Computer seems to freeze up randomly, monitor goes into Power Saving mode on its own.

[Dr. Yoshi]

Well, once again my computer is having problems. This time around my computer randomly freezes up and the only way to get it working again is by rebooting. One of the strange things about this is that when I turn off my computer after it has frozen, the keyboard lights stay on and will not go off until Windows resets them! Another strange thing that happens is that at random times my monitor will go into Power Saving mode and I will not be able to get it out of said mode.

Is it a overheating problem? My CPU temperature is currently at 41 Degrees C while I have a few startup programs, LaunchPad, and Firefox running.

 

[Zakharov]

It certainly sounds like it could be an overheating problem, but 41 degrees is a normal idle temperature so I'm not convinced. How are you monitoring the CPU temp?

Also, have you run the usual anti-virus/anti-spyware programs to check for anything malicious?

 

[Chieftess]

41C... *tries to guess that in degrees F*

It could be overheating, but if your monitor goes into powersaving mode, check your screensaver settings, and make sure it's not going into hibernation mode. Windows tends to not want to come out of hibernation.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

I'm monitoring my CPU temperature through a program which came with my motherboard. The motherboard has a temperature sensor onboard which allows for this.

I'm currently running Norton AntiVirus, Spybot, and Microsoft AntiSpyware. I will post the results of my scans as soon as they are done.

 

[Zakharov]

41C... *tries to guess that in degrees F*

FYI:
C to F > divide by 5, multiply by 9, add 32.
F to C > subtract 32, divide by 9, multiply by 5.

Therefore, 41C = 105.8F

 

[MarineCorps]

FYI:
C to F > divide by 5, multiply by 9, add 32.
F to C > subtract 32, divide by 9, multiply by 5.

Therefore, 41C = 105.8F

<sigh> some people always do it the hard way. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/convert.html Nifty little tool I use to convert the temperature reading from my case into F I'm lazy so since I live in the digital age I let others do the work for me.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

OK. My scans are done and there was nothing too unusual. There was a hack tool called JohntheRipper but it is only out to get passwords, not disrupt the flow of the system.

I have just had another crash with the monitor turning off, this time I had disabled hibernation.

 

[Chieftess]

What kind of monitor is it? I had a monitor once (forget the name), that would keep turning off. Turns out a piece in it broke, so I had to get a new monitor.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

It's an old Gateway monitor but replacing will not fix the problem with the keyboard not responding when it is in Power Saving mode. I know the keyboard stops functioning because if I hit the Caps Lock key when the monitor is hibernating, it doesn't respond.

 

[IbnSina]

It's not a monitor issue, but could be a video card issue. Computers normally operate around 40 degrees, so 41 does not seem bad. The freezing up and power-save mode makes me think your video card may have a problem. You could try getting a new video driver, but when something was working and suddenly stops working, I usually find that some hardware is fried. If you have an old video card somewhere, you might try replacing your other one and see whether it fixes the problem. If so, then this is the excuse you have needed for buying that new, expensive video card.

Unfortunately, it's not a slam dunk. I've had computers do this kind of thing when they had bad RAM as well, or maybe it is an overheating issue...

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

Well, I've done a clean install of Windows and whatever was causing the random freezing up has stopped. I haven't left my computer on long enough to see if it will activate the Power Saving mode at a random time, so I'm not sure if it is entirely fixed yet...