Comp Screen Just Randomly Goes Black, and Comp Sorta Dies - Please Help :-)

[GetSome681]

OK, so I'll try to include as much as possible about my problem as I can.

For about the past month I've had this problem where all of a sudden the screen just goes black, and the OS has pretty much shut down, or froze. However, the hardware itself is still powered up. Sometimes I might get a buzzing in the speakers, but that's only been after I switched from onboard audio to a PCI Santa Cruz card.

First Setup It Happened With:
ASUS A7V8X
Antec 350W PSU
256 PNY pc2100
WD 40 GB HDD
Maxtor 120 GB HDD
PNY GF4 Ti 4200

In this setup my maxtor was a secondary hard drive I just had files on. Basically, the computer would do it mostly when I was accessing files, or writing to that maxtor. However, it did happen a few times without doing anything with the maxtor, however it was MUCH less often.


So, I sold some parts, and went through a re-organization of my computer stuff, and ended up moving the ASUS board to a new case.

Second Setup It Happened With:
ASUS A7V8X (in new case)
Antec 550W PSU
640 pc2700
WD 80 GB HDD
BFG GF4 Ti 4200
PCI Santa Cruz

Fresh install of Windows, and what happens a few days later...BAM. It seems that I can't leave the computer on for any longer than 24 hours, as it's bound to just go black and die or whatever.


Of course my first idea was that it had something to do with that Maxtor. I then moved to the idea that it could be crappy nvidia drivers or something? Now I'm worried that it's my motherboard. I'd hate it if it were b/c when I first ordered this ASUS board I received two dead ones initially. I love ASUS, but it seems my luck with them hasn't been that great.

The Help I Need:
Has anyone else experienced something like this? If so is it still happening for you, or did you fix it? What did you do.
Or even if it hasn't happened to you, do you have any ideas what could be causing this? Any possible fixes?

One extra tidbit...when I switch the ASUS to the new case, for some reason the onboard sound wasn't working, which is why I threw in the Santa Cruz card. I know most of what I say probably point towards the motherboard, however I was just hoping that someone might have some other ideas or know of some fixes.

Anyways, any and all advice/help you could give would be more than appreciated. I have a Soyo KT333 Ultra Platinum Edition, however I'd rather stick w/ this ASUS as its performance is much better in my opinion, not to mention all the extras it has (SATA which I want).

I thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you again in advance for any effort you might put forth in helping or answering me.

 

[SemperFi]

From what I have read there doesn't seem to be anything left but your motherboard. You have switched PS, memory, and video card. Only thing left is CPU and MB.

What OS are you running? If you have 2000 or XP you can go into control panel>administrative tools>event viewer and look at a few more details about the error.

 

[GetSome681]

Originally posted by: SemperFi
From what I have read there doesn't seem to be anything left but your motherboard. You have switched PS, memory, and video card. Only thing left is CPU and MB.

What OS are you running? If you have 2000 or XP you can go into control panel>administrative tools>event viewer and look at a few more details about the error.

I'm a Mac whiz, and only started getting into PCs about 4 months ago b/c of the games! So, thanks for letting me know. Anyway...it seems that this might be my error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: atapi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 12/12/2002
Time: 2:17:52 AM
User: N/A
Computer: THABEST
Description:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort1, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0f 00 10 00 01 00 64 00 ......d.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: ee 12 01 00 00 00 00 00 î.......
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 ........
0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........


Ok, so what's IdePort1? Is that referring to the IDE1 channel? Could it be that channel is fried or not functioning correctly?

 

[GetSome681]

Actually that's not the error, as I know what that's referring to, and the time is incorrect. The last time this happened to me was around 1:30 pm 12-12-02. However, no errors are listed past this one. What would be the circumstance that a system error doesn't get listed or recorded in there?

 

[SemperFi]

It wouldn't hurt to check the application section also.

Most of the major problems are in the system section though.

 

[GetSome681]

Yeah, nothing really in the application section...went through that before.

I guess it's most likely the motherboard then. It's just so strange b/c it can go for days without it happening, and sometimes it will happen 3 or 4 times within an hours time.

Guess it's time for a new mobo unless anyone has some other ideas.