what causes this?

[GONNAFISTYA]

Last week I was playing ETQW and this happened:



So I pressed the reset button and rebooted.

Then on Friday it happened again when I was playing Test Drive Unlimited. Then on Saturday it happened once more when I was surfing YouTube. Then it happened again Sunday when I was surfing these forums.

And then yesterday, it happened about every half hour...and it didn't matter what I was doing.

And then another weird thing happened...while watching an avi in full screen mode the screen suddenly went to my desktop background colour (mid grey) and I had to reset (but the movie was still playing...I just couldn't see it...only desktop background colour)

I've reinstalled my video drivers but the problem persists. Is this a vid card issue or some other hardware issue? Is this a driver/software issue? Is something in my PC failing?

It never happened before last week and it seems the only time it happens is when I'm actually doing things with the computer (it can sit idle for a whole day and not happen). When playing games and this happens, the audio loops in a fucked up way but when playing an avi file, the audio works perfectly (while the screen is fucked). Either way my whole system is unresponsive and I have to reset.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[U4EA]

I'd start by checking to make sure the video card is seated properly. Pull it out, do some dusting in there while you're at it with canned air, or the old fashioned way (a lot of blowing and coughing). The slot, connectors on the card and its fan/heatsink. Plug it back in firmly and try again.

Easy way to isolate the problem would be to try with a spare graphics card if you've got one handy.

[Captain]

Download EVGA Precision or RivaTuner and monitor the fan speed and temps.

[GONNAFISTYA]

Well I downloaded EVGA Precision and installed it...too bad it crashes the instant it's launched.
Then I unplugged the vid card and plugged it back in...which made my sound card stop working.
Then I got a BSOD when trying to fix my sound card.
Then after rebooting from the BSOD my screen started giving me all kinds of multicoloured mess during the Windows splash screen.
Then after another reset my computer simply refused to find my hard drive.
Then I said fuck it and went to bed.

As I've said 1000 times before...I fucking hate computers and I wish every single nerdy programmer on this planet who thinks he's a genius would kill themselves on principle.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Do you have another Gfx card to put in the computer?

[GONNAFISTYA]

No.

And TBH...I'm not really worried about the GFX card at this moment. It seems to work fine...it's the rest of my computer that I have to deal with now.

[GONNAFISTYA]

It was the power supply. A quick replacement and everything is back to normal.