Hey everyone,
I’ve got a bunch of weird stuff happening with my computer (both in Linux Mint and Windows 10) and hoping you could help me figure out if it’s a software issue or if it’s a hardware issue then which component is borked.
The fact that both systems are having issues is making me think it’s a hardware issue? Both OS’s are on different drives, not dual booting from the same disk.
Linux issues:
Distro: Mint 20.2
Kernel: 5.4.0-202-generic
CPU: Intel i7-7700k
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
Memory: 16GB
It started with Firefox crashing randomly and now the display is forced at a weird resolution and it doesn’t recognize the second attached screen. It has no option to change resolution in GUI and the xrandr -q output doesn’t list any devices and talks about failing to get size of gamma for output default. I’m trying some stack overflow and arch wiki guides about adding manual selections to xrandr but nothing is working. Firefox seems to be stable now but unsure. I tried NVIDIA guides about making sure blacklist file doesn’t exist and forcing non-wayland sessions but that didn’t work; the NVIDIA X Server Settings GUI also boots completely blank.
xrandr output:
{22:20}-{xxx}-{~}$: xrandr -q --verbose xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768 default connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (0x528) normal (normal) 0mm x 0mm Identifier: 0x527 Timestamp: 45214 Subpixel: unknown Clones: CRTC: 0 CRTCs: 0 Transform: 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 filter: _MUTTER_PRESENTATION_OUTPUT: 0 non-desktop: 0 supported: 0, 1 1024x768 (0x528) 59.769MHz *current h: width 1024 start 0 end 0 total 1024 skew 0 clock 58.37KHz v: height 768 start 0 end 0 total 768 clock 76.00Hz 1920x1080_60.00 (0x545) 173.000MHz -HSync +VSync h: width 1920 start 2048 end 2248 total 2576 skew 0 clock 67.16KHz v: height 1080 start 1083 end 1088 total 1120 clock 59.96Hz
I do have timeshift backups for a few days ago but seeing as I’m not sure if this may be hardware related I’m not sure whether to go down that path.
Windows 10 issues:
Before today it went BSOD pretty quickly after logging in (safemode works fine) with errors such as ‘kmode exception not handled’ and ‘bad pool caller’. I’ve since updated the nvidia drivers by booting in safemode and now the screen is black with the bottom menu flickering in and out (with no apps, just the start button) on both screens.
It seems like the issue is to do with the graphics card but, again, I’m not sure if it’s something I can fix by typing a magic spell or two, or if I need to buy a new card.
Appreciate any responses, thanks!
If you pull the GPU and run it off the on-board graphics, do the issues persist?
Seconded. Pull gpu. Test. If persist, pull first stick of ram, cycle other sticks up. Test. Alternatively use a mem test.
Either a bad gpu or an early mem block could do this.
If neither solve the issue, it could be a mobo issue, but less likely.
Run a memory test. Either in the BIOS or with memtest86
Do a non-destructive test of the harddisk or ssd that has the operating system(s) on it. Maybe a full test to see if any (too many) sectors went bad.
Then clean the thing and see if anything got loose or unseated, check for obvious things. If that doesn’t work you need to start disassembling the computer and swapping components. At least that’s how I do it.
The chance that both OSs are borked is rather slim. Still, you could boot into a live system off USB to see if that works better. Otherwise the advice about swapping out hardware is solid.
This really sounds like bad RAM or (possibly) GPU. Memtest86 is a good place to start.
While the CPU is very unlikely to be bad, it could be overheating from dried thermal paste. If you have any hardware monitoring, it should show on there.
Do you have the option to use integrated graphics?
I would do diagnostic steps I used over the decades of fixing old computers I get.
I have problems (really don’t understand how or why this effected video in one my machines) that there was a USB input that was doing weird things to video and found out it was the USB port failure.
Try a different GPU or onboard GPU if any.
Do tests on ram to see there ok also.
It could be something as simple as a connector that isn’t plugged in just right.
If all else fails (aka I get pissed of because nothing seems to work) I would just remove absolutely everything besides absolutely minimum. One stick of ram (if mobo allows it) one drive, no video card if you have onboard and unplug everything besides keyboard, video and power. Sometimes it’s the USB port, sometimes it’s the specific ram slot.
Does the main board manufacturer have a bootable diagnostics environment? Use that to test to start.
