Vid hang on new PC, any advice welcome

[Rhavon]

Recently I built a new PC in part to get set up for VGs release and in part since it was just that time. I had a number of issues during the build that I managed to work thru either with trial and error or searching the internet for similar problems and solutions others had run across. At this point I've hit a deadend however...

Seemingly at random, sometimes within 2 or 3 minutes of bootup other times hours later, my video will hang up. The monitor typically goes a solid color, white, beige, etc. or sometimes one base color with vertical pinstripes. The odd part however is that this never occurs while I am playing any full-screen games, EQ2 or Ryzom, or when I have Windows Media Player running a 3d effect in full-screen mode. The hangs only occur during more mundane operation, idle at desktop, surfing the web, or even when watching regular video clips. I've seen no significant log entries in the system event viewer and obviously get no blue screen errors numbers to trace.

On rare occasions instead of freezing to a color the monitor will kick into standby mode, the harddrive spins up, and the monitor then comes back on right where it left off.

I've tried reformatting and reinstalling windows, updating all vid/sound/chipset drivers, flashing bios. So far no luck in stopping the issue.

System specs:
Intel Pentium D 3.4 CPU
Intel D975XBX Mobo
Corsair 667Mhz DDR2 2gig
ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCI-E Vid card
WinXP Home w/ SP2 slipstreamed

If anyone has any suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them, at the moment this PC works well enough for gaming purposes but anything else I without fail end up having to restart time and again.

Oh and I say it is a video hang and not a system freeze based on being able to blindly use the Window key to get to restart, also have froze mid IM convo and was able to type blindly and later check the log to verify that it did send as well still hearing all sounds after the video hangs.

[Gargen]

try pulling out your vid card, cleaning the contact on both the card and MB, let them dry, then stick it back in taking extra care to make sure it's set properly. Make sure any power connections on the vid card are plugged in.

If that doesn't work, you probably got a bum card.

EDIT: are you sure it's not the monitor?

[rabb1t]

Seemingly at random, sometimes within 2 or 3 minutes of bootup other times hours later, my video will hang up. The monitor typically goes a solid color, white, beige, etc. or sometimes one base color with vertical pinstripes. The odd part however is that this never occurs while I am playing any full-screen games, EQ2 or Ryzom, or when I have Windows Media Player running a 3d effect in full-screen mode.

Not really so odd. GPUs actually have 2 chips (at least they did a while ago, not totally sure on now.) So they can, as I think is the case for you, fail independently - one chip will work, in your case 3d, while the 2d chip/mode is failing.

Long ago I once had the opposite happen. My 2d was fine, but 3d failed independently. (This is when the tech told me that it had 2 chips, heh. :p )

On rare occasions instead of freezing to a color the monitor will kick into standby mode, the harddrive spins up, and the monitor then comes back on right where it left off.

That sounds like a power flicker back lashing onto the system. Could be caused by a failing GPU, could actually be the PSU, but I'd point towards the GPU.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them

My suggestion would be get that GPU outa yer box ASAP. If 2d mode is failing and causing system resets that puppy is dangerous to have in yer system. :(

Gargen is likely right in that it's a bum GPU. I doubt cleaning it would fix it, but you never know. Sounds to me like a failing 2d chip. Which effectively is the whole card since you can't send just part of the GPU in for repair. :p

[Fozzik]

Unless I'm mistaken, all 2D and 3D are handled by the single GPU chip these days...but it is quite possible for one part of a chip to fail independantly of the other parts...just depends on where the damage is.

Damage to transistors in a integrated circuit usually points to one of two things... excessive heat (doesn't have to be constant, just excessive heat one time can damage transistors), or static discharge. Static would be the more likely of the two... it could have been when the card was first installed that the GPU was damaged by ESD, and it has only started to show up now. That's pretty common when talking about ESD.

The damage could also have just been there from the beginning...that particular GPU may have rolled off the manufacturing line with a trace or whatever half-cut, and it held on for a while before "giving up the ghost" as it were. ;)

It does sound like the video card is going to have to be replaced. If possible, it would be good to test it though, before you plunk down a large chunk of cash for a new video card (or go through the trouble of dealing with the warranty). Is there a spare card that you or a friend or family member has that you could swap in just to see if it clears up the problem? It's good to make sure you know what's wrong before doing anything else.

[akherat]

You might also check and reseat your RAM - I have seen the exact issue you describe come from a not properly secured stick of RAM. You might also want to run a memory checker to look for bad chips - same problem has also been seen from bad memory.