Black screen of death :(

[.:sp00ky:.]

I have a problem which I don't seem to be able to fix..

my pc keeps blacking out it does it very randomly sometimes it can go all day other times it will do it twise right after eachother.

everyhing turns off software wise no sound and no picture although my monitor does not go into stand by and the rest of my pc stays on too e.g fans lights blah ect it does not reset and their are no error messeges.

Its a pretty new xp installation that was working fine before,Iv not installed anything new I have no viruses,spyware all that crap.

Iv checked the event log and nothing comes up also when I reset(thats the only way I can get it going again) theirs no error messege their either.

When this happens its a time when im not doing anything special iv ran games for hours and its fine yet I do something like unrar a file or even rename a file and boom it goes it also does it when the pc is left doing nothing overnight :s

amd3200
geforce6600gt
windows xp pro sp2
200gig sata seagate hd
60gig ata seagate hd

all drivers are uptodate any help or ideas would be grateful

(please don't tell me to reformat if I wanted to do that I would'nt of asked for help :hi )

[AgentMulder]

Reinstall windows ok just kidding lol. Sounds like to me your cpu is over heating or part of your power supply is dying. Try a different power supply first if deosn't work then try reapplying thermal grease on to the cup. :icon_rabb

[.:sp00ky:.]

cpu is running at 30*c which is low for a 3200 +64 it has a huge fan on it and my case is well aired,the power suply is fine but im think maybe it could be one of the cables il change them round abit and test it.

[zpman]

This sounds to me like a hardware problem, not a software problem. I am sure you already ran small checks like defrag, and disk error check. Also maybe try registry cleaner and disk cleanup. I would start by googling to find similar problems that others have had. Sometimes you can find a solution this way. A good resource is google groups.

You might find a loose cable, but it sounds more like a memory issue or maybe a disk issue.

Please list your specs: Processor, memory size, ect.

You don't happen to have an eMachines do you?

What processes do have running at startup or a given time? Perhaps your memory and/or cpu is being strained.
How long has this been happening? Can you pinpoint when this was? Does your machine emit any strange sounds or smells (I know this sounds funny, but seriously)? Feel the top of the chasis. Is it hot or warm to the touch?

[.:sp00ky:.]

Yes Iv ran disk check, iv defraged and Iv ran reg cleaners ect I agree that It sounds like a hardware problem.

Iv tryed googling and I could'nt find anyone with the same problem.

Iv already said iv got a amd 3200 64 iv got 2gigs of ram I know for a fact that nothing on my system is overheating that goes for psu cpu ram graphics card harddrives everything.

no i don't have a emachines i build all my own pcs and I build them for other people iv never had a problems I could'nt fix before :(

My cpu ram ect is not been strained as I said this can happen when nothing at all is happening cpu is at 1% and rams like what ever windows needs to run, but on the other hand i can run bf2 for a few hours no problems at all.

no strange sounds or smells.

hottest thing around my pc is me :P

Iv changed a few of the y splitters for the hd power around and it hasnt crashed again yet is been a few hours since i changed them so fingers crossed.

[Krell]

Hey there,

Pull out your ram, and make sure that it is all the same, you should also run Memtest overnight.

Get your hands on some cheap no nonsense video card, and swap that out. Let it run for a week or so, see if the problem repeats itself.

You may have an issue with an IRQ or drivers competing for the same memory space, which essentially locks things up, but doesnt blue screen.

The motherboard drivers that control your BUS, the chipset drivers, may also need to be updated.

Go ahead and use Aida32 just to get a better feel of what is going on with your system.



.

[.:sp00ky:.]

Hey krell I can get hold of some spare parts tomoro or day after e.g grapics card.

Iv used memtest and my rams fine and yes their the same if you stick 2 differnt kinds in duel the pc will not boot at all. amd mobo feature :P

Iv been monitoring the mobo and voltages, temps ect seem fine but you have got me thinking now about the chipset drivers.

when I first installed them i did it from the nforce 4 disk I got with the mobo but this time I right click on each seprate device in device manager and installed the drivers separately,could ths of effected things?

[SoreVexed]

I had an old Celeron 533mhz where someone installed the cpu in the right socket (i.e. "Slot A") , but wrong type of cpu or speed for that particular card. the computer did the same basic thing and then eventually just stopped working. Instead of taking it back to those half-as*es, I went and hot the motherboard manual, read what it was compatable with and then replaced the card and cpu.

This reminds me of when Bill Gates was demonstrating the "Plug-And-Play" ability for 98, and he crashed it on national television.... I had to laugh my a** off..... I have the video of that happening on my other computer, and as it happens, its running 98. ....how ironic.


Good Luck to you Spooks.