Weird computer thing

[quiet dove]

I am not sure how to describe what I am seeing. I have an LCD? type monitor, the flat kind, not the big TV looking type monitor. Anyway, I have extra colors - dot/pixels showing up in things. Like my on my desk top my short cuts are kinda looking iffy. And if I go to click on something on the forum there are dots, a few, of extra color. Now while that is kinda pretty, it is also a bit worry some.

I did a virus scan and a spy bot scan earlier. Virus was ok but spybot found some adware and I clicked on fix it because I am computer illertate and didn't know what else to do

And thanks ahead of time for any help, hopefully I can get back here to see it, but remember the words in the above paragraph "computer illiterate" here. If you get all technical, I will have no idea what you are talking about.

[th1bill]

I am not sure how to describe what I am seeing. I have an LCD? type monitor, the flat kind, not the big TV looking type monitor. Anyway, I have extra colors - dot/pixels showing up in things. Like my on my desk top my short cuts are kinda looking iffy. And if I go to click on something on the forum there are dots, a few, of extra color. Now while that is kinda pretty, it is also a bit worry some.

I did a virus scan and a spy bot scan earlier. Virus was ok but spybot found some adware and I clicked on fix it because I am computer illertate and didn't know what else to do

And thanks ahead of time for any help, hopefully I can get back here to see it, but remember the words in the above paragraph "computer illiterate" here. If you get all technical, I will have no idea what you are talking about.
I will likely be off line in three or four hours for however long it takes to put SE Texas back together but what you need to do is to look at your handbook and determine what brand and model your video card/system is and go to the mfg's. web site and download the latest driver. If that fails to fix it then borrow somebody else's monitor and see if that fixes the problem. In the event that it does, replace your monitor, if it doesn't, purchase a new video card, install it, install the driver that came on the CD and hook your monitor to it before you start the computer back up.

Good luck and we'll be back when the Power Company turns us back on.

[stillforgiven]

I will likely be off line in three or four hours for however long it takes to put SE Texas back together but what you need to do is to look at your handbook and determine what brand and model your video card/system is and go to the mfg's. web site and download the latest driver. If that fails to fix it then borrow somebody else's monitor and see if that fixes the problem. In the event that it does, replace your monitor, if it doesn't, purchase a new video card, install it, install the driver that came on the CD and hook your monitor to it before you start the computer back up.

Good luck and we'll be back when the Power Company turns us back on.


Great advice.

And if all that made you feel dizzy and break out into a cold sweat ;), call best buy (or where ever you bought it) and see if they'll let you bring it in for a diagnostic.

[Literalist-Luke]

Truly, the best thing to do would be to back up your personal files and wipe your hard disk clean. I do that routinely every few months, just to make sure my computer doesn't get cluttered. It's like giving your computer a tune up.

[Duane Morse]

From the description of "my short cuts are kinda looking iffy" and "there are dots, a few, of extra color" - it sounds like a bad video card. Or, the card is overheating (so possibly a bad fan on the card, if it has one).

Something like that won't be fixed with a driver download, or wiping and reinstalling the system. And swapping video cards or finding spare monitors to test things yourself can be a real pain and/or expensive.

As you don't know that much about computers, stillforgiven probably has the best suggestion. Bring it in to Best Buy (or where ever) to have the problem diagnosed by a pro.

[quiet dove]

Thanks so much for all your advice. I got it put together from an independent so may have to wait it out until I can afford to do something like take it anywhere. I do have a spare monitor, believe it or not, from when I thought my monitor died but it wasn't the monitor. That was more than a year ago though so not sure the old would which has been sitting would still work.

I am thinking video card to, even though I don't really know what that is. It keeps shutting down unexpectedly, and something called a "blue screen" whatever that is. I have actually tried to give it away but no one has needed it.

I will attempt to go through the suggestions, I have actually managed to fix a driver problem in the past, I was real impressed with myself. :lol: But that was on another computer.

And I know my computer has so much stuff on it, half of it probably I wouldn't miss if it was gone, I play with photos and graphics. Now I have stuff everywhere on CDs. So much for organized filing. :rolleyes:

I am so tired of worrying over computer problems, I just started praying, Lord, if you want me to have it please make it work cause I can't handle the stress.

I am so tired of goofy computers I am seriously thinking of, IF, I am ever blessed with another one, (this one is about 4 years old) going mac or something.

[quiet dove]

I have a CD that says Installation Drive CD and one that says Drivers and Utilities. Either of those what I need to do something with maybe.

[quiet dove]

It isn't the monitor. :mad:

[stillforgiven]

I think the Geek Squad will work on any computer, no matter where it was built or bought. They aren't cheap, but it might be better than any alternatives.

[quiet dove]

Well, I am back up on a loaner at the moment. Very thankful to be typing again. My computer is bye bye.

He tried to just wipe it out and reinstall my XP but the problem is, it still would not boot up, he said something about reformatting twice and it still won't come up.

When he asked about the blue screen I knew that probably wasn't good, but I still don't know what that is or how to prevent it?

[SFASH]

We call it the Blue screen of death! There's no way of telling at this point what caused it, but if he could not reinstall it must be a hardware failure.

[quiet dove]

That is exactly what he called it, and my face looked like this :mad::confused:mad:

I have another stupid question.

Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1

Does that have the regular office stuff, like excel and word processing? Office stuff?

I have been googling an hour, seems like finding that would not be that difficult a task but apparently for me it is.

[SFASH]

Yeah, I have Vista on the other computer and I really. really like it. I put Office 2007 in there and it works fine... no problems. Some of the older software applications won't compat with Vista, however. so you've gotta watch that, if you've got a bit of money into older programs.

SP1 is a cumulative update with little or no problems.

Vista is designed for security, so you might find you have problems downloading certain things, especially active-x applications, but I cannot think of any problems that has caused me at all.

Drivers do not cause Vista to crash like XP, so sometimes you'll notice drivers re-installing themselves. No problems. My printer driver is always reinstalling. Vista also doesn't like older hardware. But there are not that many problems these days.

The more RAM you can get, the faster Vista is. And if you were able to get a dual-core (processor) computer, then you could install 64-bit (ultimate) Vista, which is really nice. Depending on what your needs are.

Definitely not stupid questions.

[quiet dove]

I just need the office stuff without having to buy more software. Are you saying that vista home thing does not come with my office stuff? :cry:

[SFASH]

It would depend on how you buy it. If you buy a computer with a pre-installed packet of software, with office on it, that's probably widely available.

Office 2007 is a little over 100 bucks these days, unless you find a deal.
(last time I looked)

If you can save up for it, its always best to have the Vista install disk in case of problems. And I think I saw a Home Premium package with office on it and a few other things. But generally, what you are getting is the Vista operating system. You mentioned Staples, they have a pretty good variety.

[quiet dove]

If you will check the other thread you started, I will put a link in it with what I am looking at on clearance. :)

[SFASH]

I'd say that's about perfect.:)

[Chimon]

If you computer is shutting down unexpectedly that is probably not a video card problem. I agree with luke that you should back everything up and reformat your harddrive.

[Dragonfighter1]

it could be something very simple...

Go to the main screen and right click in an open area. It will pop up a small window. Go down to display modes and see if it got bumped to a lower resolution setting, high color or tru color is the better settings, anything less than true is always lower grade.

If that fails so the same right click thing and select graphic options... see if anything seems out of the ordinary there.

Good luck... but I bet that "display mode" is it.

[quiet dove]

If you computer is shutting down unexpectedly that is probably not a video card problem. I agree with luke that you should back everything up and reformat your harddrive.

it could be something very simple...

Go to the main screen and right click in an open area. It will pop up a small window. Go down to display modes and see if it got bumped to a lower resolution setting, high color or tru color is the better settings, anything less than true is always lower grade.

If that fails so the same right click thing and select graphic options... see if anything seems out of the ordinary there.

Good luck... but I bet that "display mode" is it.

Thanks guys, but the computer has since died :cry:, but the Lord provided :pp. So all is well.