Irritating Display Problem

[Cowe]

Kind of a strange problem if you ask me. Completely out of the blue, my display just turns a solid colour. Sometimes it's after 10 minutes and sometimes it's after an hour. It does this when I'm watching movies, listening to music or when the computer is idle. It also does it when there is a load on the processor. The only time this doesn't happen is when I'm playing graphics intensive games. I've had this problem since I first built the computer about a month ago. I have to shut down or reset via the case's front panel whenever this happens, as the display won't return to normal.

I have not overclocked my system at all yet, and a clean install of Windows hasn't cured the problem. BIOS is at the latest revision and all drivers are up to date as far as I'm aware. All my temps are within normal limits also.


Any help stopping this problem would be appreciated.

Components are as follows:

ASUS P5W-DH
Core 2 Duo E6600 with Scythe Ninja Plus installed
Sapphire X1900XT 256MB with Accelero X2 installed
2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4
OCZ GameXStream 600w
2x Seagate 7200.10 320GB (non-raid)
Antec P180

 

[k2gremlin]

What are your idle and load CPU and GPU temps??

Try reseating the vid card.. when you pull it out make sure there isnt anything in the slot..

I have never actually heard of this before.. but thats what I would try first

 

[Cowe]

CPU is about 34ºC idle and 52ºC at load
GPU sits around 40ºC idle and I've never seen it above 70 while gaming.
I think my mobo sits around 40ºC idle, if I remember correctly.

I've tried reseating the graphics card a couple of times to no avail. The thing that confuses me is that the system runs perfectly while I'm playing games.

I really don't have a clue which component is causing this, I'm hoping it's not the graphics card since I can't return it having installed an aftermarket cooler.

 

[dokk]

CPU is about 34ºC idle and 52ºC at load
GPU sits around 40ºC idle and I've never seen it above 70 while gaming.
I think my mobo sits around 40ºC idle, if I remember correctly.

I've tried reseating the graphics card a couple of times to no avail. The thing that confuses me is that the system runs perfectly while I'm playing games.

I really don't have a clue which component is causing this, I'm hoping it's not the graphics card since I can't return it having installed an aftermarket cooler.

I do not know how old your monitor is,but,try moving the video cord 'tween the monitor and the computer,??question can you not put back,if needed the original video cooler[fan].
Then there is the old standby,remove everything but the video card,and see what happens..
Could be that the chroma control,circut board attached to the back of the crt,is either dying or loose?? Last time I had such a problem it was the cord
from the monitor to the 'puter..Good luck...

 

[Cowe]

Thanks for the replies, this problem is extremely frustrating.

I've tried a different monitor through a different cable and still have the same problem with the display turning a solid colour. Unfortunately I don't have another PCI-E card to test the system with.

The Accelero X2 is stuck solid because of the thermal pads for the RAM. Thankfully it's doing a better job than the stock cooler.

 

[RyanMicah]

Try updating your bios and drivers, if that doesn't work, a fresh install might help clear something up. Remember to remove old drivers before putting in new ones. Check all connections, like the contact points for your DVI or Analog cables. Is your video card getting enough power? Make sure none of the PSU wires are overloaded, this can help with rail overload too. I forget if your PSU is modular, if it is then try adding extra cables too. Sounds though like you might have a faulty card. It could even be some background application. I still play a lot of StarCraft, and it has a tendency to invert it's colors or something sometimes, especially when I alt+tab. Software can create issues. A fresh install might fix the problem, you could have adware slowing things down. That's my brainstorm. Good luck!