Help needed with Windows desktop


Garrett

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Aug 24, 2011
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Workington, Cumbria, UK
I've had an issue for a while now, but tolerated things.. decided to try & fix today and it's all gone a bit Pete tong. Launching any game results in artifacts after a while, kinda like little white squares or lots of scan lines like an incredibly heavy screen filter, eventually I'll just get black screen which can't be fixed unless I turn off for several hours/overnight.. I tried updating the drivers which didn't fix things, and now have a problem as I tried reinstalling Windows 10 thinking something may be amiss but can't complete the reinstall as it has black screened on me during the install proceedure. I've turned off ATM as there isn't much I can do when I can't see anything. If I'm able to see anything when I next reboot can folk suggest a course of action (other than bin it!..
 
Have you tried running through safe mode for a bit? to see if it still happens there?
 
Said like that could be caused from anything... but if it happened during an OS install, it could be an hardware issue...

When the screen goes black the PC is still working ?

If, when the "black" happens, the computer is still working, then you should try first to use another monitor... if still happens, could be the cable... if still happens, could be the video card (maybe just not fully inserted)... if still happens could be the RAM (in this case you can do a check with some live linux distro)... etc...
 
Not much I can do currently as it's a black screen as soon as the bios is finished.. the last time I left overnight before I switched on again.
 
Buy a Linux magazine, they contain bootable CD's. Any of them has a few Linux games on them you can run a while and see.
Try glxgears from the commandline to get some FPS rates.

Or, if you boot Ubuntu:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/test-graphics-card-ubuntu-49215.html

note that you can always type " dmesg | more " to check if there were hardware errors found during boot.
 
Hang on a second, you failed to mention if this is a Desktop or Laptop..

Please clarify :)

The title of this subforum is:

"Help needed with Windows desktop"
[doublepost=1467938750,1467938349][/doublepost]That being said or reiterated, I think that Wally might be onto something. It sounds like a graphics card problem at first glance (or hear), but it could be some BIOS setting(s) as well. Hope you figure it out and post again on some progress/success. Good luck.
 
It sounds like the graphics card is overheating. You could try inserting a 120mm fan to blow on the graphics card. You could also try lowering the clock frequency of the graphics card GPU or memory by 10%.
 
If the GPU is quite old it might be worth applying some new thermal paste to it, the old stuff can dry up and it'll stop transferring heat to the heatsink and of course.. overheat.

I recommend IC Diamond or Artic Silver Thermal paste.
 
My brain shut off as soon as you said Windows...

Some people have to use it for work or game related activities. Count me among the unfortunate. I do own a Pandora though, and I do have a CentOS desktop, so baby-steps...
 
+1 for GPU issues. If you have onboard graphics, use them - they're actually quite handy for such cases since one does not need a second graphics card lying around.
Maybe the cooling system of the graphics card is broken.

I had comparable problems once when my power supply was overburdened.
Have you added anything that drains power in the last time like an additional hard-drive or something or overclocked GPU or CPU a bit?
 
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Thanks to all for the input.. left it overnight & it booted fine without black screen or artifacts this morning. The CPU was OC to 3.8GHz which I've reduced to stock but I don't think that was the cause (it's cooled with a Noctua NH-D14)
What should be my next step?
 
Thanks to all for the input.. left it overnight & it booted fine without black screen or artifacts this morning. The CPU was OC to 3.8GHz which I've reduced to stock but I don't think that was the cause (it's cooled with a Noctua NH-D14)
What should be my next step?

Good to hear. Doesn't sound like irreparable damage if any. If you're intent on OC, then do it in increments and test the results. Seems that we all were feeling the same thing - I love this forum.
 
Well if you increase the bclk you increase the frequency at which the GPU runs. Clean the fans.
Usually things lose a little bit of max overclock over time. Dial it down a little bit.

This is exactly the kind of behaviour you get when things are too hot, that it starts working again when cold, is also expected.

This is a nice windows desktop http://www.fondosdeescritorio10.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Nelson-Los-Simpson.jpg
 
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