Hi

Ill get straight to the point what the problems are. I think they are connected to my NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 driver.


1) When you start up the computer for the first time when it hasn't been on for a while, the screen is all distorted on start up and the computer has to reboot about 3 times until the distortion has gone.

2) my computer has now started crashing randomly usually after the first start up after a couple of hours of the PC being turned off.
What usually happens is the computer will crash and then the screen will go off like what happens when it changes resolution. sometimes it comes back on and the computer works as normal, but 7 times out of 10 the screen will go off and will disconnect from the computer.


(Other problems i've had is when going on certain sites my modem will just disconnect and i will have to reset it in order for it to work again - i'm not sure if this is related though - Also my C:/ has less than 20% space left on it. could this be a contributor?)


If you can shed any light on these problems it will be very much appreciated.

Thanks Alot

What O/S (Operating System) are you running? Up to date? Service Packs?

Upon first reading of your post;

"1) When you start up the computer for the first time when it hasn't been on for a while, the screen is all distorted on start up and the computer has to reboot about 3 times until the distortion has gone."

Quite possibly indicates a connectivity problem. (The warmer contacts get, the better the "grip".) Where is the question.

How old is your monitor?

Do you have to turn on a power button on the monitor for it to work? Or does it have a Standby function?

Problem #2 may be thermally related. ie; System shuts down due to heat buildup.

"(Other problems i've had is when going on certain sites my modem will just disconnect and i will have to reset it in order for it to work again - i'm not sure if this is related though - Also my C:/ has less than 20% space left on it. could this be a contributor?)"

Lets get the crashing fixed first. 20% drive free space should be OK, so dump what you don't need. If you need advice on this, post back. I have written a batch file to rid the system of junk. I can post the link to it if you'd like.

Im running Windows Xp and Regulary check for windows updates.

I Do have a power button on my monitor.

The computer doesn't really get worse as its left on for longer though. Like today this is the first time it was switched on today and I had to reboot about 10 times. Sometimes because the screen just disconnected before it got to the log in screen. and the other times because after I logged on the computer would just crash.

my email address is Matty130788@yahoo.co.uk

you can reply back to that if it is easier.

Thanks

"Sometimes because the screen just disconnected before it got to the log in screen"

Do you mean you get a "NO SIGNAL" message on the monitor screen, or does it just stop responding and go black? Does the power indicator light (on the monitor) change color?

Do you have another monitor and video card you can swap out to eliminate one or the other as the problem? (Swap one at a time.)

We don't usually respond to Email or P.M.'s as we like to keep all the information on the board for others to read.

Yes it varies really, sometimes the screen will just go black and then the monitor will switch off and go on standby and why you try to switch it back on it will go back off again a few seconds later.

Also there are times when the screen will just go off like what happens when the screen changes resoloution and it will come up no signal detected and stay like that.

The only other monitor ive got is a macintosh one so I dont think that will be any good and I dont have another video card to swap it with.

"... the screen will just go black and then the monitor will switch off and go on standby and why you try to switch it back on it will go back off again a few seconds later. ......... Also there are times when the screen will just go off like what happens when the screen changes resoloution and it will come up no signal detected and stay like that."

If you have the Users/Technical Manual for the monitor, check to see if this is normal behaviour when in a No Signal state.

I'm not familiar with macintosh, but if it's a VGA or SVGA, and the connector is of the standard configuration, it should work. If you connect it and get the same reaction, then it's time to look at the video adapter (or drivers) as the most likely cause.

Speaking of which, have you tried a video driver that's down a version from the latest release. This sometimes makes a difference.

I've just opened my Pc up and cleaned out as much dust as possible, but when I took out the video car the fan on it was disconnected, Is this supposed to be because i've plugged it in now.

when starting up my PC the start up screens were still all distorted though.

A disconnected cooling fan on a high power video adapter is not good news. Part of the chip(s) may have become damaged. (I fear this may be likely.)

Unless it's running OK now with the fan connected, and since you don't have another video card to swap out, I suggest you remove the card, and run with the on board video. This will/should at least confirm the screen distortion etc was caused by the other (damaged) card. You ~may~ have to enter the bios on bootup to set which video the system uses. HP is F1 I believe. The video chipset drivers for your machine can be obtained from the HP site.

Or, as another alternative, if you have a ~GOOD FRIEND~ who would loan you a video card for experimentation then.........

Please post back with any info/developments so the thread/topic isn't left "dangling".

When I started up my PC today there was still the distortion at start up but as you said, that may be due to the possibly damaged video card and irreversible. But so far the computer seems to be running faster and hasnt yet crashed.

I think one of the causes may of been the NVIDIA settings were wrong because I reinstalled NVIDIA yesterday and it seems to be working pretty much ok now (except for the distortion that is).

There are a few other minor problems I still need to address with you if thats ok?