HELP! (is it hardware related?)

R

rfwinters77

Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
996
So I recently upgraded my video card. Switched to ATI. All was well initially, and just
recently, when I'd play a game, my monitor would go black like there was no signal (I could still hear the game audio).

I rebooted and windows loaded fine. Figured it was just a random thing.
After it happened again, I got suspicous. I got the newest drivers, uninstalled the
old and installed the new. (cleaned my system of spyware/etc. while I was
at it). Seemed alright. Then last night when I was just surfing the internet and
listening to music, screen went black again.

I uninstalled and reinstalled again and it seemed to be working again. Then this morning
I went to play a game and sure enough. Black screen. When I rebooted that time,
it didn't boot and just kept beeping. Just a constant beep every few seconds.

So I shut it off and tried finding answers online. Just on a hunch, I powered my
computer back up and it gave me an error about not being able to post and to go
load default settings and try again. I went into BIOS setup, but didn't change to
default settings. rebooted and it was working fine again.

Then just awhile ago, I was on my school webite, Firefox was the only thing
running, I stepped away from the desk and the screen saver was on when I got back.

I moved the mouse to kill the screen saver....black screen!!!

I'm on my brother's computer right now, but I REALLY need to get mine back up
and running before I take classes online and this computer won't cut it.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
 
check to see if there is a power plug on the back of the video card, make sure the correct cable is plugged into that plug.
 
PSU is pretty good and I could understand that being the issue with 3d stuff like games; but i doubt
things would be under too much load just browsing the internet.

I think I *might* have fixed the issue with just a good cleaning. I pulled my computer apart and
the video card heat sink had a pretty decent amount of dust caked on. (I live off of a dirt road
and my driveway is even dirt; so yeah, things get dusty quick here lol).

Anyway, after I hooked it all back up last night (granted I haven't played a game; and I've since
disabled my screen saver); haven't had any issues. Think I'll just try and get through the semester
without any games and play the back up/reformat/reinstall game as soon as I can.

Thanks all for your input.
 
Still sounds like PSU no matter that you think it is "pretty good".
The fact that it does it when not under heavy load is even worse!

The harder a PSU is pushed, the faster it will derate until it either stops working or goes bang.
Remember if the PSU expires rapidly, it can damage anything attached to it.
Your choice, but I'd be trying another PSU quick smart.
 
Nenu said:
Still sounds like PSU no matter that you think it is "pretty good".
The fact that it does it when not under heavy load is even worse!

The harder a PSU is pushed, the faster it will derate until it either stops working or goes bang.
Remember if the PSU expires rapidly, it can damage anything attached to it.
Your choice, but I'd be trying another PSU quick smart.
Click to expand...

I agree, from the sounds of it, your having a PSU problem. And they aren't something that will go away. Remember that flash can be very CPU intensive so you may be pulling more of a load than you think while surfing the net. If nothing else, you might try to borrow your brothers PSU and hook it up and see.
 
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