Monitor went Red Computer Shut Down

I have Vista Ultimate was browsing the Internet (Firefox) when all of a sudden the monitor just went all red, I was staring at it in disbelief when about a minute later the computer shut down by itself. I restarted and on booting up gave me the option of selecting to restart normally. It all seems to be working allright at the moment. But why did it do this, has anyone had this happen to them? Thank You

 

Thank you, I checked out the link provided and the color red is about right but my red is just the full screen with nothing else on it no grey, black or any message at all. The computer is now functioning normally but I am wondering if this is something I should be worried about. Reference to Red Screen of Death, refers to playing games (I wasn't, and a beta version of Vista (I have full version Ultimate), as well as maybe boot problems. Well as far as I can see it seems to work all as it should, it just stopped working after about half an hour of internet browsing.

 

This might possibly be an issue with your graphics card. I recommend you download and install http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and post back the temperature reading for GPU.

 

If the PC repeatedly shuts itself down (or requires holding in the power button in longer than usual to get it to start), a failing power supply is a possibility.

Since you didn't post your system specs, I'll give a few other general red flags that may indicate a PSU problem:

* You've recently added or replaced your video card with a faster one.

* The power supply is over a few years old (the maximum output of a PSU can drop up to 10% per year as it ages).

* It is an OEM (HP, Dell, etc.) or cheaper off brand PSU - most of these are either very low output to begin with (see the aging comment above) or their rated output wattage is based on "peak" output - not the constant output ratings better brands such as Corsair or Antec use.

Finally - if you run out of ideas - plug the unit into a different UPS or power surge protector. This sounds strange; however I remember it ended up finally being the culprit in a post a few months ago by someone with a similar issue.

Hope one of the tips posted so far solves the problem

 

System is approx 2 yrs Old

Speedfan Info:

GPU 47C System 36C CPU 33C AUX 4C CPU 40C Local 40C Remote 2 40C Core0 45C Core 1 44C

Operating System
MS Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP2
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 43 °C
Yorkfield 45nm Technology
RAM
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz 5-5-5-15
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5Q-PRO (LGA 775)
Graphics
DELL 2408WFP @ 1920x1200
1024MB GeForce GTX 280 (XFX Pine Group) 49 °C
Hard Drives
976.76GB Seagate ST31000340AS ATA Device (IDE) 30 °C
488.39GB Seagate ST3500320AS ATA Device (Unknown Interface) 29 °C
Optical Drives
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215 ATA Device
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215 ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

Your CPU, GPU and other temps. appear fine.

Try the following site to be sure your NVIDIA drivers are up to date:

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

(Special thanks to baklogic for posting this link in another thread)

 

It sounds like a random crash, and since it hasn't re-occurred. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I have updated Nvidia Drivers and for the past few days everything has been fine. Thank you everyone for your help.

 

I am again having problems with the monitor. After working for awhile with no problems at all on start up next day screen will not start, just blank, I tried to reboot but still nothing. I left it for a few hours and tried again still nothing. I then turned off all power sources and tried the next day. It started and works normally, there does not appear to be anything wrong it all looks good. I then had the same problem again today. It took 3 hours before I could get it to work. I have disabled all screen saver and modes that turn the hard disk or screen off so that hopefully I don't get this black screen while I am working on it. Don't know if this is will work. There must be something going wrong but what or how do I find out

 

At this point I would start looking at power issues. I'm not positive this is the problem; however I have run into issues in the past where a PSU can start acting squirrelly without totally failing or there are line voltage issues.

First, if you have a multimeter, check the voltage output from your surge protector or UPS for a few minutes. If you are in the US or Canada, the voltage output should be between 110-130 volts AC and should not vary + more than a few volts over a few minutes time.

If the voltage is constantly <110 VAC or fluctuates, try a different surge protector or UPS (sounds strange, but an OP in a recent thread stated this solved the ghost in the machine on a similar problem after a few weeks of diagnostics).

Do the lights in the room dim or flicker when a high-draw appliance (heater, 'frig, etc.) kicks on? If so, this may be causing a "brownout" where voltage to to the PC drops to an unacceptably low level each time. Each time this happens it has the potential to corrupt data on the HDD. It's not always instantly tied to the brownout, it can happen over time.

If you have a laser printer on the same circuit, its high initial current draw can do the same thing (plug a lamp with a standard incandescent bulb into the surge protector. If the lamp flickers or dims when the laser printer fires up out of energy saving mode, it's an unacceptable voltage drop for your PC).

If you are getting voltage drops, the best advice is to invest in a UPS battery backup and plug only the PC, monitor and critical peripherals (external HDD, USB adapter, etc). into it. This will prevent the voltage drops and is what I had to do on my main PC to protect it from the laser printer.

If any of these issues happened, I would backup all data and do (at a minimum) a Windows repair - preferably a wipe of the drive and fresh reinstall.

Going back to my original answer, if above steps check out OK and the issue reoccurs, buy or borrow a decent PSU, minimum of 500 watts (read reviews on NewEgg and stay way from no-names; they often have inflated peak versus constant wattage ratings). Reformat/reload Windows.

Although there may be other possible causes, this is the most common problem/solution set I've seen from experience.

Good luck.

 

Unable to do checks on voltage output, but will go and purchase UPS tomorrow. I have a Belkin surge protector. In Qld Australia, and no visible dimming of lights etc, only a inkjet printer which is always on, doesn't get turned off. Just a hour ago when working on the computer the screen froze and I couldn't get anything to work, I could still see all the windows and work that I had opened but couldn't get the mouse to move. CTL ALT DEL wouldn't do anything so had to power off. On restart I can hear the computer start through the speakers I can hear the windows sounds and the computer virus said it had updated. However the Dell Monitor is in Power Saving Mode with no connection detected from computer. So it remains blank. So far unable to get it to work again (using a laptop for this). Does this still sound like Power Problems? :cry

 

Just to let you know that the problem turned out to be a faulty graphics card. I suffered a power black out and the UPS didn't seem to save the computer in this regard or the video card just went into melt down permanently. From this point on the monitor would not work, so it was beyond my abilities, took it to a shop where they did some tests and solved the problem

The old graphics card will display a picture for a little bit and then stops working, which I suppose explains a few things, so the computer now has a new graphics card and everything is back to normal thankfully.

Thank you everyone who offered help, much appreciated.

 

Hi guys i have the same problem thats become frequent over the past few days.
I have a brand new system about a month now. After booting and after a while the monitor goes red and the computer goes unresponsive. Any help would be appreciated my specs : Cpu - i7 3930K
Mobo - Asus Gene Rampage IV
8Gbs Gskill 2133Mhz Ram
Asus Gtx 680
Sandick SSD
1Tb WD hard drive
and 850W kingwin powersupply

 

Hi there - I bought a new Graphics Card (GeForce GT 630) which is bigger than what I had previously. Also I am updated with Drivers. but lately I will be in the middle of doing something and Ill either get a red screen or Ill just shut down. Any suggestions would be appreciated.