Windows 7 Video Hardware Errors, frequent crashes, screen freezes.

No problems with any capacitors, and the board doesn't have any residue.

By the way, do you have any explanation for why my GTX 650 fan runs at very high speeds when not connected to power in my PC?

It usually takes more like five or more years for capacitors to start having problems, but there are

exceptions, so it was worth a check.

I believe the fan is controlled from the PCI-e slot power, but I'm not sure why your gpu fans would be

spinning up.

I only meant for you to leave the power leads off earlier as a test to see if the machine crashes just from having the card in the slot, so it would be best to leave the power connected if the drivers are not installed, as the card will still be inactive until you reinstall the drivers, and the machine should not crash.

It may be the fan speed controller is activated from the main power lead.

• I know that fans will sometimes spin up before Windows finishes loading, but normally the fans

don't spin up when uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, so I'm not sure of the connection.

However, I did unplug the power from my card before my post on 27 Feb to verify if it would show in Device Manager without power (didn't),  but the fans didn't speed up during that short period.

• Resetting the CMOS is a way of resetting the BIOS to default when you can't boot into Windows.
• To reset the CMOS you switch the machine off and pull out the battery from the motherboard.

There should be a two pin jumper on two of three pins. You pull the jumper and switch it to the other

pin (still on two) and then put it back in the original position. Replace the battery and the BIOS

will be back at default settings.

• If the BIOS has never been updated it may help. Note that is can be risky if the machine is not

stable. If the machine crashes during the update it can bork the BIOS. If your motherboard has

dual BIOS there is hope, if not a crash could spell disaster.

• You manual should give an outline of the update options available for your machine. I usually

download and install rather than risking an on line automated install.

• NIC are network adapter drivers - RAID are for HDD's but are often bundled as SATA/RAID,

so while you may not need updated RAID for your single HDD configuration a SATA update

may be beneficial.

If you can find the driver page for your machine on the HP web site try them first, but you may

also be able to use drivers direct from FOXCONN.

.

Ok, sounds good, I am going to try resetting the CMOS and updating my BIOS drivers.

Where would I get a SATA update from? I'm assuming that wouldn't also be on the HP web site?

Also, is there any way I can find out if my PCI slot is bad, short of trying the graphics card in another PC?

By the way, things are getting busy for me again, so it might be a while before I can actually do this troubleshooting and get back.  Don't be surprised if I don't post about the troubleshooting for 2-3 days.

Thanks.

I'm having a ridiculous amount of trouble trying to determine exactly what motherboard I have and what BIOS update I need for it.  I have determined that my current configuration is:

FOXCONN 2AB1 Motherboard

AMD 785G Chipset

AMD SB700 Southbridge

American Megatrends Inc BIOS

Version 6.05 January 18th 2011

I don't really understand where to go to find the proper BIOS update, I have tried both the FOXCONN and AMI websites with no luck.  The HP website makes no sense, when I look at BIOS updates listed under my computer, two different ones are listed.  Neither of them sounds at all like my motherboard or current BIOS!  They are called H-RS880-UATX Motherboard BIOS Update and N-Alvorix-RS880 Motherboard BIOS Update.  How in the world do I know what BIOS update I need to install.  I don't want to screw this up.

On the same note, if finding a BIOS update is this hard, how the heck do I find a proper SATA update?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?os=4063&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=5049516#N737

Please provide a copy of your System Information file. Type System Information in the Search Box above the start Button and press the ENTER key (alternative is Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information). Select File, Export and give the file a name noting where it is located. Do not place the cursor within the body of the report before exporting the file. The system creates a new System Information file each time system information is accessed. You need to allow a minute or two for the file to be fully populated before exporting a copy. Please upload to your OneDrive (formerly Sky Drive), share with everyone and post a link here. Reports in normal mode preferred. Please say if the report has been obtained in safe mode.

For help with OneDrive see paragraph 9.3:

http://www.gerryscomputertips.co.uk/MicrosoftCommunity1.htm

I have reuploaded the system information file.  I don't remember putting my cursor in the report last time, but I made sure to not this time.  This is the link:

https://onedrive.live.com/#cid=D4639762BC255B34&id=D4639762BC255B34!141