Foo - Another computer thread

So lately my PC (Dell Dimension E521, windows XP, NVidia Geforce 7300 LE video card) won't send anything to the monitor when I turn it on. If I reboot a few times (2-3), eventually the monitor does switch on and every thing's normal. Is this a video card problem? Is my driver corrupted?

The same thing also happens about half the time when I try to get the computer out of sleep mode, the tower makes all the noises but the screen is still black.

Also, now and again the display freezes. You can move the mouse around, type control+alt+delete but nothing changes on the screen. After maybe 5 or 10 seconds, the PC reboots automatically.


What's going on?!

It could be lots of things. Here is what I would do:

Open the case and clean out the dust (heat is an enemy of electronics and often causes this sort of problem)
If the vid card uses passive cooling, you'll just see a heatsink. Make sure that is free of dust. If the card uses active cooling, you should verify that the fan operates.
Reseat the card in it's slot. (Card-edge connectors blow)
Verify that the system cooling fans operate
Reassemble and load the latest nVidia video driver from Dell's site.
Download and apply the 'coolbits' Registry hack for nVidia (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815)
Do not overclock this card. You'll sacrifice longevity and stability for speed if you do.
Your nVidia control panel should now have a new setting to monitor GPU temperature. For normal web-surfing and such, this should be between 40 and 60c. If it's higher, there is a problem...

This 7300LE (http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-127-273-08.jpg)uses passive cooling and gas a giant heatsink.

Sounds like a couple things going wonky at once.

Do what SB said and also try a different monitor.

Thanks guys, I went to open up the case and saw that the air intake was almost totally clogged with dust. That's cleaned up and it hasn't had any problems so maybe it was just overheating.

*crosses fingers*

I discovered a while ago not to use incense too near the comp since that stuff's worse than cigarette smoke and dust when it comes to clogging up heatsinks.

Here's hoping you caught it before you toasted the motherboard, that's never a fun thing to have to deal with.

The last few months I've only been doing web browsing and microsoft office applications, so nothing too crazy. I think it should be ok..