Please help! Hardware issue?

[GRoston]

This problem happened for the first time yesterday. The screen suddenly freaked out – it changed colors, etc., but the computer was running fine (because I could hear a song being played). I doubt that the issue is malware, but to be safe, I rebooted the machine. The problem happened again just a few minutes ago and I captured it on video, see http://pairofdocs.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CompScreenIssue.mp4. Note that once the issue stopped, the computer continued working as if nothing had happened.

What’s causing the problem? More importantly, what should I do to resolve the problem? This computer has been working fine for years and I doubt that the issue is a loose cable (they’re all screwed in) or a bad cable (since they are never moved).

 

[townsbg]

Clearly there are some graphics/display issues going on. If your computer isn't crashing I would investigate the monitor. I would start by swapping out the cable with a known good one. If that works issue solved. If it doesn't try a known good monitor. Then check back with us.

 

[GRoston]

townsbg: Thanks for suggesting the cable. Yesterday, I took the computer out of standby and nothing. So, I ran to Best Buy and nought a monitor cable. That 'fixed' the issue, but the cable was not sufficiently good to show my hi-res screen clearly. So, I had one overnighted, it just came, and things are back as they should be.

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I spoke too soon! Several hours after installing the new cable, I had the same issue. However, this time, the song that was playing stopped playing and the sleep button on my keyboard didn't work. I had to hit the reboot button.

I fear that this may be a motherboard issue. Sound reasonable? If so, would my best bet be to purchase the exact same motherboard and replace it? If I do this, will the system likely just startup again? If I cannot find the same motherboard and have to get another, would there be problems upon rebooting? Any info you can share will be appreciated!

 

[townsbg]

Try smaller first. Maybe try a new keyboard and test that keyboard on a different computer. A new computer motherboard will deactivate windows. Even the same model. That shouldn't be a problem if you have a retail version of Windows 7 but it will be if it is OEM. I would save replacing that as a last measure. I would even suggest a reinstall first if it came to it.

 

[file3456]

On its face, and with my years of experience helping people with computer issues, it seems likely that the use of the low power state of sleep or hibernation may have goofed something up. Particularly on the GPU side. These low power states mess around with ACPI. Run through this entry on what that is: Advanced Configuration and Power Interface - Wikipedia

Does that mean you can't use a low power state? No, but I'd really encourage you not to use it. Being very honest with you, I've seen my fair share of issues posted all over the Internet due to these low power states. It doesn't cause a problem for all, but it can be a source of issues and hard drive data corruption. This is what I'm thinking the issue is at the moment. You have driver corruption or something. The playing of music is interesting. Is a media player open when you turn the computer on? Lets have a look at ALL auto running services anmd what not. Run Autoruns, go to File and save the ARN file. Zip the ARN file and upload here. Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

Do not mess with turning things off, on or deleting them unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing.


So, in a nutshell you may have some OS corruption or it's the GPU driver. Lets first tackle the GPU.

Go to the start orb. In the search box enter dxdiag. In the dxdiag window that appears click each and every single tab on top and see if there are any problems reported. Do this in the 64 bit version of dxdiag as well. You'll see that option in my screenshot attached to this post.







Now, lets check for any problem devices. Go to the search orb again, in the search box enter msinfo32.exe. On the left click on Components. In Components go to Problem Devices. Whada got?


Lets have a look at Even Viewer. Event Viewer is in the Control Panel, but lets just make this an easy process. Attached are two batch files. Run each one on the desktop. Each file will be for the System and Application events. zip those two files that were produced and upload the zip file here.

If you can't even get in the computer to do this, then try safe mode. If that doesn't work it'll require a live boot CD using Hirens to extract the Event Viewer files. It's a pain when I'm not sitting there. You can get into safe mode by fully restarting the computer and repeatedly taping the F8 key as the computer boots. In the provided options just chose the first option of "Safe Mode." If you needed networking or Internet in safe mode you'd chose with the networking option. But, if you're trying to iron out a TCP/IP/networking issue this will load those drivers. Just food for thought.


View attachment Create some event logs_yo.zip


This is just a preliminary assignment. I'm not in front of your computer so it's hard to know for sure what's going on. It really could be a lot of things. The aforementioned malware, bad hardware, high component temperatures, corrupt system files, DLLs, even bad memory (RAM). The list goes on and on.

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=Off topic=

Re: Your website. WordPress Security Scan | HackerTarget.com

Keep those plug-ins updated if you can. WordPress is a HUGE sought after CMS by hackers so you need to make sure it's as secure as possible. There are many things that can be done.

WordPress just released a major update so if your website auto updates be on the look out for that. News – WordPress 5.9 “Josephine” – WordPress.org

Also, you're listed on one blacklist for email. Network Tools: DNS,IP,Email

Namecheap really isn't the best and your shared IP is on the radar at AbuseIPDB. The blacklist listing needs to be taken care of by Namecheap. This may affect your email on the site for sending. It shouldn't be an issue to receive email though. Check this site out: Newsletters spam test by mail-tester.com

Anyway... LOL