Random Display Cut

MR_MU53NDO · 9 Sep 2012 at 13:50

i have an m-itx motherboard with 4gb RAM, and some AMD athlon CPU @ 2.60ghz (can't remember which 1, possibly X2) and stock AMD fan because nothing i had fitted in the tiny case. anyway, it keeps cutting off visuals, so when i'm just doing something on it the screen will stop getting info from the machine, and go into power saving mode, although the computer will still run like nothing happened. tried this machine on 28" screen and 17" screen (17" VGA, 28" DVI) and the display but off on both. i don't know whether it's a problem with the HDD, as it tends to shut off mostly during reading and writing data, although it also has trouble booting into windows.

The CPU also reaches 50 degrees on idle, which is strange, and even when i replaced thermal paste, which brought temps down to 29 degrees, the same problem occurs.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Sorry about lengthy description, but i can't shorten it...

pandem0nium · 9 Sep 2012 at 14:23

do you have a discreet gpu or does the motherboard have it built in?

I'd think thats most likely to be where the problem lies.

MR_MU53NDO · 9 Sep 2012 at 15:10

pandem0nium said:
do you have a discreet gpu or does the motherboard have it built in?

I'd think thats most likely to be where the problem lies.

i've got an ATI graphics card, so it's not intergrated into the mobo

pandem0nium · 9 Sep 2012 at 16:25

okie dokes,

if your mb has integrated graphics, then try it with that instead, or if you have a different graphics card to try, go with that.

Test with MSI afterburner or something similar.

MR_MU53NDO · 9 Sep 2012 at 19:48

my mistake... it's ATI integrated graphics (HD 3200). what can i do? tried to update drivers but it crashed as soon as i pressed install button

pandem0nium · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:06

Could try unistralling the existing drivers, then try installing the latest. It dosn't sound particularly salvageable though.

If you have access to a discrete graphics card, put that in to test. If that dosen't work, it'd be a case of replacing the motherboard. A good excuse for an upgrade if anything!