Help. Part II

[Dirko]

Righto,

My computer fires up and starts OK, yet every time you open a new program, or send a command etc, the screen goes black for a few seconds and then comes back on and it's as if nothing was wrong. Giving me the shits.

I run a HP Pavilion Laptop.....

What gives IT dudes ?

[Wedgie]

Dedja will have a lot more idea than I.
I did have something similar once though and it was a video card issue, but I can't remember if it was because the card was on the way our or I just needed to install up to date drivers or not.

[dedja]

It could be a few things but here's some steps to help identify the cause.

I'm assuming you are using some version of Windows.

First of all see if there are problems reported in the Event Viewer ... this captures all sorts information about alerts failures, etc. control panel -> administrative tools -> event viewer

Have a look around in there ... all event are date/time stamped so you might be able to match a reported event with the behaviour you are seeing.

If you do find something, do a search on the net or HP support site for possible answers.

You should also be able to see any problem devices in control panel -> device manager or control panel -> system -> device manager

It is also possible that a video driver or similar has been corrupted or needs to be updated. Try to reinstall the video driver (uninstall first). You should be able to source this from the HP support site.

As Wedgie suggest, it could also be a hardware problem.

Another possible cause is a virus so also do a complete anti-virus check.

Anyway, try these and let us know how it goes.

[Dirko]

Right. That makes no sense. LOL.

Well it sorta did !! The thing will only fire up in "safe" mode now

After I turn it off will have a squiz tomorrow.....

[dedja]

Jabber, make sure you have a good backup ... looks like it could give up the ghost any minute now.