4 days ago my screen started blackening on me for a split of second, but it only happened during the playback of video files or while using my Hauppauge TV Card. initially, the blackening only occurred sporadically (1 or 2x a day), but now it happens every single time i try to play a video, no matter the format (DivX, MOV, MPG or WMV).
starting yesterday, opening a video file is also causing the system to crash. and, sometimes, even opening a dialog-box triggers the problem! it's worth noting that i have NOT installed any app, driver, codec or hardware in a long while. last i remember, i installed VMWare Server 1.0.5 a month ago.
i did some tests and here is the info:
1) Athlon XP 3000+, GeForce FX5500, 1.5Gb RAM, WinXP SP2.
2) i ran 6 popular and updated malware scans (4 Anti-Virus and 2 Anti-Spyware) from Safe Mode and from Bart-PE. all 6 returned: "No Infestation".
3) i *completely* disabled my AV (Free AntiVir) and its Services and tried to open a video....PC still crashed. NOTE: my system has no AntiSpyware that starts up with Windows.
4) i tried re-installing my nVidia driver. i've been using "ForceWare 66.93" for over a year (never had a prob with it). playing a video still made the PC crash.
5) i tried uninstalling the nVidia driver and using whatever video driver Windows loads by default. after the reboot, videos played okay-ish. neither the screen blackened nor PC crashed.
6) i've tried the latest nVidia driver (ForceWare 169.21). opening a video still made the PC crash.
7) i tried opening videos from Windows' Safe Mode.... the videos play miserably badly (no surprise!) but neither i got blackening of the screen, nor the PC crashed!
8) i tried opening videos from a Linux LiveCD (TEENpup, a fork of PuppyLinux).... videos played fine. no crashes or blackening of the screen.
9) i tried restoring an 1-year old hard drive image from April 2007. before booting up, i disconnected the network cable to make sure no updates would take place. my reasoning was, since videos played fine a year ago, they should play fine now (if the prob was software-related). pointless.... opening a video still made PC crash.
any suggestions? should i sack the video card?
starting yesterday, opening a video file is also causing the system to crash. and, sometimes, even opening a dialog-box triggers the problem! it's worth noting that i have NOT installed any app, driver, codec or hardware in a long while. last i remember, i installed VMWare Server 1.0.5 a month ago.
i did some tests and here is the info:
1) Athlon XP 3000+, GeForce FX5500, 1.5Gb RAM, WinXP SP2.
2) i ran 6 popular and updated malware scans (4 Anti-Virus and 2 Anti-Spyware) from Safe Mode and from Bart-PE. all 6 returned: "No Infestation".
3) i *completely* disabled my AV (Free AntiVir) and its Services and tried to open a video....PC still crashed. NOTE: my system has no AntiSpyware that starts up with Windows.
4) i tried re-installing my nVidia driver. i've been using "ForceWare 66.93" for over a year (never had a prob with it). playing a video still made the PC crash.
5) i tried uninstalling the nVidia driver and using whatever video driver Windows loads by default. after the reboot, videos played okay-ish. neither the screen blackened nor PC crashed.
6) i've tried the latest nVidia driver (ForceWare 169.21). opening a video still made the PC crash.
7) i tried opening videos from Windows' Safe Mode.... the videos play miserably badly (no surprise!) but neither i got blackening of the screen, nor the PC crashed!
8) i tried opening videos from a Linux LiveCD (TEENpup, a fork of PuppyLinux).... videos played fine. no crashes or blackening of the screen.
9) i tried restoring an 1-year old hard drive image from April 2007. before booting up, i disconnected the network cable to make sure no updates would take place. my reasoning was, since videos played fine a year ago, they should play fine now (if the prob was software-related). pointless.... opening a video still made PC crash.
any suggestions? should i sack the video card?
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