My pc screen goes black interrmittently
I recently had my memory updated from 512 to 2 GB at PC World (I have 2 slots so had 2 x 1Gb memory cards installed. I then started having these intermittent black screens when on the internet or in ms word expecially when scrolling down the pages. PC world want me to completely re install the whole computer. I feel this is excessive. I have a nvidia GE force fx 5700 video card in the computer. any ideas please?
Computers & Internet - XFX - GeForce Fx5700 (128 MB) Graphic Card
Answers & Comments
HI, I WAS HAVING THE PROBLEM OF MY PC NOT BOOTING FIRST TIME AND THE SCREEN GOING BLACK FOR OVER 6THS! AND TRIED DIFFERENT THINGS AND WAS ADVISED TO CHANGE MY GRAPHICS CARD BUT IT WAS NONE OF THOSE. I COULDNT BELIEVE HOW SIMPLE IT WAS. WHEN I WENT INTO START,THEN ALL PROGRAMS I LOOKED IN STARTUP AND THERE WAS SOMETHING IN THERE CALLED SPLASHA. AND THIS WAS THE CULPRIT ALL ALONG. I DELETED IT AND HEY PRESTO ITS WORKING LIKE A DREAM.
I WAS TOLD THAT ANYTHING IN THE STARTUP FOLDER WILL TRY TO LOAD ON BOOTUP AND IN MY CASE THATS WHAT WAS CAUSING THE PROBLEMS.I NOW CHECK THE STARTUP FOLDER TO MAKE SHURE ITS ALWAYS EMPTY.
HOPE THIS SOLVES THINGS FOR OTHERS. MY PC USED TO TAKE UP TO 7 TIMES TO BOOT UP AND THE SCREEN KEPT GOING BLACK BUT NOT ANYMORE. I WONDER HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE HAVE THIS SAME CULPRIT YET THEY HAVE CHANGED ALL SORTS AND ITS STILL NO BETTER. HOPE THIS HELPS A FEW PEOPLE.
Hi Linda,
It is possible you got some flaky RAM.
There is a way to test it , but I would try a couple of things first.
Download the latest drivers for your video card.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.19_whql.html
Check to see if your page file too small.
- Click Start then right-click on My Computer and click Properties.
- On the Advanced tab in the Performance section, click on the Settings button.
- Click the Advanced tab (yes, another Advanced tab) and under the Virtual memory section, click on the Change button.
- We'll want to delete the current page file, so select the No paging file radio button and click Set. Ignore any warning that may pop up.
- Then select the Custom size radio button and use 3072 for Initial size (MB) and 6144 for Maximum size (MB) and click Set again.
If you want to test the RAM go here.http://www.memtest86.com/
Dont buy anything, just click download on the right.
Click on >> ISO image for creating bootable CD (Windows - zip)
If you dont have burning software that will burn an ISO go here
http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download
Burn it to CD and boot from it .
You will have to enable tha in BIOS , when your PC starts it will say press F1 or DEL to enter setup , then there will be a menu that says BOOT , change it to boot off CD first and rboot with the CD in the drive. When it boots hit 1 and let it run its test.
That can take a while so you might want to do it before you go to bed.
It is unlikely that anything happened to the video card in the shop. But I think its a little extreme for them to want you to reload windows. They should have tested it before it left the shop.
The restore failed because of the hardware change. That wouldnt have done much anyway.
You didnt specify what make of PC you have , but there may be some updated chipset (motherboard) drivers that may help as well.
Good luck.