all video freeze, monitor blinking

[bravo9]

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help
here is my problem,
just recently i am having problems when viewing any type of video,
whether it be on the internet, ie6 or aol,or running a dvd in my player
my games don't run right either.
the video will start skipping,then
the monitor starts blinking in and out and then my computer will freeze,
can't even use alt,ctrl,dele i have to shut the power off
we (dell and i) went through all the basic steps
ie..drivers,hard drive, syst.restore..etc..
they wanted to send me over to software solutions for $99.00
i said i will call you back...lol
i have a 1 1/2 year old dimension 8300
p 4
3.0ghz
1g ram
geforce fx 5200
now i have it on warranty for hardware,
but they said that all their tests show that it is software problem
i did not add any software to the machine in the recent days
I have no clue what triggered this problem. This only happens with I watch
videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

 

[old jon]

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help
here is my problem,
just recently i am having problems when viewing any type of video,
whether it be on the internet, ie6 or aol,or running a dvd in my player
my games don't run right either.
the video will start skipping,then
the monitor starts blinking in and out and then my computer will freeze,
can't even use alt,ctrl,dele i have to shut the power off
we (dell and i) went through all the basic steps
ie..drivers,hard drive, syst.restore..etc..
they wanted to send me over to software solutions for $99.00
i said i will call you back...lol
i have a 1 1/2 year old dimension 8300
p 4
3.0ghz
1g ram
geforce fx 5200
now i have it on warranty for hardware,
but they said that all their tests show that it is software problem
i did not add any software to the machine in the recent days
I have no clue what triggered this problem. This only happens with I watch
videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

Check your Event Viewer for errors\warning. You might find a pointer.
bw..OJ

 

[kony]

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help
here is my problem,
just recently i am having problems when viewing any type of video,
whether it be on the internet, ie6 or aol,or running a dvd in my player
my games don't run right either.
the video will start skipping,then
the monitor starts blinking in and out and then my computer will freeze,
can't even use alt,ctrl,dele i have to shut the power off
we (dell and i) went through all the basic steps
ie..drivers,hard drive, syst.restore..etc..
they wanted to send me over to software solutions for $99.00
i said i will call you back...lol
i have a 1 1/2 year old dimension 8300
p 4
3.0ghz
1g ram
geforce fx 5200
now i have it on warranty for hardware,
but they said that all their tests show that it is software problem
i did not add any software to the machine in the recent days
I have no clue what triggered this problem. This only happens with I watch
videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

Reinstall DirectX (version 9c).

Scan the system for spyware/viri/etc, this could be a gross
performance problem but only showing itself during a
demanding use, unlike basic 2D tasks.

Check temps and voltages, preferribly voltages with a
multimeter. If your video card has a fan, check it, clean
if dusty, as well as cleaning dust from intake and exhaust
of case if necessary and checking other fan(s).

Check WIndows Device Manager, and Event Viewer.

Is it doing exact same thing in games?
When you "tried drivers" did you install same older Dell
drivers? If so, try newest nVidia Detonator driver from
http://www.nvidia.com

Also try (temporarily) disabling sound in Device Manager, if
they then play it would seem sound, not video is the cause
and video is only the result. Along with this, if sound is
the problem then reinstall sound driver.

Is it possible the system is merely overheating? A CPU
throttling back might have similar effect, was part of why I
mentioned cleaning and fans above, as well as checking
temps. Any idea of what might've changed prior to the onset
of this, if you had moved the system or if it's on same
circuit as a heavy load like a heater or an appliance with a
large motor?

If the system originall worked playing these same videos,
then after you do a system restore (meaning Dell reload of
factory software after wiping the drive, not a Windows
system restore) then it would seem clearly a hardware, not
software problem. If you can put in another drive or make a
whole-parititon backup to temporarily try a clean Dell
factory installation config, that might be easiest. Once
you have tried a complete new installation they can't then
have a valid claim it's software rather than hardware,
assuming it did work correclty initially.

To isolate variables, I'd limit testing to plaing one video
file stored on your desktop, not introducing more variables
with the DVD or IE, etc. Also check add/remove programs for
anything new or suspicious.

 

[bravo9]

thanks for your reply.....
how do u use event viewer
and what would i be looking for?

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help

[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]

videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

Reinstall DirectX (version 9c).

Scan the system for spyware/viri/etc, this could be a gross
performance problem but only showing itself during a
demanding use, unlike basic 2D tasks.

Check temps and voltages, preferribly voltages with a
multimeter. If your video card has a fan, check it, clean
if dusty, as well as cleaning dust from intake and exhaust
of case if necessary and checking other fan(s).

Check WIndows Device Manager, and Event Viewer.

Is it doing exact same thing in games?
When you "tried drivers" did you install same older Dell
drivers? If so, try newest nVidia Detonator driver from
http://www.nvidia.com

Also try (temporarily) disabling sound in Device Manager, if
they then play it would seem sound, not video is the cause
and video is only the result. Along with this, if sound is
the problem then reinstall sound driver.

Is it possible the system is merely overheating? A CPU
throttling back might have similar effect, was part of why I
mentioned cleaning and fans above, as well as checking
temps. Any idea of what might've changed prior to the onset
of this, if you had moved the system or if it's on same
circuit as a heavy load like a heater or an appliance with a
large motor?

If the system originall worked playing these same videos,
then after you do a system restore (meaning Dell reload of
factory software after wiping the drive, not a Windows
system restore) then it would seem clearly a hardware, not
software problem. If you can put in another drive or make a
whole-parititon backup to temporarily try a clean Dell
factory installation config, that might be easiest. Once
you have tried a complete new installation they can't then
have a valid claim it's software rather than hardware,
assuming it did work correclty initially.

To isolate variables, I'd limit testing to plaing one video
file stored on your desktop, not introducing more variables
with the DVD or IE, etc. Also check add/remove programs for
anything new or suspicious.

 

[old jon]

thanks for your reply.....
how do u use event viewer
and what would i be looking for?

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help

[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]

videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

Reinstall DirectX (version 9c).

Scan the system for spyware/viri/etc, this could be a gross
performance problem but only showing itself during a
demanding use, unlike basic 2D tasks.

Check temps and voltages, preferribly voltages with a
multimeter. If your video card has a fan, check it, clean
if dusty, as well as cleaning dust from intake and exhaust
of case if necessary and checking other fan(s).

Check WIndows Device Manager, and Event Viewer.

Is it doing exact same thing in games?
When you "tried drivers" did you install same older Dell
drivers? If so, try newest nVidia Detonator driver from
http://www.nvidia.com

Also try (temporarily) disabling sound in Device Manager, if
they then play it would seem sound, not video is the cause
and video is only the result. Along with this, if sound is
the problem then reinstall sound driver.

Is it possible the system is merely overheating? A CPU
throttling back might have similar effect, was part of why I
mentioned cleaning and fans above, as well as checking
temps. Any idea of what might've changed prior to the onset
of this, if you had moved the system or if it's on same
circuit as a heavy load like a heater or an appliance with a
large motor?

If the system originall worked playing these same videos,
then after you do a system restore (meaning Dell reload of
factory software after wiping the drive, not a Windows
system restore) then it would seem clearly a hardware, not
software problem. If you can put in another drive or make a
whole-parititon backup to temporarily try a clean Dell
factory installation config, that might be easiest. Once
you have tried a complete new installation they can't then
have a valid claim it's software rather than hardware,
assuming it did work correclty initially.

To isolate variables, I'd limit testing to plaing one video
file stored on your desktop, not introducing more variables
with the DVD or IE, etc. Also check add/remove programs for
anything new or suspicious.

Start\Help and type in Event Viewer.
bw..OJ

 

[bravo9]

we put in factory drivers but updated right away
dxdiag says i have 9.c
and no errors?
if it was overheating ............ it start ok then overheat
it blinks as soon as i start

help!
i was on the phone with dell all night and no help

[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]

videos or play games.
thanks,for any help from anyone

Reinstall DirectX (version 9c).

Scan the system for spyware/viri/etc, this could be a gross
performance problem but only showing itself during a
demanding use, unlike basic 2D tasks.

Check temps and voltages, preferribly voltages with a
multimeter. If your video card has a fan, check it, clean
if dusty, as well as cleaning dust from intake and exhaust
of case if necessary and checking other fan(s).

Check WIndows Device Manager, and Event Viewer.

Is it doing exact same thing in games?
When you "tried drivers" did you install same older Dell
drivers? If so, try newest nVidia Detonator driver from
http://www.nvidia.com

Also try (temporarily) disabling sound in Device Manager, if
they then play it would seem sound, not video is the cause
and video is only the result. Along with this, if sound is
the problem then reinstall sound driver.

Is it possible the system is merely overheating? A CPU
throttling back might have similar effect, was part of why I
mentioned cleaning and fans above, as well as checking
temps. Any idea of what might've changed prior to the onset
of this, if you had moved the system or if it's on same
circuit as a heavy load like a heater or an appliance with a
large motor?

If the system originall worked playing these same videos,
then after you do a system restore (meaning Dell reload of
factory software after wiping the drive, not a Windows
system restore) then it would seem clearly a hardware, not
software problem. If you can put in another drive or make a
whole-parititon backup to temporarily try a clean Dell
factory installation config, that might be easiest. Once
you have tried a complete new installation they can't then
have a valid claim it's software rather than hardware,
assuming it did work correclty initially.

To isolate variables, I'd limit testing to plaing one video
file stored on your desktop, not introducing more variables
with the DVD or IE, etc. Also check add/remove programs for
anything new or suspicious.

 

[kony]

Start\Help and type in Event Viewer.
bw..OJ

.... or just Start-Run-"eventvwr.msc", or in Administrative
Tools, either on the start menu (if you'd enabled that) or
in Control Panel.

You'd be looking for anything that seems related, anything
flagged as a problem. Most likely it'd be in the System Log
if there's anything, but while you're in there check out the
rest of the entries as any of them can be a system of a
"potential" problem, even if that problem is unrelated to
your current issue.

 

[kony]

we put in factory drivers but updated right away
dxdiag says i have 9.c
and no errors?
if it was overheating ............ it start ok then overheat
it blinks as soon as i start

It's a bit hard to keep track of the thread when you don't
address what you've done in context, replying after each
item in an post... also by leaving and mentioning the things
you have _not_ done yet, it may be easier to keep track of
other things to try.

We need you to be more specific too, for example above you
wrote "we put in factory drivers but updated right away".
What does this mean? You installed the original Dell -
provided drivers that shipped with the system?

What does updated mean? Installed newest nVidia reference,
or used windows' update (don't do that), or ?

I didn't ask what version of DirectX you had, I suggested
that you install DirectX 9c (doesnt' matter if you're
already running 9c or not). In some cases, DirectX can get
corrupted, fouled up, or whatever, requiring reinstall.


You didn't mention anything about the sound either.
I recommend going back through my last post and doing all
those things and reporting on the results of each, if it
doesn't work, or which helped if it does.

Pick out a fairly common short video clip for testing
purposes, something like an MPEG1 320x240 clip, nothing
fancy or that uses another codec unless you're SURE your
other sound codecs are 100% right in every way- but it's
just another extra variable to have to factor in all this,
the easier way to go is making the test as simple as
possible and likewise the hardware towards isolating this.

Also, you might try temporarily underclocking the system to
see if it makes a difference.