Periodically, for no reason apparent to me, my screen either turns black or
gets filled with blue and black or red and black vertical lines. The only
way to elilminate the black screen or vertical line screen is to hold down
the power button to turn the computer off. What is happening and how do I
fix it?

Sashua wrote:
[color=blue]
> Periodically, for no reason apparent to me, my screen either turns black
> or
> gets filled with blue and black or red and black vertical lines. The only
> way to elilminate the black screen or vertical line screen is to hold down
> the power button to turn the computer off. What is happening and how do I
> fix it?[/color]

It sounds like your video card is dying or overheating.. That's a guess of
course in the absence of any description of your computer and/or its recent
history.

A few suggestions:

1. Open the computer and run it open after cleaning out all dust bunnies.
Observe all fans (overheating will cause system freezing and/or crashing).
This includes the fan on your video card if you have one. Obviously you
can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running and
feel if the laptop is getting too hot. For a desktop, without touching
anything hold your hand close to the inside of the case and feel how hot
things are getting.

2. Uninstall the video card and swap it out for a known working one. If
things are better, discard the original hardware.

If you need more help, please post back with more details about your system.

[url]http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375[/url] - How to Ask a Question

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
Don't Panic!