Glitchy screen

Hello, I started experiencing these strange crashes where my screen gets all glitched out and the sound that's playing, if any, starts to loop. I have no other choice but to restart my computer when this happens because nothing ever registers after the crash happens, not even CTRL-ALT-DEL. I am almost 80 Percent sure it's a graphics card issue but I am still unsure because the audio skips and the computer completely freezes, with the exception of the mouse at certain times. The crash happens in both games and on desktop, however the computer will crash much faster when I'm playing a game.

I have attached some screen shots of me playing Age of Empires when the crash hits. Sometimes it's even worse that it is in the screens. Especially when I'm at the desktop and it crashes.

Any help that anyone can offer would be very much appreciated!

 

Have you tried updating your graphics driver to the latest version?

 

Yes I have, I've also tried rolling back my drivers through Device Manager, but to no avail. :confused

 

Well my problem has seen to go away for now, I didn't even do anything I haven't already tried and it is now magically working. rolleyes

Here's hoping it doesn't come back.

And if anyone can still help me and tell me what I am dealing with it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Greetings, Computerserver, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

You might take a look at your Event Viewer for any obvious flags at or near the time of your next crash.

You might also try loading a good temperature monitoring software - temp issues are often the source of random crashes, especially graphics/sound-related.

 

Well it says that I've had 9 "Kernel-Power" related critical errors, I'd assume that this is the crash because the dates that the errors occurred matched the days that I think they happened on. could this be due to a lack of power to the video card?

I unplugged the side fan from the computer because I was opening the case so frequently. And from that point on, my computer has been working flawlessly.

Any advice or knowledge would be helpful, I want to know if Ineed to get a new power supply in order to not damage any of my computer components. Thanks.

 

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, could it be his PSU? In plodr's last post, voltages were mentioned as possible culprits. and the OP mentioned that removing the case fan seemed to help the problem.

Is it possible that his PSU has JUST enough power for his PC, and the fan (or GPU) is the straw that breaks the camels back?

I'm sorry for jumping in, but this thread got me wondering.

 

Quite possible - PSU issues often present as random crashes.

Could also be a noise problem - if the fan's bearings are flaky and the PSU is riding on the edge or not filtering correctly, the electrical noise introduced might be causing system-wide problems.

And, I keep hearkening back to temperature. If that fan is somehow blowing hot air into the wrong spot...nah, that's too far-fetched.

Computerserver, I'd run through plodr's list, see if anything stands out. If not, and you're still chugging along without the fan, then leave well enough alone. Keep the PSU and temp possibilities in mind, though.

 

First off I'd like to thank everyone for all the help!

And secondly I'm happy to say that the problem has seemed to vanish 0_0

It's very strange but my computer doesn't have any issues anymore, however if this strange crash shows up again in the future, I'll know some possible ways to overcome it.
I'd like to thank Plodr very much for his suggestions, I'll copy those somewhere so I can go back to them if necessary in the future!

Thank you everyone, I love this forum!