Red Mist On Boot Of Windows 7

[gmattey]

Hi,

I'm having a problem that when i first turn my computer on e.g in the morning, when it gets to the starting windows message, it has a red mist around the text and freezes. It does it for about 3-4 times of restarting and about the 5th time of restarting it will boot fine and once it's booted fine, if i restart windows it will boot no problem.

But if i turn off my computer completely and turn it on 2 hours later for instance, the red mist is back.

I've done several reinstalls of windows 7, it always works fine at first and then once i've installed everything it comes back eventually.

I've done memory tests, reinstalled drivers for my graphics but the problem still persists.

I remember a couple of years back i had a similar problem with a different setup but it happened when windows vista was booted, the problem was the hertz set for the monitor, but this doesnt seem to be the case here.

my specs are on my pm, could it be i need a graphics card? As my graphics currently are integrated and maybe faulty? even though motherboard less than 2 months old.

any help appreciated.

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[tf1]

Well either the graphics chip or the monitor could be the problem: I think it more likely to be the monitor.

It suggests that whatever is causing the problem is OK once it has warmed up a little: this usually suggests a component starting to fail.

I suggest testing with a different monitor first before diving in to the PC. I hate to say it, but the Tosh HD TV is my favourite from these symptoms.

Are you connecting by HDMI? Try connecting by DVI or some other alternative to see if it is still the same.


Regards: Terry

 

[gmattey]

well i tried connecting it via vga to my old 15" monitor and the same thing happens so not the monitor.

occassionally i'll get a message like book disk failure or something like that, could it be the hard drive not spinning properly till it's warmed up?

thats only 2 months old aswell though.

thanks.

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[tf1]

I don't see how the HDD could cause these symptoms. But if you are getting other errors, it suggests possibly something more basic like the PSU. That could easily respond to the theory of needing to 'warm up'.

When you next do a cold start, go straight into BIOS and check the voltages making a note of them.

Then after the computer has been running for a while, boot back to BIOS again and note the readings when warmed up. Is there a significant difference in one or more of the voltages?

(I'm pleased its not the Tosh as that would be a real problem to get fixed!)


Regards: Terry

 

[gmattey]

found out what was causing the problem.

It was a usb webcam thats attached to my computer, haven't used it in ages but that's what was causing the red mist and freezing, can understand the freezing but surprised it affected the graphics on boot up.

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[tf1]

Somewhat bizarre to say the least. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Regards: Terry

 

[kjv1611]

I wonder if it could still be a power problem. May sound silly, but that webcam may have been drawing just enough power to put your system over the load limit of your PSU.

If it's an OEM system - hp, dell, etc, then you might want to consider swapping the power supply for a more powerful one just to be sure. This would especially be the case if you added any components to it later - a faster video card, extra hard drives, etc.

Also, if the PSU has any age on it, it's efficiency could be getting really low. If the PSU goes out on you, and it doesn't go nicely, it could take any other component with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=58&name=Power-Supplies

You could just be keeping an eye out here for a good innexpensive hard drive on sale that'd be more than what you currently have. For modern systems, I'd try to stay north of 500Watts if possible. If it's an older system, you might can go to 400 Watts or less. For instance, there's a really nice 400 Watt PSU I've installed from NewEgg before that's not super low price, but low enough for the quality for sure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104953

You can sometimes find it for a total of $30 or $40.

And I've gotten a few nice Thermaltake PSUs for $30 or $50 as well, in the 500 Watt Range.

If you do look there, and see any, and want an opinion, feel free to ask here.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

Also, keep an eye out for any further disk errors, and be sure to back your data up just in case. If the drive wasn't bad, but the power was not being consistent, it could still go bad at any time, and more likely now that you've apparently had some power issues. Basically, at the least, I'd keep an eye on the Event viewer. If it seems you start getting more of those, or especially if it increases in frequency, do yourself a favor, and replace the drive before it dies on you, and you start asking data recovery questions.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[gmattey]

Well i have a Corsair 450HX modular power supply which is 1-2 months old like the rest of my system.

my motherboard is 2 months old
hard drive 2 months old
cpu 2 months old
psu 2 months old.

All the parts on my computer apart from ram are 2 months old at most and the ram isnt exactly old.

I thought 450w was enough to power a 125w cpu and my motherboard is 65w i think i heard some where but not certain at all so dont count on that.

My graphics are integrated with the motherboard aswell so thats less power, i would of though 450w would be able to handle that.

Wouldn't it? or not?

I'd hope none of the parts are failing within 2 months or thats not much good.


thanks

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[kjv1611]

Yeah, really, you should be fine with all of that. It is also possible that the USB connection you were connecting the web cam to, or the web cam itself, has some sort of short or leak or something that was causing it to draw way more power than it needed. If you want to make sure, you could try connecting a different USB peripheral to the same USB connection. If same problem, it's the USB connection, if not, it's REALLY likely it's just a bad electrical problem with that webcam.

I'd still keep a watch on the event logs to be sure, and watch for any other strange activity, just in case the problem caused OTHER issues. The good part is that all your equipment should be well within their warranty periods, so if something does go south, you can probably get it replaced.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me