PC Hardware Issue?

[TrakMastaTom]

I could use a little help. My computer will not work at all anymore. I got a new PC, and I wanted to put the graphics card from my old computer in it. No big deal. So I opened it up and put the new graphics card in it. I found te drivers online and installed them. I then went to Can You Run It, as that is an easy way I know of to confirm that things are working. It recognized that I put in a new graphics card, and said my drivers were up to date. I then tried to put a second hard drive in there before realizing there was no ribbon cable connect on my mohterboard, so I abandoned that.

After that I decided stuff was cool. Everything was working fine. So I was watching a movie on my PC when all of a sudden I got a blue error screen that said I most likely installed some hardware improperly. I tried reinstalling the drivers, taking out and putting in the graphics card, and I even took out the GFX card and plugged back in to the built in GFX card, and I still get that error every time I boot up.

So I have no idea. I've never had issues installing hardware. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Kong]

Can you go back to the old graphics card?
Does it happen when booting up now or just when watching movies?
Is there an extra place for power to be plugged into the card?

I've had that happen before. The problem was the card required extra power to run the onboard fan. My power supply did not have the right input to plug into the card so it would work but as soon as the card was over heated - game or movie - then blue screen.

[TrakMastaTom]

At this point I have reverted back to how it was before I touched it, and it worked then. I get the blue screen I boot it. My theory at this point I guess is that while I was in there messing with stuff, I messed something entirely different up. I don't know that much about the insides of a PC...

[Kong]

So everything is back to normal and you get a blue screen as soon as Windows loads. Try pressing F8 while Windows is loading so you can select Safe Mode and see if that works.

See if it will load with a different OS. You can download a Linux Live CD which will let you load Linux without installing it. If it works then it is probably a software problem. If it doesn't then hardware.

Also when you get a blue screen there is a bunch of numbers on the screen. Those aren't meaningless. Try searching Goolge for the info on the blue screen. It probably wont find anything. If you call MS for support they will be able to tell you what they mean.

Hint. If you call MS for support and tell them the following you can get free support even if your warranty is expired or if you never had one.

You purchased Windows recently - I think within the last year but be safe and say last month.
It did not come with your computer. You bought it by itself. Otherwise they direct you to the hardware manufacture for support.

You do not have the original CD. You are on vacation or something and it is at home or at the office. Other wise they ask for the serial #s on the CD and check your warranty.

You can not boot into Windows - you are on a blue screen. Other wise they get the serial # and you are busted. Even if you can boot into your computer you can probably still tell them you can't. The first person asking for info is just a gate keeper. When you get to the second person you can tell them the real problem and they don't care about warranties.