I acctually have a job interview with Dell next week, LOL... they are crap, and it sounds like a bad driver, goto dell.com and download all the drivers and install them

I've done the driver upgrades. They dont do a darned thing. The audio driver they offer doesnt work on my computer, I did the chipset driver...nothing. I did the BIOS...nothing. Before I bought my computer I was looking at an HP desktop also...now I'm kicking myself wishing I would have gotten that one.

Might just have to take the comp into a shop, or call Dell

Is your video card upto snuff for your games?

I had a Dell laptop and hated it. Dell uses the cheapest parts available so you never know what the reliability is.

Here's my newest computer just got it on friday and lovin it

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/mce5000.asp?v=d

I upped my ram to 1 gig, video card to a 512 and I only have 160 gig HD. Plus I got extra case fans and an upgraded power supply.

Good deal. I took my old HP PC and gutted it.

2 300GB hard drives (I use it as a media center PC so I capture a lot of video)
1 GB RAM
TV tuner video card
new case

I basically replaced everything but the motherboard.

If I'm reading this right, light loads your fine, but once you do something heavy, it craps out.

Test out your memory here's something you can try
http://www.memtest86.com/#install

You'd have to burn a image to a CD though...not sure if you know how/have the software to do so though.

Prime 95
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

This test your CPU and memory. Download the program, install it (instructions on the site). Start it up, and click options, then click torture test. Use Blend option to test RAM more, choose inplace large FFTs and Small FFTs to test more CPU.

ATI Tool
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

This is a program that will test your video card...it's also a program used for overclocking, but you don't need to mess with that part of the program. Install it, and start the program. Then click scan for artifacts.

Try runnning these over night to see what happens. If Prime errors out, post the error on why it failed. ATI Tool will just start artifacting, if it fails. This means it'll have strange dots, lines, etc. It'll look wrong.

Also, you can check how many volt your power supply is putting out. You'll need a voltmeter for this one. Pull off the side of the computer, while it's running. Find a molex connector, there should be some extra ones in there, they're little plugs/connectors. You'll be able to stick the probe thing from your voltmeter into one of the holes in the connector. The two center ones are grounds and the one with a red wire running to it is 5v and the one with the yellow wire running to it is 12v. 5v a "safe" range for the 5v is ~4.9-5.3. The 12v is ~11.9-12.5ish. Low volts here can cause all kinds of trouble for you.

I build computer/work on them in the spare time and make some money doing it for gas. If you have any other questions, let me know.

Jesse

jjcom gave some great info. I've used memtest a lot.. its very accurate. let it run for at least 1-2 hours since your memory is a suspect.

Can you be more specific as to when you are getting this error?

If its happening in games, your video card can be taking a dump. Check to see how hot the heatsink on the video card is getting, and if theres a fan on it, if its spinning.

I'm not posative, but I believe I have a 256mb graphics card. So it should be able to handle the load.

I like aviation and I have several flight sims in my collection from over the years. Every time I put in MS flight sim 2004, or the new Flight Sim X you'll hear the cd-rom running hard to read the disc. Maybe 15 seconds later, the drive stops and a blue screen appears.

Also, the tower must have been designed by an ex-circus monkey strung out on narcotics because there is only one fan in the box that is located in the front-ish. There is a breeze way area where air can flow through, but is closed from the front.

I know, I'm a poor duster, and that may very well have caused this problem.

The back does have grating like stuff so air can flow through, but I can imagine it getting quite warm in there

I don't think an underpowered video card would be causing your problem. I'm leaning towards overheating or just plain bad card.

You could get another video card at best buy, install it, and see if your problem goes away. Return within 30 days.

By the way how are you liking flight sim X? Is the frame rate as annoying as the reviews say?

Well, it is a bit choppy. You're gonna need a really fast computer to run it. My computer isnt really fast but its at least double what the min. requirements are in all areas. I did get to play it for about an hour and just as I'm in line to land I get a buzzing noise in my headphones and then the blue screen appeared. Needless to say I was pissed.


Last night I ran the two tests as recommended. They ran for 23 hours straight. No errors. Talked to a guy at best buy. Told him the problem and he said that it was either gonna be bad memory in the mother board, video card or RAM. He said that Bestbuy doesnt have a return policy on video cards so he said "if that video card doesnt work at least you'll have a new video card." I thought to myself "I dont want a new $100+ video card if its not gonna fix my problem." then he just walked off. Not a big fan of Bestbuy.

Bought a new video card today, installed it and all that jazz and I still got a blue screen.

Best buy WILL accept returns on video cards for 30 days. No restock fee or anything.
They just say that to prevent people from 'trying stuff out'.


Try a different cdrom drive.

the game requires a DVD rom and I only have one DVD rom. With my other flight sim I used the secondary CD-rom and I'd get the blue screen with that.

well after much online tech support I got through to an actual person. Unfortunately it was Apoo straight from New Delhi. After about 1/2 hour of asking him to repeat his broken english I was able to understand what he was telling me. Apparently, according to the scripts that he was given during his orientation, I have a bad hard drive. He tried to sell me an 80gb HD for $128. I told him I wasnt gonna pay that much so he referrs me to a website that has a 300gb HD for $104! Why the heck is dell charging $128 for something that has nearly 4x's less the storage space for $24 more?!