PC Crashing to black screen with coloured paterns.

shane1981

Hi Guys,

Been experiencing pc crashes about once a day for the last week. I havent installed any new software or drivers recently so unsure why it has started all of a sudden.

Im running Windows 7 64bit with a GTX260 card.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Im guessing its graphics related. The couloured patterns I get on the black screen are green,red and blue.

Any help would be appreciated.


Shane.

fionny

Can you ensure the fans are actually running still on the graphics card as a first stop? Clean them too.

It sounds like an overheating issue.

Odaise Gaelach

If you do have a spare graphics card, or can borrow one from someone, I'd try that out first.

shayser

I had this problem, or similar, before. Turned out to be the power supply.

fionny

shayser wrote: »

I had this problem, or similar, before. Turned out to be the power supply.

It could be the PSU but I would rule out the graphics card first.

kippy

shayser wrote: »

I had this problem, or similar, before. Turned out to be the power supply.

Knowing what we know about the issue right now it could be:
SOFTWARE RELATED
PSU
BOARD
PROCESSOR
RAM
HARD DRIVE
OVERHEATING
GPU
So having this problem or similiar doesn't help resolve the issue......

shane1981

fionny wrote: »

Can you ensure the fans are actually running still on the graphics card as a first stop? Clean them too.

It sounds like an overheating issue.

Apologies if opening post was a bit vague, but now that you mention it, I moved my PS3 last week to sit alongside my tower. Its the very early PS3 model and throws out alot of heat.

All the fans are working (although they are just dust magnets in the CM692 case)

I ll take a look at the temperatures tonight, see if i can rule that out.

Thanks

shane1981

Update:

Removed carpet of dust from inside case and moved PS3 away from PC. No crashes for past 2 days.

Must have been overheating alright.

Any ideas how I can keep the dust out? Is there some sort transparent mesh available that i could apply to the inside of the case?

Cheers

Shane

fionny

Most modern cases do have a bit of plastic mesh over the vent to stop too much dust being sucked in. An idea that comes to mind would be the fabric that is on those little fishing nets for fish tanks?

The best bet is to keep on top of it cleaning regularly and if the computer is on a carpet move it up off it onto something else.

shane1981

Yeah, there is a mesh alright but it doesnt keep the finer dust out. I ll just have to keep an eye on it in future. Thanks.

fionny

shane1981 wrote: »

Yeah, there is a mesh alright but it doesnt keep the finer dust out. I ll just have to keep an eye on it in future. Thanks.

A can of compressed air is your friend for such jobs