Windows alert and computer randomly shutting down

[ryanghall]

Hi,

I recently bought a 2nd monitor and a new video card to go with it. The monitor is the Samsung 204B I think it's called... (the one in the Stars store). The video card is the Radeon9250 PCI BUS version.

Ever since I got these two things, I've had problems. There are no viruses/adware/spyware on my computer - this is definitely not the problem.

I believe the Windows alert might have said something about pagefile usage.... it was something like that. It said it was basically making more space and that some programs may cease working - not fun when you're 8 tabling tournaments.

I am looking at my CPU usage right now and it doesn't take a whole lot to get it to 100%. For example, when I have this website open and scroll up and down, it goes to 100%. It's 100% as I'm typing right now, but if I close/minimize IE and stop doing anything it goes down to 4%. I only have IE and AVG running. I just restarted my computer. PF usage is only at 291 MB right now... it was over 600 MB before I restarted when I was having the problems.

As well, the computer has been shutting down. It did it once as soon as I clicked to open PokerStars. For the last week or two, I've had a big fan blowing on the inside of my computer. The computer has *tried* to shut down several times (screen goes blank for a second) but it goes back to normal after a couple of seconds.

Is the video card the problem? The monitor? My computer? I don't know what to do. Any help would be wonderful. I'll check back every few minutes until I go to bed to provide any other details necessary.

Thanks,
Ryan

[goldtoes]

sounds like your CPU is overheating...and despite your best efforts, opening the case and blowing a fan on the inside isn't enough to help because the heatsink/fan is just blocking the air from the fan.

check all of your fans on your case, video card, processor, power supply and make sure they are spinning and spinning well. they should also be relatively dust free.

do some research online about air flow in your case and rearrange fans accordingly. put the side back on the case, too.

if your CPU fan isn't working, that would be it. it may also be the manufacturer's thermal paste is wearing out (i had a processor where the thermal paste all ran off to the sides and the heatsink and fan were bare metal to bare metal).

[Heather LouAnna]

What kinda system do you have?
What kinda processor do you have?
Have you tried reseating the processor/memory/cables inside the system?
Does it seem like your system shuts down after a certain period of time (as if it were over heating)? When it shuts off like this, what color is the LED on the power button? Does it respond to the power button once it shuts down or do you need to reseat the power cable?

Have you ran diagnostics yet?

[BiPolar_Nut]

[ QUOTE ]
What kinda system do you have?
What kinda processor do you have?
Have you tried reseating the processor/memory/cables inside the system?
Does it seem like your system shuts down after a certain period of time (as if it were over heating)? When it shuts off like this, what color is the LED on the power button? Does it respond to the power button once it shuts down or do you need to reseat the power cable?

Have you ran diagnostics yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice first post....welcome to 2+2! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Heather LouAnna]

lol I work in tech support..I guess it was nice. [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[_dave_]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What kinda system do you have?
What kinda processor do you have?
Have you tried reseating the processor/memory/cables inside the system?
Does it seem like your system shuts down after a certain period of time (as if it were over heating)? When it shuts off like this, what color is the LED on the power button? Does it respond to the power button once it shuts down or do you need to reseat the power cable?

Have you ran diagnostics yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice first post....welcome to 2+2! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded.

A Model n00b, a la Munkey in the µNL (my "poker home") forum. A rarity indeed [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Welcome indeed,

dave.

[ryanghall]

I have a Compaq Presario 2.8 Ghz w/ I believe 768 MB of RAM. I have a Celeron Processor.

I haven't tried reseating anything inside. I don't like to screw around much in there as I don't really know what I'm doing.

It does seem like it is overheating - that's what my intuition is telling me. It seems to shut down if I load up a program like Stars (it especially doesn't seem to like PokerTracker).

I have no clue what the colour is on the button when it restarts but I'll try to notice for next time (although it hasn't once restarted when I have my big fan blowing on it).

It doesn't actually shut down, rather it restarts.

I haven't run diagnostics. I feel kinda dumb but I don't even know what they are [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Ryan