Kalkalash's Christmas time computer trouble

[Kalkalash]

My computer has caused me some pain lately, starting from last week (just in time for the holidays!). Quite often, usually at startup (by the time it gets to the desktop and the computer starts up all the programs), my screen just goes black and my monitor loses connection to the graphics card. The sound keeps playing normally for a few seconds but then it freezes too. The only thing to do is to turn off the computer manually.

If I start the computer immediately after shutting it down, it makes a weird beeping sound (yes, I know computers beep at start-up but this is different). The computer makes three high beeps, one long and two short ones. The computer turns on but nothing happens, the screen still stays black and the computer doesn't even sound like it would be loading something like in a normal start-up. The only way to get rid of the beeping is to pull the plug or wait for half an hour (and when you start it again you have to pray that it works properly without blackening the screen).

I know that there's nothing wrong with the monitor as I tested it on my sister's laptop. I suspected that it might be the video card overheating but there seems to be no real pattern with the problems and I even checked the temperatures prior to shutting down and they were completely normal.

I currently use my computer for four things: surfing the net, listening to music, playing World of Tanks and playing Europa Universalis III. Of those four, EU3 is the only one that hasn't blackened the screen so it kinda rules out the overheating. If I'm lucky enough to get past the start-up without any problems, in 90% of the cases the blackening is caused by World of Tanks. That indicates that there might be something wrong with the graphics card.

Does anyone have any ideas what might cause this? I've already scanned for viruses and defragged without results.

Sorry for the wall of text but I'm getting quite desperate, even my xbox broke down this week. I might have to spend this Christmas with, dare I say it, people .

TL:DR version for the lazy ones:
Screen blackens for no logical reason and freezes the computer. Help.


Ninjaedit: I forgot to say, when the screen blackens the fan sounds like it would be accelerating.

[DLFReporter]

Morning Kalk,
here we go, those beeps are your Bios telling you that something is broken on a set of hardware.

Here is a list of beepcodes:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Error_Codes_and_Beep_Codes

Sounds like you have a failure in your video adapter. Which would also explain the fan sound. Open up your PC and see which fan goes on when it dies.

[NTH]

Open your PC. Remove cathairs from fan. Done.

[Kalkalash]

Sounds like you have a failure in your video adapter. Which would also explain the fan sound. Open up your PC and see which fan goes on when it dies.

I'll do that as soon as more problems occur. Despite this morning the computer has been working perfectly today.

Open your PC. Remove cathairs from fan. Done.

I did the cathair check already last week .

[Kelmola]

Do you happen to have a cheap $/€/£ 20 extra video card available? You could test whether the freeze happens with the new card (or if you have two PC's, test your card in the other).

In addition to the card, it could be that the mobo (continuous beep or one long plus two short beeps, other symptoms are often similar too) or PSU (symptoms could also be interpreted that the most power-hungry component is the first to quit working and PC won't start until the capacitors have discharged) is dying as well. Or a combination of the above.

PSU testers (the ones you don't fry yourself with) are 20-30 € and you can get a decent PSU with 40-50 € so if your comp is >3 years old I would recommend replacing it anyway.

Check your motherboard visually, if the capacitors are leaking (wiki Capacitor plague for moar info and pix). Finding a new replacement mobo - with which you could use all your old components - might be tricky, though if your rig is >3 years old.

[Kalkalash]

Do you happen to have a cheap $/€/£ 20 extra video card available? You could test whether the freeze happens with the new card (or if you have two PC's, test your card in the other).

No, just my sister's laptop, nothing else.

In addition to the card, it could be that the mobo (continuous beep or one long plus two short beeps, other symptoms are often similar too) or PSU (symptoms could also be interpreted that the most power-hungry component is the first to quit working and PC won't start until the capacitors have discharged) is dying as well. Or a combination of the above.

PSU testers (the ones you don't fry yourself with) are 20-30 € and you can get a decent PSU with 40-50 € so if your comp is >3 years old I would recommend replacing it anyway.

Check your motherboard visually, if the capacitors are leaking (wiki Capacitor plague for moar info and pix). Finding a new replacement mobo - with which you could use all your old components - might be tricky, though if your rig is >3 years old.

There was nothing abnormal on the motherboard, everything seemed fine. I really hope it's not the motherboard. I found a replacement but it costs 130€. Buying a new graphics card would be much more cheaper, as we are quite low on the money currently. Investing into a computer isn't really a good thing right now.

The computer is already 5 years old so it could be the PSU too. What kind of stores sell those testers here in Finland? A computer store probably, but the nearest one is 30 km away so it would feel kinda pointless to drive all that just for one tester. I found a site on the internet but I don't want to wait to get it and Christmas would only slow down the delivery.

[Kelmola]

The computer is already 5 years old so it could be the PSU too. What kind of stores sell those testers here in Finland? A computer store probably, but the nearest one is 30 km away so it would feel kinda pointless to drive all that just for one tester.

Computer stores, but probably only the biggest ones. Tend to forget not all Finns live inside Kehä III. I was referring to this: http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=33560. Quick googling tells me that Data Group in Jyväskylä (stalking Member Map, lol) is selling comparable product at 36,50 but it's special order only (ie. not kept in stock). Which only further proves my point that a tester does not make any sense unless you plan to start testing on a regular basis, since new PSU's start at ~40€.

Do you know any computer repair shops in the vicinity? They should have the testers and spare components available so they could pinpoint the fault (and you would know what component to replace). It's not as cheap as doing it yourself, though, but with that kind of indeterminate symptoms (instead of acrid smoke rising from GPU, screeching noise coming from HDD, etc.) the best you can do is replace one component at a time (or test the suspicious component on another rig). In fact, that's what the repair shop would do as well (the PSU being pretty much the only thing you can use a tester with).

[Kalkalash]

Well, there is this one place. I guess I'll have to go down there tomorrow and ask them.