Screen Randomly goes blank

[mattaggie]

Ive been using Windows 7 for a few months with no problems. Recently, it has started doing this thing where the screen goes blank and the sound sticks on the last syllable to play. The PC is still running, fans on, hard drive on, HDD light flickers. Not sure if mouse/keyboard still work as i cant see the screen. All i can do is hit the reset button. I reboot and within 24 hours it will do it again. I reinstalled windows 7 and now the problem is much worse and occurs quite often. Oddly, ive noticed that its when i move the cursor over the start button that it happens most often, but its not a 100% pattern. I still have Vista on another partiion and can boot into it with no problems, so im assuming it has something to do with windows 7. I installed the latest graphics card drive drive for EVGA 8500GT, thinking that might solve it, but it didnt. Any ideas?

athalon x 2 4000
asus motherboard m2v mx
2gb corsair 800ddr2
500gb wd hdd

[ChoboSeki]

Do the caps / scroll / num lock work?

what resolution are you running?

check your video card temp too

[mattaggie]

Resolution is 1620 x 1050. I dont know how to check the video card temp, but as i said, everything works fine when im in vista. The caps, scroll, num lock keys dont work on the keyboard.

[mattaggie]

i should also add that the monitor does not detect input, so its not simply a black screen, but no video output.

[ChoboSeki]

If the lock keys do not work then the computer locked up.

Do you by any chance have onboard video?

You may want to test your ram with memtest.

[mattaggie]

yes i have onboard video, but i use a graphics card. i will run memtest

[mattaggie]

passed memtest

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Have you updated all your video and sound drivers?
Sometimes just the change from one driver to another will solve things like this.

To check temperatures download HWMonitor and install it.

http://www.cpuid.com/

Just get the free one.

It can't hurt to download and run CCleaner and Malwarebytes.

I run the free version of both of these every day.

http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Clean up you computer and see if you still have the problem.

And since this is a fairly new problem do you have a restore point from before the problem started, you could try going back and see if something in your set up has changed that is causing some kind of conflict that locks up you computer.

Mike

[mattaggie]

I never did resolve this issue. Been using Vista for a few weeks with no issue until today, where the same problem happened in Vista. Its only happened once in Vista. I was on google maps and had just clicked on the "earth" map. dont know if this bit of info helps pinpoint the problem or not.

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Does this happen soon after booting or only after a lot of use?

If it has just started doing it with another operating system it does sound like it could be a temperature problem. It's possible that W7 could stress your system more causing it to heat up faster, and fail more often.

Did you check the temps?
If temps seem high open your PC and vac out the dust and make sure the fans and vents are clean.

If this happens soon after booting then I don't really have any other ideas beyond trying a different video card.

Since you have had this happen with both Windows 7 and Vista it seems like it must be a hardware problem of some sort.

Mike

[mattaggie]

There doesnt seem to be a pattern for how long after booting up the problem will occur. Sometimes it happens within a few minutes, sometimes within a few hours. I downloaded the program u suggested for checking temps. GPU core temp for Vista was 67C, Windows 7 was 70C. Im not sure if these numbers are good or bad. I dont do any gaming, just basic computer stuff.

Before checking the temps, I opened the case and blew out some dust. It wasnt bad as I give it a good dusting every few months.

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Just based on the temperatures that my computer runs 70c for a core temp seems high.

My computer is showing max core temps of 32 c to 36 c on 4 cores, which is only about half of what you are seeing. I don't see much more then this even after hours of playing Age of Conan which stresses everything to the max.

I don't know for sure about Athalon processors but I would think that 70 c is close to the max operating temp.

You shouldn't be seeing this when the computer isn't being stressed.
The fact that your temps are higher in Windows 7 could be why the problem is more pronounced in W7. It might be pushing it past the shutdown point.

Are you sure the fan on the cooler is working?
CPUID will show how fast your fans are running as well.

You might want to do some checking to see what kind of core temps are normal for your particular processor.

Mike

[mattaggie]

The measurements I gave where the GPU core temp for the graphics card, not the processor. The processor temps are in the 36c to 45c range. I did clean out the case real well and removed a tv tuner card that I didnt use, so now the video card has more room and air space. Its running at 65C in windows 7 now. We'll see if that does the trick. And yes the case fans are working properly.

[MikeMoss]

Hi

My Graphics card core temp is running at about 41c after an hour of playing Dragon Age it is a Radeon 5870 so 65 to 70 still seems a little high.

I don't know if that's what is causing the problem though.

Mike

[mattaggie]

Problem still persists. Any recommendations on a replacement video card? I dont do any gaming, just bluray playback and other basic computer stuff on a 22" monitor.

[MikeMoss]

Hi

Check out this site....

http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/suppor...ent.do?id=2577

Make sure that your power supply has high enough output to support the card you select.

Mike