Screen freezes/turns off/blue screen

[xmfx]

My monitor either turns off or freezes in crazy colors about 5-10 minutes after i restart my computer each time. Also got a blue screen once but in my rage I stupidly did not record the information (something about parity check?). So I don't really have the chance to follow through on the 8 steps. I'm posting this from my work comp. Any suggestions? Also, does anyone know how to shut down nicely (besides holding in the power button) without using the screen? I'm worried about damaging the drive.

Running a Dell inspiron 1420 laptop, Windows Vista.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Bobbye]

Sorry, can't do much without any information. You can try another monitor to see if the current one has gone bad.

Also, does anyone know how to shut down nicely (besides holding in the power button) without using the screen? I'm worried about damaging the drive.

Do you mean a total power down of monitor, CPU and peripherals? Or a shutdown using Log off> Shut down? Close all open Windows> Log off> Shut down? unplug if wanted.
Can you get into the system at all, even in Safe Mode, long enough to check the Event Viewer for Errors?
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Monitoring-Event-Logs-Windows-Vista.html

 

[xmfx]

Thanks for your reply!

My most recent update is I got about 30% through a complete system scan with Avira before the screen started jumping around, after which I got another blue screen. Then the computer completely powered down before I could read it.

Now when I power on the computer it will do a complete start up (I can tell from the sounds that play during start up and the pattern of hard disk activity). But nothing ever shows up on the screen. The monitor is working in some capacity in that it is displaying the color black, but nothing more. I think I can enter safe mode, but can't tell since the screen is just blank no matter what. Good news is I can press the power button now after start up to do a hibernate and shut down so I'm not too worried about disk damage.

I'm going to have someone look at it as I now think it may be a hardware problem. If anyone has any other ideas or has had a similar situation that WAS caused by malware please let me know. Thanks again.

 

[Bobbye]

The monitor is working in some capacity in that it is displaying the color black, but nothing more.

Black is actually the absence of color! If you boot into a black screen, there should be some white writing on it. Can you see any?

I think I can enter safe mode, but can't tell since the screen is just blank no matter what.

Booting into SafeMode:
Restart the computer> let the logo load, but BEFORE Windows starts to load, begin tapping the F8 key. Continue the tapping until] the systems loads into Safe Mode.

Sometimes it takes a couple of time to get the timing right. If you'd like help with that, here is a utility that is a program you can open while in Windows and it will boot your system for you into the mode you choose. The following link is a link that you can give them to download a neat utility that makes it easy
http://www.superadblocker.com/bootsafe.html


If you can boot into Safe Mode and would like to continue, please let me know.



http://www.superadblocker.com/bootsafe.html

 

[Spyder_1386]

erm from your initial post and the part about the fuzzy colours and the final post about the blank screen, I'm guessing that your video card has decided to die on you. There's nothing concrete about my reasoning but I do think taking it in would be your best option.

Spyder_1386

 

[9Nails]

erm from your initial post and the part about the fuzzy colours and the final post about the blank screen, I'm guessing that your video card has decided to die on you. There's nothing concrete about my reasoning but I do think taking it in would be your best option.

Spyder_1386

My direction of thinking as well. Typically, video cards with memory errors exhibit this behavior. I think the problem can be eluded to as well with the existence of the parity error. That's not to say that a heat issue can't be the blame, as well as some really corrupted drivers. But I feel it's more likely going to be solved by focus on these areas.

A graceful way to shutdown without the screen is to hit:
[Start Key] + R (This opens the Run Command dialog)
type: shutdown /s then press the Enter key.