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My wife is having trouble with her computer. I gave her my old computer and it worked fine for me but it is acting up on her. Here's the stats.

AMD 2400+
1GB PC-2100 RAM
60GB HDD
300GB HDD
ATI 9200SE
ASUS A7V8X-X Motherboard
WIN XP

Here is what is going on. Everytime she plays a game (The Sims 2, Desperate Housewives, etc) it would suddenly minimize and kick her to desktop. She then click the game on the taskbar and the game comes up but then it'll minimize again after a couple of minutes. She also says that black lines (horizontal and vertical) would sometimes appear whenever she plays any game. Plus sometimes she'd hear clicking noises when the game is minimised but she doesn't know if it is coming from the monitor or the speakers so I aksed her to mute the volume and let me know if the clicking still happens or not. I can't do anything with her computer until I go down to see her on the 11th.

What could be the problem?

Maybe there are programs with windows that keep popping up and flashing, forcing Windows to revert back to the desktop?

Black lines could be overheating or faulty graphics card.

No idea about the clicking.

Clearly this is a case of demonic possession.

Hawkwings wrote:Maybe there are programs with windows that keep popping up and flashing, forcing Windows to revert back to the desktop?

Black lines could be overheating or faulty graphics card.

No idea about the clicking.

nothing running in the background that would force the game to minimise to desktop.

It's definitely worth doing a virus scan as it sounds like something is grabbing the focus from the games windows for whatever reason - the black lines could be some sort of drawing error related to the window losing focus momentarily.

So a virus/trojan/malware scan is in order.

Aaron Ash wrote:It's definitely worth doing a virus scan as it sounds like something is grabbing the focus from the games windows for whatever reason - the black lines could be some sort of drawing error related to the window losing focus momentarily.

So a virus/trojan/malware scan is in order.

Gotcha. I'll do that when I go over to her place next Friday. I was finding it weird that I had no trouble with the computer yet she's having trouble.

The problem is most likely the Windows XP install is getting funky, either with windows rot, or malware/spy ware. Back up all data, and reinstall. I do not reccommend that you upgrade to Vista. For increased security in browsing, you might also want to consider a dual-boot set up with perhaps Ubuntu or another user-friendly Linux installation, and encourage your wife to normally do all of what would generally be termed her "internet stuff" (e-mail, web browsing, et cetera) in it. Additionally, for the default browser on your XP reinstall, use Firefox, Opera, or IE7.

RThurmont wrote:The problem is most likely the Windows XP install is getting funky, either with windows rot, or malware/spy ware. Back up all data, and reinstall. I do not reccommend that you upgrade to Vista. For increased security in browsing, you might also want to consider a dual-boot set up with perhaps Ubuntu or another user-friendly Linux installation, and encourage your wife to normally do all of what would generally be termed her "internet stuff" (e-mail, web browsing, et cetera) in it. Additionally, for the default browser on your XP reinstall, use Firefox, Opera, or IE7.

She isn't computer savy and this will confuse her. I want to avoid a reinstall as much as possible since it will take more time than I have available. I'm going to have to do some surgery on her comp and clean out any junk files\programs, run spybot\adaware\AVG.

IMO that's just not a good idea. Once a Windows install has been scarred by malware, its worth it. Just find the OEM disks, back up all her files, and reinstall...problem solved. I've attempted in the past to clean up infected Windows boxes, and as far as I can tell, not only is it often ineffective (due to rootkits and other ingenious methods malware uses to ensure its, ahh, continuity), but a complete waste of time.

If you do want to go the clean up route, I'd reccommend you use a local computer shop that does that routinely, as then at least you don't get to spend several hours of misery on it.

it's not that miserable. It only takes a couple hours, and most of it is waiting for the format and the installation. All you do is save all the files you want to keep to a seperate computer, then format the entire hard drive, install a fresh version of windows, then load all the saved stuff back in. I do clean installs in about 2 hours every 6 months or so.

You would be suprised how often you can recover windows from malware. Scan it with a combo of AdAware and Spybot. It wouldn't hurt to run hijackthis! on it and post the log. SOMETHING is stealing focus, which is more than likely something wanting to generate a popup.

Vertigo1 wrote:You would be suprised how often you can recover windows from malware. Scan it with a combo of AdAware and Spybot. It wouldn't hurt to run hijackthis! on it and post the log. SOMETHING is stealing focus, which is more than likely something wanting to generate a popup.

That is what I am planning to do. I'll be needing this board's help next Friday.

Hawkwings wrote:it's not that miserable. It only takes a couple hours, and most of it is waiting for the format and the installation. All you do is save all the files you want to keep to a seperate computer, then format the entire hard drive, install a fresh version of windows, then load all the saved stuff back in. I do clean installs in about 2 hours every 6 months or so.

And then during installation, if you want to help yourself out for the next one, partition the drive into a Windows/programs partition and a data partition (and, of course, move the various special documents-style folders there), so when the next time to nuke it comes along, you just nuke the windows partition. No backups necessary with that setup. Well, a few if you aren't really careful about moving stuff - like the local store of outlook for example, but its really minor compared to a "nuke the entire drive" install, and its much nicer to do in a situation where the computer went belly up (as in, non-bootable).

Also, just to let you know the problems only happens when she is playing games on the computer. If she is surfing the web then the computer is fine.

I am starting to think it is more of a vid card overheating\dying out.

Enigma wrote:Also, just to let you know the problems only happens when she is playing games on the computer. If she is surfing the web then the computer is fine.

Are you sure there's no clicking sound during normal usage? Like, when the HDD is idling? I know two computers with this problem (one being mine), and I've been told it may be a sign of the drive failing. But nothing happened yet. I do keep it busy, though.

Hugh wrote:

Enigma wrote:Also, just to let you know the problems only happens when she is playing games on the computer. If she is surfing the web then the computer is fine.

Are you sure there's no clicking sound during normal usage? Like, when the HDD is idling? I know two computers with this problem (one being mine), and I've been told it may be a sign of the drive failing. But nothing happened yet. I do keep it busy, though.

Come to think of it, once in a blue moon (according to my wife) one of the two hard drives would rev hard when a game is booted to desktop. but would slow down to normal about a minute after she exits the game. But it only occasionally does it when the game is booted to desktop not when the game is playing normally.

The clicking is coming from the speakers and not within the chassis. When she had the volume off there were no clicking (when the game is booted to desktop) but the clicking would occasionally be heard when the sound is turned back on.

Also I don't think a failing hard drive would explain the horizontal and vertical black lines on the screen that would occasionally show up.


I am more and more leaning towards a vid card FUBAR. The computer only goes funky when something resource intensive like a game is used. Or maybe a PS malfunctioning?

Bah, this is a mystery I need to have solved or it will drive me nuts. If it is something like a clean up of her comp and run some utility programs to clean and tune up her comp then that will be great but if it is a hardware issue then I can only do that in my next trip to Ohio (where my wife lives) sometime in the first week of July.

*BUMP*

Just to give you an update. I went over to her place last Friday and checked her computer. After installing Spybot, Adaware and AVG, I found hundreds of trojans. It took AVG three daily scans to completely eliminate all of the trojans. Now the computer is a lot more stable. But one problem has cropped up. While playing a game the computer would sometimes just freeze. The monitor goes into standby\sleep mode (the monitor power light went from green to yellow) and the keyboard would not respond. She had to reboot the computer.

What gives? Some other trojan\virus is in her computer but AVG did not detect? Or is it a hardware issue?

Enigma wrote:*BUMP*

Just to give you an update. I went over to her place last Friday and checked her computer. After installing Spybot, Adaware and AVG, I found hundreds of trojans. It took AVG three daily scans to completely eliminate all of the trojans. Now the computer is a lot more stable. But one problem has cropped up. While playing a game the computer would sometimes just freeze. The monitor goes into standby\sleep mode (the monitor power light went from green to yellow) and the keyboard would not respond. She had to reboot the computer.

What gives? Some other trojan\virus is in her computer but AVG did not detect? Or is it a hardware issue?

Could be hardware/heat. Open up the case, air it out(ironically, hair driers, set to COLD work wonders, just don't stand near). If it's software, it could be that removing one of the trojans significently impacted the system.

Ace Pace wrote:

Enigma wrote:*BUMP*

Just to give you an update. I went over to her place last Friday and checked her computer. After installing Spybot, Adaware and AVG, I found hundreds of trojans. It took AVG three daily scans to completely eliminate all of the trojans. Now the computer is a lot more stable. But one problem has cropped up. While playing a game the computer would sometimes just freeze. The monitor goes into standby\sleep mode (the monitor power light went from green to yellow) and the keyboard would not respond. She had to reboot the computer.

What gives? Some other trojan\virus is in her computer but AVG did not detect? Or is it a hardware issue?

Could be hardware/heat. Open up the case, air it out(ironically, hair driers, set to COLD work wonders, just don't stand near). If it's software, it could be that removing one of the trojans significently impacted the system.

I used MBM5 on her computer and it registered a CPU temp at 63 degrees Celsius and a case temp at 32 degrees.

If thats at idle, it could be overheating. As I said, pop open the case door, get something to throw air inside. Don't dare to use any sort of air-sucking mechanism such as vacumm cleaners.

Ace Pace wrote:If thats at idle, it could be overheating. As I said, pop open the case door, get something to throw air inside. Don't dare to use any sort of air-sucking mechanism such as vacumm cleaners.

I'll tell her that. And no that isn't idle. At idle it is at 40 degrees celsius.

Enigma wrote: I'll tell her that. And no that isn't idle. At idle it is at 40 degrees celsius.

Hmn, then this dosn't sound overheating so much. Sorry, it could help, but I doubt it's the issue.

Ace Pace wrote:

Enigma wrote: I'll tell her that. And no that isn't idle. At idle it is at 40 degrees celsius.

Hmn, then this dosn't sound overheating so much. Sorry, it could help, but I doubt it's the issue.

I am starting to think that I might be ending up formatting the computer and then reinstalling XP.

Could be a Direct X problem, try installing the latest direct and see if that helps.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace wrote:Could be a Direct X problem, try installing the latest direct and see if that helps.

While that is always a possibility it would somewhat surprise me.
While residual malware might of course be the issue if the problem ONLY persists with high-performance (by local standards) graphics-intensive games, it might be as you assumed earlier-it's the graphics card, not the CPU, that is overheating.