Need some help/advice please, having some troubles...

[Gibster]

Hi all, first off i will list my system in hope that it may help.

amd athlon 3500+ processor
1 gig ram
windows XP
gfx card - geforce 6800 leadtech http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/DisplayInfoMain.asp?e=472194BB-800B-4398-BF12-1109A9E8CE18&td=1

Now onto the trouble im having. Im not at all a computer techie but then ive not had any bother at all with my computer. The past 2 days though suddenly my screen is freezing/jumping, small green and pink squiggly lines appearing all over the screen, and my pc rebooting itself when this happens. Sometimes my pc will not reboot, and the text info that appears at the start of boot up goes all mushy so you cant read it. Ive finally got it working with the side of the case open (the squiggles appeared and screen was freezing so i opened the case and they dissappeared back to normal, the motherboard is fixed onto the side of the case inside so it comes down with the side opening) although im sure it will do this again soon as it has been doing all day, so i thought i would quickly ask the assistance of you experts at techspot.
The latest time this has happened (just now) the comp had been off for 9 hours while i was at work, and within 5 minutes of switching on it did this.

Has anyone got any idea where my problem could be, and how to fix it? Ive tried a couple of different gfx drivers but still the same happens, but then how could it be the driver when ive never had a problem like this before.
Any assistance at all would be great

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Rik]

Sounds like your problem is one of two things, either heat or a bad contact. Firsty heat, try adding a fan or two (what ever your case supports). One blowing in at the bottom of your case and one blowing out at the top is the best for heat removal. If this has no effect then it must be a bad contact, try removing and refitting all cards and ram chipsets and insure they sit in their slots properly. Be careful when doing this as almost every component in your pc is sensitive to static electricity, what i tend to do is switch off at the mains but leave the plug in then hold onto a bare bit of the case for a few seconds to allow any static to ground to earth, the only dangerouss voltage is well sealed inside the power supply so dont go into that. I also tend to leave the switched off mains attached to my pc while i work on it as the case remains grounded and there is no chance of electric shock.

Hope that helps. Rik.

 

[nickc]

blow the dust bunnies out of you're case...

 

[JustinPS]

Like nick suggested, you should give you case a good blowing (that doens't sound proper...oh well). Go to your closest electronics store and buy a can of compressed air--they're usually about $4 a can, sometimes 3 for $10. Open up your case at home (preferably in a room with a lot of windows...it's probably going to be dusty) and start spraying that air all inside the case. Make sure to hold it about a foot away from the case, just to be safe. Let the dust settle and look around in the case to see if there are any more big clumps clinging to any pieces of hardware, then spray it again just for good measure. Don't worry: there's basically no chance of the compressed air hurting your components, unless you hold it way too close or spray it for too long (spray it in bursts, like pssss...pssssss.....psssss, or else it will become too cold, and that can damage parts...if you feel it become really cold in your hand, let it rest until it isn't as cold). Make sure you spray it at the processor fan and the video card fan, make 'em whir a bit and spin the dust out.

Put the case back together, fire it up, and hopefully things will be better. If not, then at least you stopped your case from overheating and frying all of your hardware for another few months.

-JustinPS

PS: I would recommend doing this little cleaning procedure one every few months at the most, preferable once a month.

 

[mailpup]

I would also check to make sure all your fans are working properly, including the fan on the graphics card.

 

[Gibster]

Thanks for the help guys.
I unplugged all my cards and memory, blew away them dust bunnys, and plugged all the cards back in

All working fine again