PC randomly pops to black or white screen and freezes

[DARKJOKER555]

I've read through the forums a bit, and I see this question asked often enough. However this is driving me absolutely batty. I literally just got this computer on the first, and haven't had the pleasure of using it for more then 15-20 min at a time. The ONLY way it's stable is via "Safe Mode." I thought I had fixed it by uninstalling/reinstalling my Video Card drivers, but it was short lived and makes me think it's not the cause.

2 things to keep in mind, I am computer literate, but new at troubleshooting this type of situation. Someone had suggested I reset my Bios, however in the same sentence they stated I should really leave it for someone who has done it before.

Here are my specs, literally copied from my receipt.

THERMALTAKE, TR2 Standard 500W Power Supply, 24-pin ATX12V V2.2 EPS12V, Retail

MSI, PH67S-C43 (B3), LGA1155, Intel® H67, DDR3-1333 32GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3Gb/s RAID 5 /4, 6Gb/s /2, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail

INTEL, Core™ i5-2400 Quad-Core 3.1GHz, HD Graphics 2000, LGA1155, 6MB L3 Cache, 32nm, 95W, EM64T EIST TB VT-d VT-x XD, Retail

KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) XMP HyperX Blu PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-27) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

XFX, Radeon™ HD 6950 800MHz, 1GB GDDR5 5000MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, 2x DVI+HDMI+2x mini-DP, Retail

SAMSUNG, 1TB SpinPoint F3, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200-RPM, 32MB Cache, Retail

RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

MICROSOFT, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, OEM


Someone on another forum had also suggested that I had a bad "Overclock". If that is the case, how do I reset it back to factory?

*edit* Also should note that I have already filed a complaint/request with the company that Built it for me. I have a 3 year parts and labor warranty that should cover this, but I'm just frustrated as heck I haven't been able to use this machine for anything yet. Also, it' being a holiday weekend I dont expect to hear from them till Tuesday.

 

[Combat Wombat]

If you are still under the warranty date they still may not help you as you have overclocked the unit, unless this company has sold it to you like this..?
Anyhow, it sounds like a video error to me, there are similar hardware related issues where a bad overclock can cause the solder to crap itself and thus create lines on the screen.

Try running of your mobo video and see if will go longer than 30 mins..

 

[DARKJOKER555]

Yeah I have literally not touched anything on this PC, aside from reinstalling my Video Card Drivers.

The suggestion of the overclock being bad came from a completely different forum, but I did not purchase this PC with the intention of getting a overclocked system.

Btw I bought this from AVADIRECT which is pretty reputable, and so far has had amazing service.

Just wanting to see if I can get this thing humming before the Holiday weekend ends and I have to go back to work.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Did you run your video of the mobo yet?

Just a process of elimination.

 

[DARKJOKER555]

When you say "Video of the Mobo" to what are you referring? Mobo is the motherboard obviously, but I think I'm missing a key term here.

May not be as computer literate as I thought.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Ohhh, sorry, So either your Vga or Dvi cable that goes from your monitor needs to go into your motherboard video input instead of your video card > process of elimination.

Take your graphics card out of your system > and use the mobo port instead and see if that Black and White issue still pops up.

Motherboard video:

Like the Creem or blue socket in this picture:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=mobo+video+input&hl=en&safe=active&sa=X&biw=1680&bih=989&tbm=isch&prmd=ivnsfd&tbnid=dmM1vFeGZnFzKM:&imgrefurl=http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2008/12/guide-200812-htpc.ars/3&docid=D18GwIIa0o1YCM&w=520&h=335&ei=NmJkTp6rA63ymAWbteWnCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1169&vpy=537&dur=4435&hovh=180&hovw=280&tx=116&ty=87&page=5&tbnh=151&tbnw=251&start=148&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:148

 

[DARKJOKER555]

Ah ok.

Don't know why I didn't think of that >.>

Gonna try that now.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Good luck.

 

[DARKJOKER555]

Ok, after much troubleshooting and many a hour slamming my face against the wall. I've come to the conclusion it's my Graphics card. Whenever I disable it, or uninstall it, The system is stable. No problems and works great.

However whenever I re-install it, I get the Freezing issue. I've tried drivers all the way back to 10.1 and am getting near the end of my rope.

I'm about to physically remove the card itself and re-seat it, as I think maybe it could have possibly shifted or some nonsense while in shipment.

But ANY advice would be amazing. I've seen this issue across multiple forums and Haven't found a solution that's worked for me yet.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Old cards solder can eventually die. Or dry up, if you start to see red lines on your screen look to this link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/385857-baking-gpus-oven.html

Sounds crazy but it may help and I doubt it will damage anything provided you follow the steps correctly.

 

[DARKJOKER555]

I finally got a hold of the vendor and they're sending me a new Video card ASAP, as that seems to be the culprit.

The pc is uber stable in VGA mode when I disable/uninstall the video card, so they seem to think that's the issue.

But seriously, thank you for all your help wombat. We'll see if the new card fixes it, and if not they said they'll rebuild me a new system. I've only had this guy for about 7 days, and so far it's been a very expensive paperweight.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Haha, no worries, let me know if there is anything else I can do

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