Display Problems - Vista locks up and can't be used

[spencertaylor]

Hi all;
I am hoping that you can help me.
I am having a problem w/ Vista locking up
It happens after about 7 - 10 minutes of being on - even at the
Welcome screen.
The monitor goes black and it's like the system is dead.
I have an nForce 3 mobo - MSI 7025, 3800 X2 939 chip

Here is what I tried already:
3 different Nvidia drivers
I ran the memory test from the Vista disc, no problems
I have an identical motherboard from MSI, because I thought the board
was bad - I rma'ed it.
The same thing happens in both boards.
I think the video card is ok - I have a 6800 Ultra

I have been having problems with this new CPU. I am going to rma it to
NewEgg, but my system was totally stable before I tried the new mobo -
I went back to the original mobo.
Any ideas? Very frustrated. I can't use the PC for more that 10
minutes.

 

[Bill]

Hi all;

I would burn a live cd from one of the linux distros, boot from it, and
see if you have similar problems. See if the Live Desktop crashes, etc.
This would help you determine whether it is a software or hardware
problem. You should also run memtest for several hours. This file is
usually available on the same live cds. PCLINUSOS TR3 has a decent live
cd with a number of boot up options and also memtest included. I did
notice that with bad memory, the live cd wont boot all the way. As an
afterthought, do you have another video card to test? Is it possible
that the video card is overheating?