General Computer hardware question

[TinderBox]

Hi everyone.

General computer question here. My screen frequently goes blank (black) and often it freezes for fairly long periods to the point where I need to reboot. Sometimes portions of it go blank and are restored when click another window then go back. I've had an error that says my AGP stopped functioning, once.

I've taken my graphics card out, cleaned the whole case with an air duster, then put it back in. There are no new drivers for my card.

The computer I'm using is quite old - 10 years and I need to get a new one anyway.

Simple question - based on what I've written here, is it more likely the computer or the monitor I need to be concerned with? Funds are rather tight at the moment and I don't want to be spending $$ on a monitor if I don't need one.

This is a desktop computer.

Thanks in advance,

Tinder.

 

[awitch]

Definitely sounds like a computer issue to me; probably the video card itself, but at 10 years, it's not worth just replacing the card.

 

[paul1149]

I would uninstall the card and drivers and then reinstall. A different monitor would be a good test. You can run a utility that reads temps in real time. You can run a linux boot disk to see if it occurs there. Or try a clean boot, new Windows user account, or Safe Mode.

 

[High Fidelity]

I'd save yourself the time and hassle and just get a new system.

You can pick pre-made systems up fairly cheap nowadays. If you just want it for the internet and word processing(Which I presume you do with little ability to do much else on a system that old), you will be able to pick one up for 200-400 bucks from Dell.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

The computer I'm using is quite old - 10 years and I need to get a new one anyway.

A ten year old computer is a potential time bomb for data loss etc...

Depending what your needs are and what you can afford, you might want to investigate buying a cheap refurbished desktop approx 3 years old and if you want to save more money get one without Windows installed as that will save you approx $30-$50. Without Windows installed your options could be reinstalling XP (if you had the old install CD from your current machine) or looking at a flavor of Linux ($0) which would be a great combination with a refurbished PC. Find a shop in your area that deals in refurbished PC's and talk to them.

Not sure if you're in the US or not but, You could look at Neweggs range for refurbished items

Guess to, at ten years, that monitor wont be in the best of shape either

 

[Sketcher]

Sounds driverish. That's usually to blame when the computer goes into power saver/sleep mode and won't wake up. The other item to check for that would be your BIOS. System time issues when the computer is not connected to the Internet or any local network would also point to a BIOS issue.

But I'm in agreement with the general consensus here. At 10+ years old, you need to get a new system. I would do so quickly. If it's drivers instead of BIOS, there may be a bad sector on the hard disk corrupting the driver. If that's the case, your irreplaceable data may be next.

 

[JayJayS]

If you are short on funds, you could try the Intel Nuc. It's not a complete computer, but if you already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse (external hard drives?) it may fit your tight budget requirements.

 

[Peacemonger]

Either graphics card physical failure or AGP/motherboard physical failure. Just old and dead -- the electronic components die over time. I replaced the video card in my 6 year old laptop last summer. It was like $20 on eBay.

Make sure all your data is backed up and buy a new system as soon as money's good. Your monitor's fine although probably obsolete for a new system with DisplayPort.