Computer acting up, what could it be

**FactionHeir** · 05-14-2009, 10:32

Hello,

Got a problem since a while and figured that maybe its time to post about it.
Few months back it started. Got into windows and right after the welcome screen, the screen would go black. Somestimes, it would get stuck like this forcing me to hard reboot. Other times, it would go to the desktop and no problems. And yet other times, it would flash between desktop and black screen a few times. After the stuck in black times, I sometimes got a windows error message (critical error) on my next boot, which pointed to my graphics driver having a problem.
So I wiped that one off and reinstalled it (even redownloaded it - its an old driver but the best driver for my card and of course directly from the manufacturer). So far so good. I don't get the black screen quite as often now.

However, what happens now is, rarely (yes, rarely) once I get to my desktop, there may be some distortions, like the wireless popup message saying I'm connected getting discolored and forcing me to hide and then reshow my systray to clear the "artifact" (or just run an application that overwrites that space). Or like today, I go from welcome screen to a few seconds black screen to my desktop to find that the welcome screen is semi imprinted onto my desktop. Had to change color and back to fix (well only took that anyway).

In addition to the above, and that may be unrelated, once in a while, very very rarely, turning on my laptop results in it not even going to the boot screen, just stays black at the very start (i.e. right after pressing power button). Happens often when I forget to turn the power on and it relies on the battery, but also when the power is on, just more rarely. Can reproduce this almost 100% though if I turn on the powersupply and immediately press the laptop power button - I always thought that's due to the electrical surge going through the laptop because when I turn on the powersupply, I always notice a few seconds later that the lights on my laptop go on and then off again quickly.

I think the problem is mainly paragraphs 1 and 2 and 3 is probably nothing, but I figured I'd include it just in case.

System details:
Dell Inspiron 9400 (BIOS A09)
Dell 0YD479 Mainboard
Intel Core 2 CPU T7400 (L2 4096KB) @2.16GHz (actual 2.11)
WinXP MCE 2005 SP3
NVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS (101.19)
2048 MB (332.5MHz) Dual Channel DDR2 RAM

**Beskar** · 05-14-2009, 11:31

I suggest running Memtest86+ , this will check if there is a memory fault.

I remember having problems with my computer keep repeatedly point the error to my graphics card and it turned out that all the time, it was that one of my ram dimms was faulty.

**FactionHeir** · 05-17-2009, 14:04

Did a full Dell Diagnostics check and the memtest86+ 2.11 as well, but found nothing.

Maybe because the problem only ever occurs when just getting into windows when its about to load the desktop and all kinds of programs?

**Whacker** · 05-19-2009, 18:13

Clean out your case real good.

Here's how I do it. I have a 120 psi air compressor with the lil air nozzle on the hose. I'll take the side off my case, then stick wire ties or twisty ties in all of the fans so they don't rotate. This step is VERY important. After that, carefully start to work through your entire case. Be VERY careful doing this, as it is entirely possible to dislodge stuff and/or knock caps off of cards and boards. If in doubt, hold the nozzle a good distance away from the board and slowly move in closer as you get a better feel for things. Some key areas that often get missed are inside of the power supply (you don't have to take it apart), deep inside of some heatsinks such as behind attached fans, and inside of video cards. The last part is probably more relevant to you, as it sounds like you've got some heating problems.

Canned air will work, but not nearly as good as a carefully used air compressor.