Is my computer dying?

[xfirefly9x]

Computer problems. Specifically, those I mentioned last post and additionally, every so often the screen blinks black and then back to whatever I was doing. This blinking may be one time, or multiple times, and while it usually is quite fast, at least twice, the screen has gone blank for a full minute or so. (Nothing particular to trigger it, either. It's happened while using Chrome in general, while looking at pics on facebook, and while attempting to watch something on VLC player.)

Zach is convinced it's something to do with the graphics card, which makes sense, only neither of us can figure out how to fix things.

Ideas? Should I be backing up everything (else; I've already backed up writing) and looking into a new computer? :/

Any and all help is much appreciated.

Comments

[cvionic29.livejournal.com]

Aww that sucks, bb. I don't know what to advice because I'm no good with computers. I've been having problems with mine too. Good luck with that! Hope it gets fixed soon.

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

*squish* No problem. I'm usually okay at computer stuff, but this is beyond me now, so.. ugh. At least, I've not had any of the blinking out in the past hour or two now. That's a definite improvement. Hoping that part is resolved (though keeping watch for more blinks).

Hope you can fix yours soon too.

[etoiledunord.livejournal.com]

My first thought is to see if there are any updated graphics drivers you could download. My second thought is that you might want to defrag your machine. (Though, if you run any recent version of Windows, your computer should, by default, be set to defrag once per week. Never hurts to manually initiate it, though, and it could help with game lag.) Lastly, you might want to clean your computer. Dust does some wacky stuff to the way machines work.

Hope this helps!

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Unfortunately, I've already done all of that.

Updating the graphics drivers is the first thing I tried (for the lag). That's about when I started getting the problems in this post (screen blinking out and back again). :/

Defrag apparently scatters some game data and save files and can make things worse. Just heard this? But.. yeah. I have in past used defrag fairly regularly.

I also went through add & remove programs the other day and removed a lot of stuff I don't use.

Cleaned my PC not too long ago as well, with compressed air (post here (http://xfirefly9x.livejournal.com/1130417.html); 14 June, so not long enough ago for the dust to have rebuilt, surely).

I just... can't think what else to do. That said, we did mess around with some other stuff, and it's been awhile since any issues with the screen blinking off/on. Still getting lag on games though.

[etoiledunord.livejournal.com]

Well, bah. Sorry. Maybe take it in to be looked at? If you like your computer, or if you can't afford a new one, a repair tech shouldn't charge that much to diagnose and possibly fix a problem.

I hope you get it fixed soon, regardless! =)

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been leaning that way. If no improvement by Tuesday, I'll be taking it on the train with me, dropping it off for my dad to pass along to his friend (who built my computer; he did a 'friend' bonus, cost me less to get it built, may do the same for repairs). I'd really rather not do this if possible, though, so googling around still.

I just.. it's 3 years old. Almost not worth the cost of repair, could nearly be better to just replace it outright. But.. I don't know my PC is that bad, or if it just need more poking yet... so. More poking it is, for now. :/

Thanks, I hope so too.

[richyl88.livejournal.com]

I'm not too good with that kind of stuff,I just let geek squad take care of it. I hope whatever it is can be fixed!

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Seemed better today; hope that keeps up.

[ankareeda.livejournal.com]

Agh, I hope you can fix it soon. I can't give you an advice, but I'm crossing my fingers that the problem is solved no time. *hugs*

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Thanks. No problems today (other than with games being too slow / lag to play). Might do a complete wipe and start fresh in the next few days though. *hugs back*

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

Two Qs:

1. Is it a laptop or a desktop?

2. If laptop: is it actually completely black or, in the right light, can you see still see a vague image on the screen?

My laptop was doing that every once in a while for a looooong time (the last year?) but about a month and a bit ago it went dark and stayed dark (though still with the vague image - so I can identify what it's in, but not details). Pretty sure it's the backlight in the screen (possibly also inverter, but thinking backlight) which, given mine is nearly five years old, isn't really worth a fix. I've currently got it hooked into a TV (that I bought because screen died and TV had died a few weeks beforehand) until I eventually get some money to get a new one.

Makes me sad, because computer is pretty well working otherwise. (Though it do a dump last week. :/)

*

If it is a desktop, maybe try a new monitor first? (if you have not already done so)

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Desktop.

And today, there's been absolutely no flickering. It's really weird. The issues I've been having seem to never quite be the same for more than a little while? I really have no idea how to deal with it this time.

If the flickering happens again, I'll try it out with Zach's monitor. But tbh, I don't think that's quite the source of the problem? Or something?