Been having some problems with my computer as of late. I’ll be playing my game, and without warning the monitor goes blank, although the monitor is still on. The computer, while still running or at least making the normal ‘on and ready’ noises, does not respond to any keystrokes or commands. Shutting the system off and unplugging the power cord for a few moments seems to fix it for 10-45 minutes, then it’ll happen again.
Now, the system had been playing this game, as well as running various other programs, just fine for the last month or so. There had been a few random times where the system totally shut itself off for no reason, but no identifiable pattern has shown up for either error.
Question: What could be causing these types of errors?
1.19-2.0ghz Athlon processor (Depending on if you ask the CPU package or the computer)
1 gig of 2000+ ddram
Win Xp
GeForce 4 graphics card with 128ish RAM
Gonna leave computer on the desktop while I watch a movie, see if it still happens when the system is idle.
If the monitor isn’t working, how do you know this is happening?
About the monitor - has it been acting oddly in any other way - the screen changes size, or anything? It might be dying. Before my last monitor died, it would shut itself off (although the power light remained on). Is it an old monitor?
If this were my computer, there are a couple of things I’d do in this situation.
The next time it goes blank, I would attempt to reach that machine via the network rather than through the keyboard/monitor. Since I have a LAN at home with 3 computers on it, I would try to “ping” the dead one to see if it were alive. Even better, I’d turn on the FTP or telnet service and see if I could actually log into the machine. Whatever way you choose is fine; just try to access it across the network.
Also I’d try to swap out the video card and/or monitor to see if that helped.
I’d also do as a previous poster has suggested and check my power-save settings.
Also, I’d try to upgrade to the most recent version of DirectX and video card drivers. While you’re gaming, DirectX has control of your graphics system. If it crashes, basically the computer still runs but you have no more graphics. You said that this happened during gaming, so that is an area of suspicion.
I know it’s not the power save feature, as it just happens in the middle of a game, while I am still inputting commands. And as for how I know the system isn’t responding while the monitor is messing up, it’s because there would be sounds from the game, and control+alt+delete has no effect. As the system performed with no errors for the last 2 hours, it is looking more and more like a problem with the graphics card. The monitor is a bit off in one corner, but basically fully functional.
Could it be due to the graphics card overheating and causing a system lock-up?
It might explain why the system only locks up during a gaming session. Card has a fan, and the case has a few as well, and it worked well up to this morning. The suddeness throws me off though. No real symptoms of system malfunction, then blam, within an hour and a half of gaming, 2 monitor shut-offs with a side of system lock-up, and 1 total system shutdown and power off.
Are you sure all your fans are operating correctly?
I had a problem fan once… it got off center and wouldn’t spin at full speed. Greasing it was a temporary fix but eventually I had to replace it. No probs after that.
Another vote for overheating. I had a website that would go bonkers (Java loop?) and run 100% CPU, eventually my PC would overheat and shut down. Just a WAG.
My bet is on the videocard. The monitor is easy to rule out. Just turn it off for a while (anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour) and turn it back on. if it’s still blank, then it’s not at fault.
If the cpu was overheating, Most motherboards manufactured in the last 4 years would shut down or reset your computer. Mine did when I had an athlon 950 Mhz and yours appears to be newer.
I’d tell you to upgrade your videocard but I can’t think of any good match to your system. You probably won’t want to fork out 90 bucks for a radeon 9600 pro which is already getting obsolete and I just don’t see you spending $200+ on a geforce 6600gt which would be a wiser investment.
Be a bit easier to troubleshoot the thing if there was any pattern to it, but it just ran WoWarcraft for about 5 hours straight, with no problems whatsoever. I did check the fans, blew out a bit of dust, but otherwise they’re all working smoothly. The motherboard automatically shutting down might’ve acounted for the one thing, but not for when the system screwed up yet still stayed powered on and such. So, I guess I’ll poke around a bit with the various ideas here, and see if it starts acting up again. Thanks fior the tips folks =)
When the motherboard shuts the computer down or resets it, you will know because then, it will be off, or it will reboot. It won’t hang like you describe. I mentionned that so you could rule out cpu overheating. I wasn’t listing it as a potential cause
ANd yeah, intermittent problems are the worst of the bunch. I can’t count how many days of frustration i have gone through with those kind of problems.
The system currently has a Voodoo 3 2000 (PCI) in it and runs fine. I got a Geforce 4 FX5200 card second hand (OK, I’m not a power gamer). Putting that in the AGP slot and setting it up as the main card generates the symptoms. Taking it out removes them.
I think it’s the graphics card, not the CPU.
Additionally to those kivvik describes, the monitor goes off for a fraction of a second and comes back on every 1 or 2 minutes and trying to load most actual 3D software causes a crash. The only exception I’ve found is that the DirectX (9) 3D diagnostics run and pass.
