Member Avatar for Potato

I recently got a new computer, custom built, and for some reason when I am playing games or watching/playing flash or movies, I will get a No Signal message displayed on my screen and I will have to manually restart, or I will get the blue screen, and I get a window saying my graphics accelerator has shutdown, and that I should restart. Can anyone help me out with this? It has been happening more frequently lately and I dont know why.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by djrivera1

Dani AI

Generated

Symptoms of a display loss during video/3D use plus occasional blue screens and spontaneous restarts point to three broad areas: power delivery (PSU or motherboard), thermal/hardware failure (GPU, cooling, bad caps), and software/driver or OS-level faults. Several replies already touch those (for example and on power/ram, on drivers), but a focused, ordered diagnostic sequence is needed to narrow the cause.

Recommended diagnostic checklist (run these in order):

  1. Capture crash data: check Windows Event Viewer (System and Application) for entries at the crash time and save any minidump files (usually in C:\Windows\Minidump). Note any driver name or STOP code listed.
  2. Clean driver test: perform a full uninstall of the display driver in Safe Mode (use a driver-clean utility if available), then install a known-stable driver version. If the problem started after a driver update, also try a driver rollback.
  3. Monitor temperatures under load: log GPU and CPU temps while reproducing the fault (use a hardware monitor utility). Repeated spikes or sustained temps above ~85-90C strongly implicate cooling or thermal contact.
  4. Power verification: test or temporarily swap in a known-good PSU or use a PSU tester/multimeter to check 12V/5V/3.3V rails under load. Large voltage sag under load or unstable rails usually means PSU replacement.
  5. Memory and minimal-configuration test: run Memtest86 for several passes. Then boot with minimal hardware (one stick RAM, CPU, GPU, boot drive). If stable, add parts back one at a time to find the fault.
  6. Physical inspection: reseat GPU and RAM, check power connectors, inspect motherboard and PSU electrolytic capacitors for bulging or leakage.

If failures persist after the above, try the GPU in another working system (or a different card in the problem PC). Consistent failure on the same GPU in multiple systems indicates a bad card; consistent failures with different GPUs point back to PSU or motherboard. Safety and recovery: back up important data before stress testing, discharge static before handling components, and power down and unplug before reseating hardware.

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Member Avatar for loser34

do u have a non name brand graphics card?

Member Avatar for Catweazle

What graphics card is installed, please? Are the latest drivers for it installed?

Member Avatar for Potato

Its a Radeon 9800 PRO, and it has its drivers.

Member Avatar for Potato

I also forgot that I random restarts too.

Member Avatar for alc6379

What have you tried so far to resolve this?

It could be anything, at this point-- a bad video card, or it could even be a bad processor, power supply, or motherboard.

Member Avatar for djrivera1

Check power supply first if no name brand power supply are bad replaced if not power supply check Videocard and ram. need spec of whole system then someone will be able to help you better.

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