OS doesn't want to wake up

[Scuba_Steve]

I'm not trying to dispute that (take a look at a 6 year old gaming PC), but does anyone here know why that is?

yep overhead, mainly DirectX. PC's don't have standardized components & don't have direct access to them they have to go through API's (DirectX or OpenGL) which adds overhead however every con has a pro & while PC's are limited to about 2-3000 geometry chunks as against 10-20000 for consoles DirectX does allow PC's to repeat the same object over & over without any extra overhead whereas console can't do that but do have 10x more geometry chucks to play with & thus can have more variety onscreen at once not just the same thing repeated many times.
So if PC's could direct access components they would be very powerful indeed (upto 20x more powerful) but way less reliable than current as devs could never account for everybody's individual setup & thus we are stuck with the necessary evils like DirectX.

[SMOKEU]

yep overhead, mainly DirectX. PC's don't have standardized components & don't have direct access to them they have to go through API's (DirectX or OpenGL) which adds overhead however every con has a pro & while PC's are limited to about 2-3000 geometry chunks as against 10-20000 for consoles DirectX does allow PC's to repeat the same object over & over without any extra overhead whereas console can't do that but do have 10x more geometry chucks to play with & thus can have more variety onscreen at once not just the same thing repeated many times.
So if PC's could direct access components they would be very powerful indeed (upto 20x more powerful) but way less reliable than current as devs could never account for everybody's individual setup & thus we are stuck with the necessary evils like DirectX.

Has that got anything to do with why games often perform poorly as a guest in a VM as opposed to the host?

[Scuba_Steve]

Has that got anything to do with why games often perform poorly as a guest in a VM as opposed to the host?

alot of performance issues in VM come down to the VM being extra overhead in itself, your running an OS within an OS & I'm not sure quite how they work but yes I'd assume they'd have to pass through double the API's too

[slofox]

Just harking back to the OP, I had the exact same scenario with the work computer on Friday - fired it up and it stalled at the BIOS screen. Just as the home puter had done.

So. I figured what worked at home ought to work on this one too. Unplugged everything, took off the side panel, unclipped the Ram modules, jiggled them around a bit and refastened the clips. Hook back up and switch on. Bingo, all started as normal.

I reckon it's a plot - a PLOT I say A PLOT oooops...hehehe I mean...

[ducatilover]

Just harking back to the OP, I had the exact same scenario with the work computer on Friday - fired it up and it stalled at the BIOS screen. Just as the home puter had done.

So. I figured what worked at home ought to work on this one too. Unplugged everything, took off the side panel, unclipped the Ram modules, jiggled them around a bit and refastened the clips. Hook back up and switch on. Bingo, all started as normal.

I reckon it's a plot - a PLOT I say A PLOT oooops...hehehe I mean...

My mate's mother had exactly the same problem a few weeks ago and I fixed it in exactly the same way
It must be a corrupt pathway or code thingy stuck in the RAM and disconnecting it from power = win.
Sheep are far superior, I can always get my boot up them.

[Gremlin]

Has that got anything to do with why games often perform poorly as a guest in a VM as opposed to the host?

While VM software has come along a long way, they are not designed to run games. While you can usually get good access to the hardware, your disk is a virtual disk (unless you're passing through a physical disk) and all the performance hits that come with that.

[slofox]

Sheep are far superior, I can always get my boot up them.

As long as it's only your boot mate...