Reformatting PC

[Fonzee]

hi guys

I was wondering what will happen if i restore my PC to original factory settings. Im worried it might remove the OS(Vista). I cant find the CD's.
I heard that your pc , might have the OS stored in a partition. whats a partition.

My system :
Vista ultimate SP 1
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
2.0 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
HP COMPAQ

Thank you in advance.
Cant wait to restore so i can play UT 3 for more than 10 minutes without it crashing

[CYaBro]

There should be a program somewhere to create the recovery DVDs.

Putting it back to factory settings will wipe everything and put the computer like it was the day you bought it.
So back up any data you need first!

[Blam]

Your computer may have a "recovery" partition that holds an image to an as new install of Vista, your PC like it was when you bought it.

If you go run>diskmgmt.msc you should see if you have on or not.

Can you tell us more about UT3 crashing? Does it BSOD? or just hang?

Check in the reliability monitor-it may tell you whats wrong
Run>perfmon /rel

And check the event log, it may hold clues as to why it is crashing on you
Run>eventvwr

My guess is that it is driver-do you have the latest Nvidia drivers for your video card?

As a last resort you could also system restore to a point when UT3 did not crash, but if you do not find the root cause of it, UT will crash again eventually.


Blam

[Fonzee]

I did what you told me to run (dskmgmt.msc). How do i know if i have a new install of vista .
My Ut 3 has BSOD , Hanged, KSOD, Rebooted my PC , you name it it has done it LOL.
I use system restore at least twice a week, works sometimes .

Thanks for the help, going to buy a external hard drive soon
I wonder how Windows 7 will be with games

[Blam]

Should be a partition that is there, probs around 2-4gb and its one that you don't see in My Computer

What does it say on the BSOD?

And disable automatic restart.

Right Click My Computer>properties>Advanced System settings on left pane>Under startup and recovery select settings>untick "automatically restart"

Blam

[Fonzee]

Hey blam6

How do you put a screenshot here.
I am so lost
Thanks

The BSOD
says IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, i know how to fix this update the driver
the other one is
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA, i think the file is win32.sys, but not to sure

[Blam]

To post a screenshot, when you are posting a reply at the bottom there is a button called manage attachments.

Click it, and upload the screenshot you have saved

In device manager(Run>devmgmt.msc) are there any X or ! ?

Blam