Monitor shutdown and freezes on PC

[Thomp]

A couple of weeks ago I started having problems with the monitor suddenly going black. It would go into what looks like a hibernating mode but I have turned off all of the hibernating options on the PC. I also noticed that whenever the monitor shutdowns that the red processing light also is locked on red like the hard drive is working overtime. Only the monitor goes black as the PC is still on but locked up. I have to unplug the PC to get it to shutdown but it boots up fine every time. I took it into the PC store that built the system for me to see what was wrong. I thought it was the hard drive at first but the tech said it was fine.

He tells me he checked the video card, memory and power supply but can’t find what is wrong. I wanted more storage space so I had him add on a 120g hard drive to compliment the 40g I already had. When he went to reinstall Windows 2000 back on the PC it wouldn’t work. Seems he could get 98 to work, XP to work but not Windows 2000...very strange. I just decided to upgrade to XP and get the PC home.

Once the PC was home again it started having a lot of freeze ups while I was surfing or trying to run a program. If fact I have rebooted the PC three times just trying to write this letter. Ran my Nortons Antivirus, Ad Aware, Reg Cleaner and Spybot to make sure I didn’t have a virus but everything is coming up clean. I also downloaded system monitor software to check CPU temp and it is running at what I think is an acceptable temperature of 30 degrees Celsius.

Wow. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Systems stats are:
Intel P4
512ram
Windows XP service pack 2
HP flatscreen F1703
System is about two years old

 

[zephead]

have you looked into the possibility that your computer is plugged into a poorly wired outlet or is hooked up to an AC line that has under/over voltage?

i've seen this happen a few times, and here is what i found:
the paging file (pagefile.sys) on the secondary harddrive was accessed by windows, but the ATA controller skipped a beat and lost the data. consequently, windows froze and either showed a bsod or a black screen and the ATA bus LED went on solid. if was fixed by turning off the pagefile on the secondary harddrive.

 

[Thomp]

Is it possible that something as simply as a new power surge protector could be the answer. I have wondered about that as it is very old and I do think my house does have some AC spike issues. The only thing though is that the PC ran fine for over a year on this same powersurge protector.

thanks

 

[Thomp]

Monitor

Update: Well ..The surge protector idea wasn't the fix..If I replaced the motherboard would that fix the possible ATA controller problem? PC repair shop is suggesting that as the next fix. Also could the power supply be bad or not big enough? The Tech previously ruled that out as the system is not going out completely rather just freezing or screen going blank.