So, looking for PC suggestions

[Misery]

Just a quick question, is it your computer that’s playing up or the operating system?

Even if you have absolutely no intention of ever trying Linux I’d advise you to download a copy. Linux distributions operate as a Live Desktop running from a USB thumbstick. This means you get the full desktop and all it’s features without having to install anything, just boot from the thumbstick.

It’s a great tool for doing a quick test of your hardware, and also a great tool for recovering files from a dead Windows drive, you get to use a graphical file browser to search for files and copy/paste them to external drives.

I recommend Fedora for this, especially if your machine is a little older, Fedora retains older drivers where as most others dump them after a few years. The link I provided here gives you a Linux with a desktop that operates very similarly to Windows so it should be less confusing to look at.

Fedora Spins | The Fedora Project

spins.fedoraproject.org

And instructions on how to make a bootable thumbstick can be found on the same site:

Preparing for Installation :: Fedora Docs

Hard to say just what's going on. Right now I'm running a typical Windows scan to check for busted main files.

But here's what happened in today's little session just now:

I start the machine, right. It seems to be working... odd. Nothing is acting weird. Open browser, watch Youtube, okay... still not acting weird. huh.

Start a game. Nothing crazy complex. Just a 2D indie game I like. Bullet-hell, so lots of sprites. It starts out fairly okay, but as soon as it hits a sorta intense spot (not actually that intense) and the screen begins to fill with stuff, suddenly the stuttering happens. This... doesnt let up.

I can exit the game just fine, though it's clearly chugging even back at the menu. (okay, and one more try to see what'd happen and this time it didnt even get to "sorta intense". It died at like, hey there's 5 sprites on the screen)

Once back out of the game... nothing works right. Nothing. This bloody text box doesnt work right, the scroll bars dont work right, Task Manager (and Process Explorer, which doesnt register any of what's happening here on its many graphs) nearly kills itself trying to open... this will likely last until I shut the thing down again. Basically there's so much stuttering and lag that almost everything is unusable. Even the desktop itself is barely functioning.

It doesnt matter what game or whatever I try, either, from that "it's sorta working" starting point. Any game, any major program, whatever, it'll do this. Problem was first noticed when in VR, like a couple of weeks ago everything started to visually corrupt more and more, couldnt figure out why. And then a few days later and everything just goes entirely downhill all at once (and the VR stuff is utterly unusable at this point).

So, last few days, spent mostly trying anything I can think of to diagnose whatever the heck is going on. While also removing anything not immediately necessary. Nothing has come of this yet.

The browser is still sorta functional as long as I dont try to do anything else. Steam also is technically on, albeit hard to interact with (feh, may as well shut that down, then).

I'll download Fedora there though I dont think I have a usable USB drive at the moment (area is a tad cluttered here, I know I saw one somewhere...)

So yeah that's what's going on.

 

[Outdated]

Sounds much more like spyware intervention causing your problems, and many spywares aren't picked up by removal tools. Some security companies even accept kickbacks from other companies to not remove their spyware.

I'm probably trying to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs here, but just in case:

Open MSCONFIG. Go to the tab marked Services. Two thirds of the way down that tab on the left hand side is a box marked "Hide all Microsoft", tick that box and the list of running services suddenly gets a lot shorter.

Anything now showing in that list is not crucial for Windows to run, go down the list unticking everything except for your security software. When you reboot it should be like a new computer.

And if you untick too much you can always go back in to msconfig and just retick the appropriate box. You haven't removed anything, all you've done is told it to not load automatically on start up.

 

[maycontainthunder]

One thing I have noticed with Wind'ohs is when you upgrade say from 21H2 to 22H2... an upgrade install is different to a clean install; they 'feel' different and there are some differences. I normally run an install for six months or more then do a clean install. There is an increase in performance. Old update files not cleaned by disk cleanup are gone plus 'dead' files left from other program updates.

Might be worth a couple of new drives and do a clean install assuming you have all the product keys for your other software. Even if this doesn't work the drives will always come in handy.

 

[Outdated]

....when you upgrade say from 21H2 to 22H2...

I totally agree with you here, in Linux as well. I always do a new clean install on another drive, applying upgrades just seems to always leave little niggling faults. Plus if I want I still have my original installation up and running in case of any issues.

 

[Misery]

Sounds much more like spyware intervention causing your problems, and many spywares aren't picked up by removal tools. Some security companies even accept kickbacks from other companies to not remove their spyware.

I'm probably trying to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs here, but just in case:

Open MSCONFIG. Go to the tab marked Services. Two thirds of the way down that tab on the left hand side is a box marked "Hide all Microsoft", tick that box and the list of running services suddenly gets a lot shorter.

Anything now showing in that list is not crucial for Windows to run, go down the list unticking everything except for your security software. When you reboot it should be like a new computer.

And if you untick too much you can always go back in to msconfig and just retick the appropriate box. You haven't removed anything, all you've done is told it to not load automatically on start up.

Aye, I'd gone through the Services bit, it didnt have any noticeable effect.

New development since my previous post though, the machine has now turned itself off twice. So... that's not good. I should also note that the basic Windows restart function actually was not working correctly earlier, I'd almost forgot about that. Supposed to, you know, freaking restart. But it'd just shut it off and then... do nothing. Like it just passed out halfway through. So, that cant be good.

I found my USB stick, so.... yeah I'm gonna go ahead and set up Fedora now, provided I can pull it off before the thing implodes. The download just finished, so it's time for that...

 

[maycontainthunder]

Aye, I'd gone through the Services bit, it didnt have any noticeable effect.

New development since my previous post though, the machine has now turned itself off twice. So... that's not good. I should also note that the basic Windows restart function actually was not working correctly earlier, I'd almost forgot about that. Supposed to, you know, freaking restart. But it'd just shut it off and then... do nothing. Like it just passed out halfway through. So, that cant be good.

I found my USB stick, so.... yeah I'm gonna go ahead and set up Fedora now, provided I can pull it off before the thing implodes. The download just finished, so it's time for that...

Just shutting off sounds like a thermal event. Maybe the thermal compound on the CPU needs renewing? Graphics card too maybe?

A clunkers PC I was given just kept shutting off. The heat sink on the SMBus had badly dried out compound which had caused the chip to discolour through overheating. It has done some damage because it keeps lagging under load.

 

[Misery]

Just shutting off sounds like a thermal event. Maybe the thermal compound on the CPU needs renewing? Graphics card too maybe?

A clunkers PC I was given just kept shutting off. The heat sink on the SMBus had badly dried out compound which had caused the chip to discolour through overheating. It has done some damage because it keeps lagging under load.

Aye, I'd wondered about that. Of course, I aint exactly good at hardware, so...

I suppose I'll find out soon enough though, Fedora is done.

 

[Outdated]

Just shutting off sounds like a thermal event.

Definitely. If it's an older machine and has been used heavily they just plain wear out too. Metal fatigue from electron transfer, lines in circuits get thinner which means they get hotter which in turn means they start burning out even quicker again. Not good.

 

[Misery]

Definitely. If it's an older machine and has been used heavily they just plain wear out too. Metal fatigue from electron transfer, lines in circuits get thinner which means they get hotter which in turn means they start burning out even quicker again. Not good.

Yeah, wouldnt surprise me.

It's not actually all that old... I got it... er... when the original Oculus Rift was the main VR thing (I forget when that was). It's seen extremely heavy use since then, intensifying as time went on.

Honestly if it goes down now... it's not a hugely big deal. Irritating though it is, I do expect these gizmos to eventually crumble. I've got my Switch and iPad to entertain me until I get a new PC (which likely wont take long, I have zero patience).

Currently, I can still at least access files (or so it seems) and Fedora is ready to be used (I'll try that after I have my meal, I think) so I can get back anything that is stuck on here. Cant think of much though other than my fractal projects. Hmmm.... yeah, pretty much just that, gonna want to back those up. Steam handles everything else with the cloud. I aint always so fond of Steam itself (buggy snot that it is) but I appreciate THAT function at least... this is a gaming machine after all, and it revolves almost entirely around Steam.

Granted that also means like 5000 years of downloading once a new machine is gotten, but... one step at a time.

 

[Outdated]

Granted that also means like 5000 years of downloading once a new machine is gotten, but... one step at a time.

You should be able to find where steam stores all your game files and just copy them straight over to your new machine. Check the Steam forums for instructions. Your new machine gets a brand new installation of Steam, but once that's done you just copy all your content from one drive to the other.

I don't use Steam at all. I bought a couple of games before I knew much about Steam and then found out that in order to play my brand new game I had to download 60 gig. I was living in a remote area and using a satellite connection with a metered usage limit of 1 gig per month.

I never play online anyway, someone interfering with my game upsets me. I'm a big fan of GOG.

 

[Misery]

You should be able to find where steam stores all your game files and just copy them straight over to your new machine. Check the Steam forums for instructions. Your new machine gets a brand new installation of Steam, but once that's done you just copy all your content from one drive to the other.

I don't use Steam at all. I bought a couple of games before I knew much about Steam and then found out that in order to play my brand new game I had to download 60 gig. I was living in a remote area and using a satellite connection with a metered usage limit of 1 gig per month.

I never play online anyway, someone interfering with my game upsets me. I'm a big fan of GOG.

Generally I've got little choice but to use Steam... too many games that are only on there (I play mostly indie stuff).

And the game I was involved with, and the expansions for that and the one before it, that was never on GoG... turns out GoG has some amazingly strange restrictions. They rejected the game, without even looking at it, because "we have a bunch of that genre already". Seriously, that was the entire reason. Pretty sure the devs never tried to use that vendor again after THAT one. I boycotted it myself for that as well (well, that and their selection isnt very good) since the game was partly my bloody project. But it all meant I had to use Steam during development.

I do also use Itch though, sometimes. Rarely, Gamejolt.

I will say though, I dont play online either, because feh. Too many bad experiences with jerks in online games (though recently I'm trying some fighting games again... maybe the experience will be better this time). I do keep friends from interfering with chat when gaming though by setting my status off/invisible.

As for copying games straight over... unfortunately there's no way that's happening. I cant stress just HOW MUCH stuff is on that drive and it's pretty much all gaming stuff. Over a terabyte, nearing two. Like I said... very intensive use out of that machine, haha. Though, the copying process would test my patience too much anyway. That's always slow and irritating, while Steam (or Itch) will perform even an enormous download in less than a minute, which includes the cloud saves. Usually just a few seconds. We've got a pretty solid connection here (but also a very erratic electricity situation, it's gone out frequently).

Also 1 gig per month limit, that would drive me totally nuts. I go through more than that in a single day, frequently. Doing like a 20 gig download, pretty often. Even indie games can get real darned big, it turns out.

 

[Judge]

Highly sophisticated devices that begin to turn themselves off often have a common denominator, whether a smart tv or a PC. That you need to go into the control panel and power options of your PC and turn off things like fast startup and sleep/hibernation features. Reinstalling your OS can also make a difference as well.

More basic things to check would be to open up your case to check if you have a layer of dust all over things. Getting a spray can of air to blow it out certainly can help.

Also when such things begin to happen after a great deal of time and use, it might be indicative of needing an updated driver for your GPU. Beyond that, being an online gamer you should probably do a comprehensive virus scan to rule out the likelihood of malware.

Power fluctuations in your home's electrical system and worn-out capacitors on your motherboard can also be a factor, though in the case of the latter it would indeed mean time to replace the MB or look for a new computer.

And if all is well with your hardware, a correct install of a Linux distro might make all the difference in the world in comparison. Particularly given how Linux so efficiently handles memory compared to Windows. With very few applications running in resident memory.

 

[Misery]

That you need to go into the control panel and power options of your PC and turn off things like fast startup and sleep/hibernation features.

Aye, did that. I spent a good bit of time experimenting with the power options in particular, but they didnt do anything that I could see.

More basic things to check would be to open up your case to check if you have a layer of dust all over things. Getting a spray can of air to blow it out certainly can help.

Hm, looking in, there aint really much dust there. Not a dusty place, this house (fortunately, since I'm super allergic to that)

Also when such things begin to happen after a great deal of time and use, it might be indicative of needing an updated driver for your GPU. Beyond that, being an online gamer you should probably do a comprehensive virus scan to rule out the likelihood of malware.

Aye, did those too. The driver was the first thing I thought of, and a variety of scans are done on the machine regularly. Did two of them yesterday, but they didnt find anything.

Power fluctuations in your home's electrical system and worn-out capacitors on your motherboard can also be a factor, though in the case of the latter it would indeed mean time to replace the MB or look for a new computer.

Power fluctuations are definitely an issue here. We're in the middle of bloody nowhere and the power is very unreliable, it tends to go out if someone looks at a pole too hard in the area. Has happened fairly often, mostly during spring and summer. So, that's a problem, certainly.


Currently, getting a new PC is the plan. I figure, it's about time I upgrade anyway, particularly as I'm doing a lot more advanced things than back when I got the machine.

 

[Judge]

Power fluctuations are definitely an issue here. We're in the middle of bloody nowhere and the power is very unreliable, it tends to go out if someone looks at a pole too hard in the area. Has happened fairly often, mostly during spring and summer. So, that's a problem, certainly.

It's definitely an issue where I live as well. Haven't had the issue with my PC, but absolutely with my Samsung tv, notorious for going into an "infinite recursion" of turning itself off and on due to power fluctuations. Where pulling the plug is the only thing that momentarily stops it. But recently I chose to do a factory reset, and so far it is no longer going into such a recursion at all.

Reinstalling Windows may be your best bet if you've ruled out everything else. Not a fun thing to do, but it can fix some of those mysterious happenings, especially if you've been running it for years. Could also involve a power supply gone bad, but that usually involves the whole system going dead at some point. At least that has been my experience...

Though it would be amusing if you were to strip the hard drive of Windows and install a Linux distro and it works perfectly. That would say a lot too. In my own case with my nine-year old PC, I did have to jump through a few hoops to make Linux Mint run optimally, as you probably noticed from some of my posts in this thread. The biggest tool in my Linux arsenal is to use search engines to find answers to such problems. They all seem to be out there regarding Linux Mint, though sometimes the correct answer can involve a little more work to find it.

 

[Judge]

Example of Jayztwocents and how he as well doesn't hold back on commenting about Nvidia:

But then Nvidia has been playing this dirty "shell game" for a while. Seems to have started somewhat with their second generation cards and then has proliferated with their third and now fourth generation cards. Small wonder to see Steam's polls reflect the majority of gamers using their services still depend on much earlier GTX 1050 models accustomed to playing and still enjoying older games.

With Nvidia's extensive product line where most items offer little increases of performance but with a higher pricetag. Making it imperative for a concerned video card buyer to research the product and especially its quantitative statistics. Which YouTubers like Jay and Steve Burke are well known for.