is this the begining of the end for my faithfull compo or something simple
the power light stays lit btw.
[Edited on 14/3/16 by theconrodkid]
Hi peeps,the screen on my PC ocasionally goes black for a few seconds then comes back,if i click the "back" button,the icons that were
pictures for shortcuts have turned to icons without being pictures (if you get my tech terms) then back to pictures again.
is this the begining of the end for my faithfull compo or something simple
the power light stays lit btw.
[Edited on 14/3/16 by theconrodkid]
Sharp intake of breath between the teeth with a worried frown - sounds like the catastrophic end to me.
Might be useful for people to know what PC it is and how old it is too - they do give up after a while. I usually get about 3 years out of a work
laptop before it gives up and stops working well.
Also worth highlighting what operating system you're running as well. From what I've heard older PCs don't always take well to newer operating systems like Windows 10.
It,s a zoostorm,around 7 years old and running XP,never had a problem with it before despite it,s cheap price tag 
icons disappearing and reappearing happens when windows explorer restarts.
I would first run malwarebytes mbam. (get it direct from them though, - there are fakes...)
https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/
use the free home version, (which gives you on demand scans)
avoid selecting any extras, and avoid the trial of the premium version, (though you can turn this off later)
see what that finds and comeback
thanks,done the scan,ill see what happens now
Get your hoover out...
The last zoostorm I worked on committed harakiri due to the obscenely poor ventilation and the one inch thick layer of sticky dirt on all the
important bits. The graphics chip basically cooked itself, until it wouldn't boot. And of course, the age of the PC meant that I couldn't
get a spare motherboard and it had to be binned. The symptoms up to that point was the same black screen, basically the graphics card was
'rebooting' and it was restarting all the drivers etc.
Open it up and clean the inside of it. If you're feeling very adventurous, remove the heatsinks and replace the thermal paste.
[Edited on 14/3/16 by Slimy38]
Cheers Slimey
Blew out a whole load of dust,put it back together and it did the same,new compo time by the looks of it
If you do go the new computer route I'd consider a laptop myself over a desktop PC. Much more mobile, pretty solid and good WiFi as well.
everyone tells me that but i am old skool with pretty fat fingers and dont need it to be mobile so i think i will stick to desktops
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
If you do go the new computer route I'd consider a laptop myself over a desktop PC. Much more mobile, pretty solid and good WiFi as well.
Granted they're not for everyone, but myself I couldn't go back to a desktop PC.
Update on my problem,someone told me to delet history,this i managed to do,took 20 mins all in so i assume plenty years worth was stored,compo seems a
bit faster but the screen blacking out has stopped....happy daze 
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
If you do go the new computer route I'd consider a laptop myself over a desktop PC. Much more mobile, pretty solid and good WiFi as well.
It must be an age thing, as I have two laptops, and an I pad, yet I like to sit at my desk with the tower pc, and proper screen
and keyboard
steve
Holy thread resarection........,turned out to be the VGA cable