Member Avatar for storkfmny

A few months ago I was getting blue screens and crashes constantly and always while a youtube video was playing. I forget exactly now where I found it but something said video and suggested I role back the driver, so I did. It stopped crashing as much but still does on videos ot other load situations. It also sometimes will not boot, at least the video portion. It looks like the hard drive is trying to load stuff but nothing on the screen, so I keep trying and sooner or later it will start. Sometimes it does boot first try, I've never heard of this happening before and thought you might have a suggestion as to what is going on with this thing. It's a rather old beast with 1.7ghz and 512 mb ram. maybe it's just old and tired? I really don't have the cash for a replacement so if you could help out I would certainly appreciate it. Win 7 ultimate, this computer was a gift. I'm writing my first website and surely do need it. Thanks for any input.

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Short diagnostic summary and priorities. The pattern — bluescreens and crashes while playing video/audio, occasional blank screen at boot while the HDD spins — most often means either a bad graphics driver or failing hardware (RAM, disk, or GPU). Rolling back the video driver (as reported) often reduces crashes but doesn’t prove the hardware is healthy. Running Windows 7 on 512 MB is below the OS minimum (1 GB for 32‑bit / 2 GB for 64‑bit) and will magnify instability and paging; adding RAM is the highest‑value fix if possible. Windows 7 system requirements. (news.microsoft.com)

A short, safe troubleshooting order to follow: boot to Safe Mode (if crashes stop, driver/service is the likely culprit), check Event Viewer for errors at the crash times, and examine Device Manager for flagged devices. If a video driver is implicated, install a vendor‑supplied, known‑stable driver (manufacturers’ downloads are preferred) or use the Roll Back Driver feature if available — updating to the newest driver can sometimes introduce regressions (as hinted). Microsoft’s blue‑screen guidance and driver rollback steps outline these checks. Resolving Blue Screen errors, How to roll back a driver. (support.microsoft.com)

Test the hardware next. Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic (mdsched.exe) to check RAM and run chkdsk /f /r on the boot drive to find/repair bad sectors — view results for memory in Event Viewer. If memory errors appear, follow up with a longer third‑party test such as MemTest86. Back up critical files before doing disk repairs (chkdsk with repair flags can stress a failing drive). Windows Memory Diagnostic / how to run it, chkdsk documentation. (learn.microsoft.com)

Short‑term mitigations and next steps. Lowering Aero/visual effects (as suggested) and disabling browser/hardware acceleration can reduce load while diagnosing, but they don’t replace hardware tests. Reseat RAM sticks and video card, check PSU and video cables, and keep a current backup. If tests show bad RAM or many bad sectors on the disk, plan to replace those parts when possible; adding RAM is often the cheapest effective upgrade for an older Windows 7 desktop.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

hi,this a common problem with rather old beast ,instead of roll back drivers ,try getting the latest video drivers from the makers website ,also try and get more ram for it as 512 is not alot.the make and model would have been good info to add to you post .

The fact that its a gift matters not ,as even Gifted computers fail ,pun intended

Edited by caperjack because: add info
Member Avatar for storkfmny

It had the latest driver and made it crash, I'll just use it till it starts on fire I guess. I'm not even sure of manufacturer, It's a big tower case that sounds like a Cessna comming in. I think it has seen better days, thanks anyway.

Member Avatar for Krushang Shah

windows 7 have high graphics, and it's recommended RAM is 1 gb..since you run it on 512 mb, u need to lower down all the visual effects , so that there is less load on the graphics processor.
btw, u get that error bcs the graphics memory runs out of space

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