Just a thought, other than the blue screen, is there any particular error?

"Don Deacon" wrote:

I upgraded to Vista about a month ago and since then my computer (used as a
PVR) just keeps crashing. It is not even crashing with a blue screen, it
just completely shuts off. After one of these crashes, I can't just power
the PC back on either, I have to disconnect the power supply, flip the power
switch, reconnect the power supply then boot. I'd swear it was just a HW
problem myself but something is telling me it is a driver issue of some sort
as I can boot into Safe Mode and it never seems to happen (I have all the
latest drivers as well). I've looked through event viewer and I can't find
any error relating to what causes the crash either. It used to do it a
couple of times a week but is doing it fairly regularly now so I'm leaving
it in safe mode to see if it happens there, but again, now it seems to have
stopped.

Any idea on where to look to troubleshoot? If I could just troubleshoot it
down to a piece of HW I could replace it but the only thing I have is my gut
telling me it is the video drivers. Would like some better evidence.

Thanks,
D

There are no messages displayed on the screen at time of crash, everything
just shuts off. I've gone through Event Viewer after I restart the system as
well and can't see any messages in the logs other than the comment "The
previous shutdown was unexpected...". The Hardware logs in Event Viewer show
no events at all. I've tried to note the activities just before the crash
but nothing jumps out there either. Are there any other spots that might
contain logs I should be checking?

Also, I am still questioning the video as it was suggested that might be the
problem. I am using the onboard video on my MB and am considering disabling
that and getting a separate video card. I'm really just hoping to find some
evidence of what HW could be at fault so I don't need to start replacing HW
adhoc in hopes the problem goes away.

I did open it up and check connections last night and all seemed to be good,
no visible evidence of shorting parts or anything like that either. It went
out after that a couple of times though it ran through the night without
problems.

Thanks for all the suggestions BTW.

D

"Daniel (MVP Window Desktop Experience)"
osoft.com wrote in
message ...
Just a thought, other than the blue screen, is there any particular error?

"Don Deacon" wrote:

I upgraded to Vista about a month ago and since then my computer (used as
a
PVR) just keeps crashing. It is not even crashing with a blue screen, it
just completely shuts off. After one of these crashes, I can't just power
the PC back on either, I have to disconnect the power supply, flip the
power
switch, reconnect the power supply then boot. I'd swear it was just a HW
problem myself but something is telling me it is a driver issue of some
sort
as I can boot into Safe Mode and it never seems to happen (I have all the
latest drivers as well). I've looked through event viewer and I can't
find
any error relating to what causes the crash either. It used to do it a
couple of times a week but is doing it fairly regularly now so I'm
leaving
it in safe mode to see if it happens there, but again, now it seems to
have
stopped.

Any idea on where to look to troubleshoot? If I could just troubleshoot
it
down to a piece of HW I could replace it but the only thing I have is my
gut
telling me it is the video drivers. Would like some better evidence.

Thanks,
D

The previous shutdown was unexpected would mean that it is not just the
video card that froze.
I don't think changing the video card will have any effect.
What application are you running when it crashes?
Is that the same application that works in Safe Mode?
Are you connected to the network when it crashes and not connected to the
network in safe mode?
"Don Deacon" wrote in message
...
There are no messages displayed on the screen at time of crash, everything
just shuts off. I've gone through Event Viewer after I restart the system
as well and can't see any messages in the logs other than the comment "The
previous shutdown was unexpected...". The Hardware logs in Event Viewer
show no events at all. I've tried to note the activities just before the
crash but nothing jumps out there either. Are there any other spots that
might contain logs I should be checking?

Also, I am still questioning the video as it was suggested that might be
the problem. I am using the onboard video on my MB and am considering
disabling that and getting a separate video card. I'm really just hoping
to find some evidence of what HW could be at fault so I don't need to
start replacing HW adhoc in hopes the problem goes away.

I did open it up and check connections last night and all seemed to be
good, no visible evidence of shorting parts or anything like that either.
It went out after that a couple of times though it ran through the night
without problems.

Thanks for all the suggestions BTW.

D

"Daniel (MVP Window Desktop Experience)"
osoft.com wrote in
message ...
Just a thought, other than the blue screen, is there any particular
error?

"Don Deacon" wrote:

I upgraded to Vista about a month ago and since then my computer (used
as a
PVR) just keeps crashing. It is not even crashing with a blue screen, it
just completely shuts off. After one of these crashes, I can't just
power
the PC back on either, I have to disconnect the power supply, flip the
power
switch, reconnect the power supply then boot. I'd swear it was just a HW
problem myself but something is telling me it is a driver issue of some
sort
as I can boot into Safe Mode and it never seems to happen (I have all
the
latest drivers as well). I've looked through event viewer and I can't
find
any error relating to what causes the crash either. It used to do it a
couple of times a week but is doing it fairly regularly now so I'm
leaving
it in safe mode to see if it happens there, but again, now it seems to
have
stopped.

Any idea on where to look to troubleshoot? If I could just troubleshoot
it
down to a piece of HW I could replace it but the only thing I have is my
gut
telling me it is the video drivers. Would like some better evidence.

Thanks,
D

You can also check under problem reports & solutions to check which
application is causing the problem.


--
tanuj_chadha

Tanuj

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. - Karl
Marx :geek: