly?
What are the conditions like where your computer is? (room temp)
you say you can play for 2 - 3 hrs before the blue screen. Does this happen regular with just this game or every game and application you use?
could be something with the videocard and or drivers. Have you changed everything recently? (drivers)
PS
i found this thread u may find of interest.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=game-gen&message.id=23206&query.id=33733&c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs
The game you are playing wouldnt be KOTOR ? people in this thread have exactly same symtoms as you. Blank blue screen and beeping.
Message Edited by Blintok on 08-11-2005 04:14 PM
something from the thread...
"All these drivers are freshly installed after a reformat. I really do hate SB cards, and I'll never buy another as long as I buy PCs, lol. I've had more problems with SB cards than any other piece of hardware, yet I kept thinking they would change as time goes on. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was a sound card related problem. The only 2 games I've experienced this problem with are kotor2 and WoW--no problems with hl2, cs:s, doom3 or any other games. How would I go about disabling hardware accelerated sound? And what kind of performance issues would it create while playing games/movies/music on my computer?
edit: ah, found it under dxdiag.. on my last PC i disabled hardware acceleration, and I had very bad delays playing games and watching movies.. not sure if that's a real solution, I don't know, maybe that won't be a problem with this card--I'll have to test it out."
Message Edited by Blintok on 08-11-2005 04:21 PM
Spomo
16 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 19:00
Spomo
16 Posts
0
August 11th, 2005 23:00
Not KOTR, it was battlefield 2.
I turned the PC off and then on again within maybe 30 seconds to a minute. It worked fine for the next 2 hours.
I used my PC 7 hours yesterday. 3 playing Battlefield (straight) and then 3 playing EQ2. (With an hour of reading email, etc).
No problems at all. I only experienced the blue screen one time so far.
Just played BF2 for the last two hours (right before I'm writing this) and no problem then either.
What do you think?
-Spo-
Message Edited by Spomo on 08-11-2005 07:53 PM
ckin
5 Posts
0
September 12th, 2005 04:00
My Dell just started getting the SOLID BLUE SCREEN while playing BattleField 2 (BF2) (not the blue screen of death), some dots running down the screen some times some times not, just SOLID BLUE, looks like the Matrix, and a high pitch sound for a couple seconds, then it reboots. Can play 30 min or 2 hour, but all ways get it now, only playing BF2. Reseated CPU, memory, video card HDs, (took the side off while playing, bought a new video card on game machine).
Was only getting it on my other game machine (Intel 3.2GHz, Gigabyte MB, 2GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz, ATI X800 Pro 256MB,2-WD 120GB HD), new 430W PS. And still getting it and just a black screen and kicking you out to windows or rebooting.
MS error reporting says its a device driver error, but doesn't know witch one.
Any one have any idea?
Dell XPS 3.73GHs Extreme Edition, 256MB ATI X850 XT PE, 2GB DDR2, Serial ATA DAID 0 /dual WD 250 GB HD, Audigy 2zs, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Norton Antivirus 2005, Zone Alarm Pro are running, some times I turn them off, makes no differance. I turn every thing else off.
scottatah
2 Intern
•
658 Posts
0
September 12th, 2005 05:00
ckin
5 Posts
0
September 12th, 2005 11:00
scottatah
2 Intern
•
658 Posts
0
September 12th, 2005 19:00