Where to start - crash but no BSOD

Firstly, thanks for running this site and I hope your experts can help.

Last week one of my machines started crashing randomly. The screens just go black, almost like it is in sleep mode, but nothing but a reboot will wake it up. I get no BSOD but I think something is up because when I reboot it asks if I want to boot into SAFE mode. I have zipped up the files as instructed in a HOW TO thread here, but since I really don't ever see a BSOD I'm wondering if you want to see those files.

Please advise further.

Thank you in advance.

R

Lemur said:

Welcome to SF, RLH. First, please complete your System Specs.

Go ahead and place the zipped file here.

After that, boot into safe mode. Do you have any crashing there?

Did this problem suddenly occur? If yes, did you install any new hardware or software prior to the crashes?

I doubt it's a sleep mode issue, but you can always disable sleep mode, going to power options. At least for testing purposes.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have actually not booted into SAFE mode, I just select start windows as normal. I have no idea what I would do in SAFE mode. The machine boots fine after the crash but then becomes randomly unstable and goes black again. It can be idle or in the middle of work, no real rhyme or reason. No new hardware or software that I can think of, it just started last week with no warning. I have run virus scan, malware scan, chkdsk, memory tool from W7 start screen, no probs reported. I am attaching the files so you can have a look. I did try disabling all the power options, screen saver etc, that was the first thing I tried, did no good. Also, I blew the box out the first day, it really needed it, but after a day it began the crashing again.

I really appreciate the assistance.

R

Interesting. That was one of the first things I tried as well, updating the graphics driver. I ran the auto-detect driver app from nvidia's site and it reported I was up to date. I'll try again.

What do you mean about the audio device is over a year old. Do you mean update the driver?

Thanks

R

Lemur said:

Yes. Your video driver, from ASUS, is old. You will need to go to NVidia's site, which I listed, for the latest driver. Don't auto-detect. Go to the link I provided.

Your VIA Audio Driver is also over a year old. ASUS does not list a newer driver. You can get it at the mfg.

I went to VIA site but I don't have a clue which "product" to DL. There are several codecs, but which one is for me?

Sorry, as this get deeper I am getting more confused.

R