Strange coloured lines & random crashes

[Stephen Austin]

OK, seeing as we seem to have a fair number of PC experts in the house,
lets throw this one at you

System:
Gigabyte GA-8SRX m/b
Celeron 1.7
Radeon 8500
1x512Mb DDR 2100 RAM
1x256Mb DDR 2100 RAM
300W PSU ??? I think.... should check this
F-17 AG Neovo TFT Monitor
Running WinXP Pro SP1 with all updates.

Basically the problem is that every so often, the PC will crash. The
monitor will either go blank before saying no signal input, or it will
display random vertical striped lines across the entire screen, THEN go
blank and display no signal input.

Each time this happens, it requires a reboot in order to work again,
however it usually does it several times in a row before actually working.
ie. crash, reboot, crash, reboot etc etc.

I've tried using up-to-date catalyst drivers AND stock windows XP drivers,
both exhibit same behaviour.

I've tried wiping the disk and starting from scratch, problems still there.

Any ideas :?:

TIA, Steve

 

[JAD]

your looking uni directional...........it may not be software related.
I think its your power supply or your vid card is dying. those line
are typical symptoms of a PSU giving up and not supplying the video
system with enough power.

..

 

[Stephen Austin]

your looking uni directional...........it may not be software related.
I think its your power supply or your vid card is dying. those line
are typical symptoms of a PSU giving up and not supplying the video
system with enough power.

I'll replace the PSU and see what happens, one question - could fast-write
have anything to do with the problem? My brother had the PC before I did
and said that turning off fast-write solves the problem, however I have
been unable to verify this. tbh, I was/am sceptical.

Cheers again.

 

[Shawk]

I'll replace the PSU and see what happens, one question - could fast-write
have anything to do with the problem? My brother had the PC before I did
and said that turning off fast-write solves the problem, however I have
been unable to verify this. tbh, I was/am sceptical.

Cheers again.

Fastwrites can cause some instability in some systems. Just try turning it
off (under Smartgart in your display properties). However I'm more inclined
to agree with Jad. Shaun

 

[Dave C.]

I'll replace the PSU and see what happens, one question - could fast-write
have anything to do with the problem? My brother had the PC before I did
and said that turning off fast-write solves the problem, however I have
been unable to verify this. tbh, I was/am sceptical.

Cheers again.

The symptom you have is pointing at the power supply or video card.
Anything that slows the system or video card down could HELP, but it won't
solve the problem. Good luck, -Dave

 

[AMD'r]

Had the same problem with an ATI Radeon 7000, tried a variety of settings
and 2 completely different computers, same thing. RMA'd it and everything
is OK now.

AMD'r