Video problems, hanging and crashing on self built - Hardware & Software

So, I recently built my first PC and everything went spectacularly. Over the past few weeks, I've been adding onto it, slotting in another graphics card and replacing the CPU cooler with one that doesn't make as much noise as a 747. Thing is, starting this morning, I've been getting some strange hanging issues. Sometimes, after launching or exiting a game, I just get a black screen and no response from the PC, at least, nothing visible. This also happens when waking up from sleep. On top of that, I don't even get my BIOS splash screen anymore. Troubling to say the least. I require aid! Specs below. [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11363412/specs.png[/img]

Sounds like GFX card overheat or something relating to the GFX card

I don't think it's an overheat. Core temps are well within range.

Alright, I remember there was a program that logged all activity, I've had drivers crash randomly and they showed up in this program (if anyone remembers, say so), try a driver clean and reinstall.

PSU brand, wattage and specs? I know it's very unlikely, but I had that happen on my older computer. Once the card lacked power, the drivers stopped responding and crashed taking down the rest of the system with it :smith:

Psu. And that programm could be Hijacthis?

[QUOTE=ze beaver;28467604]PSU brand, wattage and specs? I know it's very unlikely, but I had that happen on my older computer. Once the card lacked power, the drivers stopped responding and crashed taking down the rest of the system with it :smith:[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021]This would be my PSU.[/url]

I don't like bumping threads, people, but I'm getting a little worried. The time to come out of sleep is getting scary.

Well, is it starting up now? It's hard to tell. The PSU is a good one from a good brand, and it should run all that fine. Maybe try running furmark to see if it works. Make sure you have the latest drivers for GPU, it sounds like the driver could be crashing (black screen), but that would recover after a while, usually. Does the sound loop when the screen goes black, does it cut out, or does it continue playing sounds normally?

[QUOTE=Shadaez;28490184]Well, is it starting up now? It's hard to tell. The PSU is a good one from a good brand, and it should run all that fine. Maybe try running furmark to see if it works. Make sure you have the latest drivers for GPU, it sounds like the driver could be crashing (black screen), but that would recover after a while, usually. Does the sound loop when the screen goes black, does it cut out, or does it continue playing sounds normally?[/QUOTE] It's always been starting up, I just don't get the BIOS splash, and I don't think I heard the POST beep at launch, which is troubling. Black screens are now happening when UAC pops up, and on game exits. [editline]8th March 2011[/editline] And yes, all sounds play normally. In all my years of using computers, I've never had anything like this.

Okay, I might regret doing this, but the problem's still happening. Here's the odd part, it's not occurring on my smaller monitor. Only this Dell one. I'm now also getting small graphics disruptions on the screen in the form of flickering bars every few hours, and they're barely noticeable at that. Still worrying, nonetheless.

[QUOTE=Arachnidus;28496290]It's always been starting up, I just don't get the BIOS splash, and I don't think I heard the POST beep at launch, which is troubling. Black screens are now happening when UAC pops up, and on game exits. [editline]8th March 2011[/editline] And yes, all sounds play normally. In all my years of using computers, I've never had anything like this.[/QUOTE] The beep from the PC speaker doesn't tell you anything other than the PC speaker is working, it's not indicative of a successful boot. Whether or not the PC speaker works is irrelevant to booting successfully, especially since many modern motherboards completely omit the speaker. There's two BIOS options called "quick boot" and "quiet boot". The first one skips certain checks to make booting faster (mostly memory checks) and quiet boot disables the splash screen. If you press del or whatever key that goes into the BIOS when you first turn the computer on, you can disable those options.

I'll work around, see what I can find. Thing is, I haven't tinkered with the BIOS since I built the computer, and didn't have these problems until about five days before I made this thread.