Computer Problem...

[125gJoe]

What would cause the screen to go blank off and back on, then go to "power saving" mode? When resarting the screen goes blank off and on...

I'm on a different computer and worried about starting the other one -- need to get pics off before "tinkering around" with this problem.

:help:

[Marn]

hmmm i read this one before and i think they said there video card went out .. if you have another card try changeing it and see what happens .. or mayb monitor .. but i would try the vid card first ..

Marn

[125gJoe]

Would programs lock if the video card is going bad?

Also, thin white horizontal lines can be seen on some places of the screen...

[Kasakato]

It this an LCD or CRT screen? How old is it?

[125gJoe]

LCD 4 year old - or so...

How can you tell if card or monitor is bad...
Other then hooking up another monitor?

[Marn]

you cant unless you hook them up .. and the lcd monitors i have no idea about ...

Marn

[125gJoe]

Could it be the power supply?

So far there are several things to look at.... Thanks..

[centralharbor]

when you say power saving, do you mean the monitor went into power saving or windows went into stand by? if the montior went into power saving, its probably either the vid card or monitor. if windows did that, thats a whole different thing. if you can, i would just find someone thats willing to let you borrow their vid card, maybe a nice neighbor? it doesnt take more than 10 minutes. just turn your comp off, unplug the plug from the outlet, press the power button so it discharges the power still in the caps, unplug monitor, swap vid cards, plug everything back in, see if it works.

[sublime1184]

threed thi8ngs are sugeestesed..

1bad powerr suply...as in the wattages is overladed by other compontests ...ie cd rom, hd, zip...etc...

2 bad vid card, as in it could have been shorted by the PS and no longer funcitioning to full capacity (catastrophic failure..not this kind but the ohter, cna' think of it cuz i'm a bit durnkd :D) anyway, the other kind where it workls, but not to ifts full extent...

or

3bad monitor...yo0u say you are using LCD which are known for touch screen failure...which is the liquid crystals can rupture and casue problems in the screen itself, causing the monitor to resort to shutting down or going into a power safe mode...

first, i would test another PS...not many have that option but if you have a spare PS, tyr that....or second try another vid card but once again, not bany have that option...and third....new monitor which again :D, not mayn have the toption...

I highly doubt its the PS cuz going into powersafe mode is not a sign of a bad PS and it wouldn't giev you the message, it would just cut out...so I would have to say mad monitor or vid card...good luck Joe!

[Kasakato]

Im with a bad vid card or monitor. Do you have another vid card you can use? And how is it connected: AGP, PIC?

[sumthin fishy]

If it is a bad monitor, I have about 20,000(figure grossly overestimated) I am trying to get rid of at work. Let me know if you(or anyone) is interested. I have from old 8"monochromes, to newish 28" sun drafting screens.

[insomnious]

Have you checked power saving options in the control panel? Just make sure "turn off monitor after ... minutes" option is not turned on. I would also try to barrow a different monitor and see if you have the same problem. After that I would check the video card, make sure it is getting enough cooling and all the fans are spinning dust free. Good luck.

[125gJoe]

I haven't had time to dig into the machine yet. Hopefully by Saturday I will know what the problem is.. Thanks for the replies!

There's no time to get to the Control Panel to check anything, as it glitches and stumbles and then shuts down before I can change any settings.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Can you start up in safe mode?

[DeVitaf]

Hey Joe,

LCD Issues....
You can seperate the LCD screen vs. Video card issue by connecting the laptop to an external Monitor. If the image is fine on the CRT than it is your LCD.

Anytime I see white horizontal lines it's typically the LCD panel going :(. Unfourtunatley, 4 years sounds about right for this type of failure.

Another thing to try: Gently squeeze around the perimiter of your LCD panel. Not the panel itself but the plastic just outside of it. Lightly squeeze all around it and wiggle the screen around. If the LCD fades in and out or randomly displays those white lines then you might have have a loose connection where the display meets the video card.

When the screen goes black can you see a vary faint image of your desktop in the background? I used to see this a lot on Toshiba laptops when the flourecent(sp) inverter would go. It basically stops illuminating your LCD.

As far as powersaving goes... Disable it all until you work out your issues. Especially if you are typically plugged in. You should be able to find an 'Always on' profile under power options. Disable hibernation and set your screen not to dim.

[125gJoe]

I haven't tried Safe Mode.

I'm also going to dust off an old CRT and hook it up to the Dell desktop and see what happens. Thanks.. And I will be sure to turn off power saving modes.

Since this is a daily use computer, it rarely gets powered down all the way.
I've heard two very different stories on whether to leave a computer on ALL the time, or shut it down daily. Any comments on that, for future reference?

[Marn]

lol. i never shut mine down .. it is always running .. havent had no problems...umm if your system is a Dell i would chek the video card .. someone else just recently went through the same thing you are .. same symptoms .. and it turned out to be the video card .. so if you are still under warranty then i would chek with them ..

Marn

[sublime1184]

I've heard two very different stories on whether to leave a computer on ALL the time, or shut it down daily. Any comments on that, for future reference?


as a general rule, I shut mine down every 4 days or so...you shouldn't do it daily, but you shouldn't let it run forever...I think 4 is a good number cuz your computer needs to be adjusted to the shock of a shutdown, and everyday is too much, but every 20 days is not enough IMO...

[insomnious]

My dad ran his 486 none stop for 8 years till it died (it was setup as a fax machine). If you're going to keep the computer on all the time just make sure it is getting good air circulation. Also it should be dusted off often, specially if you keep it on the floor. An idle computer won't generate much heat. It's a good idea to use a battery backup for blackouts and surges.

[DeVitaf]

My laptop gets shut down every day when I go back and forth to work. If it breaks I just grab a new one :p....

As far as hardware is concerned, heat is the enemy of all electrical components... Letting it cool while your not using it probably doesn't hurt. Although I guess the argument is the daily heating and cooling could cause problems (contracting/expanding)? Just don't leave it in your freezing car all night then turn it on right away. I see a lot of issues with this in the winter. The quick temperature rise can cause a lot of problems.

As far as software is concerned I would restart whenever your computer starts bogging down :). I have servers that I restart once a year as a best practice but they probably don't need it and I have EAs that restart twice a day becasue of all the crap they load on their machines.

They fight me to keep their desktop flags, weather bug, webshots and every other garbage background app they can get their hands on :p...

No mater how much trouble they cause.

No offense to the fans of the afore mentioned applications :p

[Kasakato]

I turn my PC off once every 12h. On for 12, off for 12. Its not good for it, but saves energy when I'm not using it.

[125gJoe]

I just gutted, I mean opened the Dell case after hooking up a CRT monitor and still having the major problem. It 'seems' the video card died.. There are 2 capacitors "oozing stuff" out of the tops of them! (any requests for pics and I'll show you..) Macro shots are fun..

Where's the best place to buy a new video card?

I'm looking at an All-in-Wonder ATI Radeon X800 XL AGP. Is this a "proven" video card?


Help...

:huh:

[Galaxie]

The all-in-wonder has a bunch of bells and whistles.... do you need all the video in/out ports? Get an X800 AGP/non=All-in-Wonder and save a few bucks. I've used ATI for the past 4 years.....good stuff. Currently: Radeon 9800XT 128MB. Lists for about $100 bucks on Newegg.com I think.

[Kasakato]

I just gutted, I mean opened the Dell case after hooking up a CRT monitor and still having the major problem. It 'seems' the video card died.. There are 2 capacitors "oozing stuff" out of the tops of them! (any requests for pics and I'll show you..) Macro shots are fun..

Where's the best place to buy a new video card?

I'm looking at an All-in-Wonder ATI Radeon X800 XL AGP. Is this a "proven" video card?


Help...

:huh:
Any smoke? Did they blow their top? Pictures will be good. Do you have a power surge power bar on the PC?

[nursie]

Oh post pics, Joe..ooz is good!!!

[Hannys_Papa]

Just my 2 cents:

Dont try to put the 800XL in a Dell. The card is great and offers outstanding performance (do you play 3D games a lot ? - otherwise i dont see why you'd need it) but also needs a LOT of power that the standard DELL PSUs cant deliver (besides the inadequate cooling in a DELL case). Unless of course you are also gonna upgrade the PSU - which in the DELL case might invite a whole lot of other problems which i dont want to get into.

To get technical just for a short moment - check your PSUs output ratings (label on the PSU side). The +12V rail has to have at least 18 Amps output - prefarably more (20-24). The (combined) wattage alone doesnt mean anything - because the newer video cards draw most of their power from the +12V rail.
Also ignore video card vendors information that says (example): 300W Power supply etc. recommended. Same problem - you can have a cheapo 300W PSU with 5 Amps on 12V - or a brand name with 18. They just give these values so lots of people buy their cards - then run into problems and find out they have to upgrade their power supplies.
I came across this problem hundredfold over the past years so i am just trying to save you some grief.

EDIT: newegg is one of the best places to buy pc components. There are others but i was always pleased with neweggs fast shipping and excellent customer support.

[125gJoe]

Just my 2 cents:

Dont try to put the 800XL in a Dell. ..
To get technical just for a short moment - check your PSUs output ratings (label on the PSU side). The +12V rail has to have at least 18 Amps output - prefarably more (20-24). ..
EDIT: newegg is one of the best places to buy pc components. There are others but i was always pleased with neweggs fast shipping and excellent customer support.
..
Wow..
I think it says 22 amps, so I'm not sure what to buy. (subject to editing.. gotta look again)

What video card is a 'step below' the X800 ?

The Power Supply looks like pain to replace.. Nursie, I'll get some great capacitor leakage pics as soon as I install Camedia Master on this laptop.
Some "ooze" was wiped off the two capacitors..... Just wanted to be sure it was "ooze".. :thud:

[Hannys_Papa]

I have a hard time believing it'd be 22 Amps - maybe on one of the other rails (+5, 3.3) ?
If in doubt take a pic of it - or tell me which dell model it actually it is. What video card does it have in it right now ? I ask because DELLs really arent meant to be upgraded (except adding a stick of RAM maybe, or a HDD) - so best thing is to stay close to whatever is in it right now.

The "next step down" question is difficult to answer - it all depends on your performance needs.

[125gJoe]

Guess there's no 256Meg card without the cooling fan...(?) ..meaning less draw on the power supply.

I don't want the same card again...

[Hannys_Papa]

The 1W the fan uses is the least of your problem compared to 50-100 the actual card draws.
Also - dont be fooled into believing the ammount of memory is the main performance indicator.
There are cards with 128Mb who easily outperform a 256Mb card. Important things to look for are (in this order): core (video chip), memory bandwidth, clockrate, memory.

There are lots of cards who are sold in 256Mb versions that cant/dont actually take advantage of more video RAM just so people think they buy a (more) powerful card. LOL Examples are FX5200, R9600s etc.

[Kasakato]

Just buy what you can afford. I have an AIW something, something. I forget now. But ATI makes great cards, and you cant go wrong. Power supplies are really cheap these days. Some are less than $30 for 450w. And replacing them is easy. Just take out the screws at the back, and unplug any cables to the motherboard, cds, floppy. And put the new one back in just like you took it out. At my dads work with ~500 pcs, they burn through 1-5 a week. Its better to be safe, than sorry.

[125gJoe]

The 1W the fan uses is the least of your problem compared to 50-100 the actual card draws.
Also - dont be fooled into believing the ammount of memory is the main performance indicator.
There are cards with 128Mb who easily outperform a 256Mb card. Important things to look for are (in this order): core (video chip), memory bandwidth, clockrate, memory.

There are lots of cards who are sold in 256Mb versions that cant/dont actually take advantage of more video RAM just so people think they buy a (more) powerful card. LOL Examples are FX5200, R9600s etc.Ok.. I see what you mean.

The computer has:

Pentium 4
3Ghz 800 Mhz Front side bus
XP Home
512 MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400Mhz
120 Gig ATI 7200RPM

And.. the old card...

128Mb DDR GeForce FX5200

[Kasakato]

Lol, NICE PC!!

[125gJoe]

Maybe somewhat nice... But crappy power supply and bad ventilation, not good for upgrading I guess. Maybe I'll just stay with 128Meg video card. I do play some games - but not a priority. The old video card didn't have a fan on it.

[Hannys_Papa]

...Power supplies are really cheap these days. Some are less than $30 for 450w. And replacing them is easy. Just take out the screws at the back, and unplug any cables to the motherboard, cds, floppy. And put the new one back in just like you took it out....

I am sure this is well meant advice - with possible catastrophic consequences though. DELL is one of the manufacturers that used proprietary PSUs for their PCs - meaning they didnt comply with the ATX standards. If you replaced those with a regular PSU - you could kiss your PC and most components in it good by.

Thankfully you posted your PCs specs and seeing its a newer machine you'd be safe to replace it with a regular ATX PSU. A good brand name economy PSU is the Thermaltake 420W on newegg - it usually goes for around 35$.
Defenitely stay away from anything cheap !!! Big no no for PSUs.
If you decide to replace it i'd measure your existing one first - and compare it to whatever you are going to get - just to make sure.

Now to the card itself - you should be able to get away with a R9600 or better 9600Pro with your current PSU. They go for around 70$.
For better performance a 9800Pro would be ok (100$) - but you might end up replacing the PSU.
Other good cards would be Nvidia 6200 (non TC) or 6600. For ALL cards make sure they have at least 128bit memory bandwidth - anything lower and you take a huge performance hit. If you buy a 6200 you need to get a 256Mb version to have 128bit memory bandwidth.

All these things mentioned your best bet (performance/ price ratio) would probably be the Nvidia 6200 - for around 70$ you get much better performance than the equally priced R9600Pro (or even more expensive 9800(pro)).

Whatever card you end up getting - make sure you follow proper deinstallation/ installation instructions to ensure the drivers work correctly.

[Kasakato]

I never picked the Dell part up.

[centralharbor]

since you have a dell and your priority isnt games, i would go with the x600 or x700 line, saves you a few clams.

i had a dell before and psu was the cause of many headaches. there's a place where you can buy a direct replacement, but i forgot where the link is. if you plan on having this comp for a long time, i suggest you upgrade the psu

[125gJoe]

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up with an ATI Radeon 9550 256M and it seems to work better than before the Nvidea died. We almost missed the burned out capacitors when looking it over for overheating problems.

I'll keep in mind the PSU upgrade advice. Something tells me that may be the next problem.

[centralharbor]

what was your old video card, becaue if the 9550 is faster than your old one, it might suck up more power, and then the urgency to get a better psu is greater. i would check on the specs of both video cards to see what kind of power consumption they have. also, underpowering a computer isnt a good thing, so you may need to change it anyway. there was a site where you could plug in all your comps info and see what rating psu you need, ill try go find it

EDIT: i found a couple
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
http://extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp
they seem acurate enough

[Galaxie]

The ATI 9550 has no greater power requirements than his old FX5200. Both run 250 MHz core clocks.

Unless he plays some higher-end games, I don't really see a reason to upgrade the power supply. Like a car, its possible to upgrade just about everything on a PC, but.....if his average power consumption is only about 60 watts, the stock PS should be fine.

[125gJoe]

Oh Yeah.. Almost forgot the pics..

This one is the screen showing a messege with broken text. There were many strange looking screens. Standing away from the screen made this easier to read. At first, I thought... "virus for sure..." Glad it wasn't!

http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL932/715239/2841949/118204744.jpg


This next one is showing the 'Ooozing capacitors'.... Not good... That was almost overlooked when examining the board for burn spots or components that looked burned.

http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL932/715239/2841949/118204741.jpg

Even the tops of the capacitors were 'bulging upwards' from the damage...