Computer question

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I'm wondering if I may have a serious problem with my laptop, or if this is something that is easily remedied.

Basically, I was trying to watch a video earlier tonight (nothing questionable, it was from a legit site, a video posted on the official San Francisco 49ers page), and after expanding it to full screen, basically my computer froze, and the monitor shut off. I had to turn off the computer, and restart it. When I did, everything came up normal.

But this wasn't the first time it had happened. It had happened once before. I just some weird colored lines across my screen, the computer freezes, and then the monitor goes out. I just had it happen just before making this post as well, just trying to look at a friend's posted picture on Facebook, and when originally making this thread, my computer froze on me again, doing the same thing. So I had to restart before I could come back on here to post this.

I am wondering if this may be serious, or may be something minor that I can fix. My laptop has a history of overheating, so I run a fairly powerful fan underneath it to keep it cool. But the other day, when I was doing some cleaning up, I noticed a large amount of dust accrued on my fan, so surely my fan has been kicking dust up into my laptop. Could dust cause problems such as this?

I also have my laptop connected to display through my HDTV, tho that has never caused me any problems in the past, so I don't know why it would now.

Wish I could be more descriptive with the lockup I get before the monitor shuts down, just not sure exactly how to describe it. Anybody possibly have any ideas tho?

 

[bgates87]

OK first of all I wanted to stop and give you props for using the word "accrued" correctly in a sentence. You almost never see that word outside of legal documents and policy papers anymore.

Now then, I don't know much about laptops and I especially don't know much about connecting then to display through an HDTV. Just from my experience with troubleshooting though I would say you should check out the most unusual circumstance within your situation first, and that would be having a laptop displaying on an HDTV. Certainly most laptops are capable of doing this, but it's not their intended function so when things are going wrong that's a good place to start, especially when the problems seem to coincide with doing activities like watching videos that are graphically demanding. I don't know your setup but I would suggest checking that the resolution/refresh rate for your laptop match the settings of your HDTV.

Overheating could also be an issue, but it probably wouldn't cause your monitor/HDTV to actually shut off. That sounds more like something that would happen if a monitor was trying to display at an incorrect refresh rate or something. It's a good idea to keep your fans clear anyways though even if that's not the problem.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

My concern is that I have had my laptop connected to my HDTV for quite sometime now, it's my main setup for my laptop. I use that setup for all types of things, from browsing the Hype, to YouTube binges, watching videos, and playing games. So I'm not sure that's the problem, since I've never had that problem before.

Of course, if I knew the answer, I wouldn't be asking on here

For what it's worth, after my most recent issue, I unconnected the laptop from the TV, and it worked, though I didn't stay on long and I didn't do anything heavy duty like watching videos. I'm back on the HDTV right now, so I guess I'll see what happens.

 

[Alistair]

Neil,

It could be a few things, IMO. First things first, do you have anything demanding graphically in the background? I know some pages love to have animated ad's, as we all know and that can cause a lock up to higher demanding job, graphically.

Also, have the latest video drivers? I know that can affect a lot of things that seem rather simple. Just good ol' plain driver bugs, in other words. Also, it could be a bizarre codec bug too.

It could be overheating, as Gates as suggested. Does it feel rather warm, warmer than normal? I would clean out the air ways, if you can. It will save a lot of wear and tear on your notebook, along with...undervolting or getting a cooler. Before I my notebook died, I was getting 45C if not lower when converting video's on mine with a cooler, and undervolting.


Keeps us update other wise,
Ali

 

[black_dust]

I had a similar problem once, in trying to watch a 1080p video in my desktop and because my graphics card is like a few years old it really couldn't handle all the information and just stopped responding and rebooted my pc, and also with my GFX card being abit 'unstable' at times it some times freaks if i am doing to much on screen.

I should really put my hand in my pocket and get a new one

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

well its now to a point that i cant even get windows to boot up. i tried unhooking the laptop from the tv, now as soon as i turn on my laptop the screen looks like an old nintendo game when you had to blow in the cartridge with a message stating that windows could not boot successfully, before the screen just dies to black. i am gonna let it sit off while at work and see if i cant figure it out when i get home.

 

[<(o_o)>]

How old is your laptop? Maybe it is time to cave in & get a new computer.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

It is 3 years old.

Unfortunately I am not in a financial position to get a new computer.

 

[Alistair]

Neil,

Sadly, if your used it ALOT that is the expected lifetime of a notebook before something dies due to heat or what not. Granted, sometimes they can live a lot longer.

Have you had any luck other wise booting it? Safe mode? Tried all that jazz? What company is it? I know some companies put in pre boot diagnostics to often let techs know what's going on. This might help us out too, if your that worried about your computer to see if the problem is fixable.


Hasta,
Ali

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

It is a Toshiba.

And yes, I just tried to boot it up in safe mode, and I was able to get it up. It still had the Nintendo lines on the screen, but the computer was able to boot in safe mode.

 

[Alistair]

Nell,

Try updating your graphic's drivers, they might have went corrupt some how. Just a thought. =) Or your graphic's card is dying, and that could be the end of that, sadly. Unless you can find a spare chip to put in. Hehe.

Anyways, try that and let me know.


Ali

 

[Alistair]

Nell,

Try updating your graphic's drivers, they might have went corrupt some how. Just a thought. =) Or your graphic's card is dying, and that could be the end of that, sadly. Unless you can find a spare chip to put in. Hehe.

Anyways, try that and let me know.


Ali