BleepingComputer.com: I have to keep restarting...

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure if the issue I'm having has to do with my video card or not - but kind of think it does? lol

What happens is my screen flickers and freezes. Then I'll restart my computer and my display will be all "big" and not looking how it's supposed to. So, I keep restarting and restarting (usually 3 to 5 times) and eventually, my display goes back to normal. The flickering and freezing usually happens when I attempt to run a graphic heavy program (Second Life). After starting the program, I'll be fine for about 3 minutes, then all the flickering starts. Other than that, my computer runs fine.

Thinking it was a video card issue, I did what I could to try and correct the issue myself.
• I've cleaned out all the dust from the inside of the computer.
• Reseated the video card.
• Downloaded and installed the most recent drivers for my card.
• Rolled back my drivers.
• I even "rotated" the cable connecting the monitor to the PC, meaning I basically just turned the cable around lol

It seems like none of those worked... obviously, or I wouldn't be on here whining after my most recent "flicker, freeze and restart a million times" ordeal lol

Any ideas on what's going on? If you need any of my computer info, let me know. Thanks in advance!

-Joy

There are a couple of things to check.

If the unit also has onboard video go in the BIOS setup & make sure it is set to use the video card first [AGP/PCI-E/PEG whichever the choice is]

While you're in the BIOS search for a setting "Automatically resize video [or display, whichever it says] & set it to Disabled.
[I had a similar problem once & that's what fixed it]

If you have onboard video as well as a card,
When you have the computer started to the desktop go to the Control Panel
Double click the System icon
When the box opens click on the Hardware tab
Open the Device Manager
Expand the listing for Display Adapter
If the onboard video adapter is listed right click on it & on the menu click Disable
Make sure it is disabled.

Thanks for your response, fairjoeblue

Unfortunately, there isn't an onboard video on the motherboard - I wish it did have one, because that sounds like such an easy fix lol

My Specs:

Operating System: Win XP Home
Antivirus Software: AVG
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Motherboard: Gigabyte M57SLI-S4
Ram: 4GB
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT 512MB
Power Supply: 750 Watts Thermaltake ToughPower

Just in case this helps anyone for future responses!

Thanks!

-Joy

This post has been edited by Gemini6: 13 June 2009 - 11:10 AM

I would check the power connector tp the video card.

Make sure it is fully seated.

What kind of monitor are you using [CRT or LCD] & what do you set the resolution to ?

It's a Viewsonic Optiquest Q19wb LCD monitor, 1440 x 900.

I'll have to go back into the computer when I have the time to make sure the card is completed seated/connected in there. But wouldn't my computer be acting funny all of the time (while playing other games, for instance) if the video card wasn't seated or wasn't connected properly? The issues only seem to occur when I run Second Life. Oh, also, I forgot to mention that my display sometimes goes out of whack after shutting down my computer for a few hours. I'll go to turn the computer on and everything's screwy/big again - and I have to restart several times before it's back to normal.

Thanks so much for responding to me, fairjoe

*Edit - I just went into the computer and took out, "dusted" off and put back in the video card. It's firmly in place - but I noticed it was just a "pop in" card - no extra connecting wires or anything. Is that what ya meant by checking the power connector? A wire connected to the card inside the PC? Or did ya mean the cable connecting the card to the monitor?

I apologize for not knowing much about this stuff!

This post has been edited by Gemini6: 13 June 2009 - 01:56 PM

From what I could find the GeForce 8500 GT 512MB requires a connector from the power supply
There isn't a connector on the back edge of the card ?

The only other thing I can come up with is you're trying to play the game with the video settings too high.

After looking at the thread again I noticed you have XP Home & 4GB of memory.

XP Home is a 32 bit OS & can only use about 3GB memory.
This is probably a long shot but try your game with only 2GB of the memory installed.

Okie, I'm back again lol - After my last post - I had opened up the PC and reseated the card again. Everything worked fine for a few days until yesterday, when I started flickering, freezing and crashing again. So, I have a new video card on the way, but I wanted to ask: the black screen that appears when you boot up a PC - the one one with all the white printing on it (Bios Screen? I'm sorry, I don't know the name of it!) - after I crash and restart, that screen always has crazy letters on it, instead of how it should look. It has misspelled words and such, exclamation points where there should be numbers.. stuff like that. Would a faulty video card cause that to happen? Or does anyone know why it would do that?

When I see that screen all messed up like that, I know my display is going to be messed up, too - and it is - then I keep doing the constant restarting until it goes back to normal.

Thanks again!

This post has been edited by Gemini6: 19 June 2009 - 08:57 AM