Anyone know what causes this problem?

[Northern Lawn]

I've had this problem for about two years. Since then I have upgraded everything in my computer. I've went from XP pro, to Vista, to Windows 7. New mobo, cpu, 3 different video cards, New hard drives and even the burner is new. New monitor, the only thing that is the same is the case. btw, I didn't do the upgrades to get rid of this problem it was just a natural cycle of upgrading my system.

Anyway, If I watch show or even You tube in full screen for too long this will happen. Yesterday I bought a new radeon 4870 2 gig video card and was watching the UFC i think, and it went like this then blue screened. Then it did it again after awhile.

What the hell is going on? I remember long time ago I thought it was a bum 8800GT so I bought a 8800GTS. Then a new power supply then I just got used to rebooting my computer when it happens.

Is this normal? I have now replaced my entire computer and operating system and STILL it fubars on me.

 

[Tsavo]

Hm...I got weirdness with Flash on other PC...turned off hardware acceleration in Flash made it stop.

 

[Hyperlite]

does your case have really crappy ventilation? That sort of progressive degradation sounds like heat, and the case is the only thing you haven't changed.

 

[faxon]

does your case have really crappy ventilation? That sort of progressive degradation sounds like heat, and the case is the only thing you haven't changed.

i was gonna say the same thing. make sure the video card isnt overheating using software readouts to check the running temps. it's possible the case simply isnt venting the heat out of it the way it should

 

[Northern Lawn]

does your case have really crappy ventilation? That sort of progressive degradation sounds like heat, and the case is the only thing you haven't changed.

My case has been wide open for the last few days. I have a Wave Master with sliding mobo tray, I slid that back about 8 inches as I was adding some extra hard drives and knew I was getting a video card. So both sides are off and the mobo tray is slid back about 8 inches.. so yeah, really good ventilation lol. Even when the case is together though, I have two front fans, an exhaust fan on the top and another on the back plus the power supplies have intake exhaust as well. Dust free, I cleaned it up etc and it's in a very cool basement, like 18C.

 

[ronach]

You know..food for thought, that pattern on your screen looks like high power RF bleeding into your system. Do you have a Ham Radio person living close to you, next door or in your neighborhood, an old time CBer maybe, or a local transmitter for radio or TV close by ? Let us know.

PS- Some times an old kitchen appliance will cause a similar effect.

 

[theevilsharpie]

My case has been wide open for the last few days.

A wide-open case is not well-ventilated unless you've got a large floor fan pointing at it.

 

[Northern Lawn]

You know..food for thought, that pattern on your screen looks like high power RF bleeding into your system. Do you have a Ham Radio person living close to you, next door or in your neighborhood, an old time CBer maybe, or a local transmitter for radio or TV close by ? Let us know.

PS- Some times an old kitchen appliance will cause a similar effect.

That's interesting. About the radios, not to my knowledge but the circuit this computer is on, is crazy. The entire basement is on one circuit (except for washer, dryer and furnace), it also powers some things upstairs in the kitchen.

Having renovations soon, all the basement walls will be restudded, new electric and I'm going to have new breakers added for the computer area. I want the lights and the electronics to have their own circuits.

You know, I never thought of this, but it has to be something like that. Something that has not changed in two years.

 

[theevilsharpie]

AC power fluctuations are absorbed by your PSU. In addition, the tile pattern of the visual anomalies indicates a video card malfunction. Outside interference would have a more random pattern.

 

[Northern Lawn]

AC power fluctuations are absorbed by your PSU. In addition, the tile pattern of the visual anomalies indicates a video card malfunction. Outside interference would have a more random pattern.

3 high end video cards in a row?

Oh yeah, when this happens I can minimize it to normal size (6" x6" whatever it is) and it will be watchable again but I still have artifacts on my cursor. It's just a few lines and if I got to click on play or pause or any button, I have to keep the cursor an inch or so to the right so it will be able to click. Then things will start to flicker after a few minutes and eventually it will crash. If I go full screen it's right back to my original picture. Eventually the monitor goes black, everything freezes and I have to press the reset button (unless it goes blue screen which is rare).

Maybe I should point out that there are only a couple plug ins in this basement, it's an old house. So there are tons of extension cords so everything can get plugged in.

 

[theevilsharpie]

If your case doesn't provide sufficient cooling for the card, it's plausible.

 

[ronach]

Northern Lawn wrote;
[ So there are tons of extension cords so everything can get plugged in. ] Now the plot thickens after more clues are revealed, in this case, some components are more than likely ungrounded leading to circuit instability, and a lack of a path to shunt to ground any lurking RF. By the way..power supply filters smooth out power supply generated voltages, not RF..RF filters attempt to do that..sometimes successfully..but not always completely.

It will be interesting to read how your system functions after you re-wire your basement, keep us posted.

NL..Just for the heck of it..scout around your house and listen for any fan, motor, old fridge anything that may be running all the time, and shut them off for a brief bit and see if your problem clears up, won't hurt, just remember to turn them back on. This may help to isolate your problem if you live in a single family dwelling, if you are in an apartment or duplex that has one electrical service then all bets are off..your upstairs guy may have a fish tank plugged in..uh oh.

 

[happy medium]

Can you be more specific about what types of videos your watching when this problem happens besides u tube? Only asking because I was guessing your modem or internet connection might be the problem.

 

[Northern Lawn]

Can you be more specific about what types of videos your watching when this problem happens besides u tube? Only asking because I was guessing your modem or internet connection might be the problem.

Windows Media Player. I was watching the UFC pay per view. On you tube, it could be anything, Tornados.. anything. I don't think it's the internet, I've actually switched from DSL to Cable then back again.. in any case. The pick at the top is a downloaded xvid.

The other guy makes a lot of sense with the heat but when this first problem started like a year or two ago. I had a program called cpuz or something, plus I had a program that could control my video card fan. I have duel monitors so I would wait till it would fubar then take a pic. The temps were fine, I posted them on another site, so I don't know. (the pics are gone now)