A little lengthy but I thought I should give all the info I had about the problem I'm experiencing.
About a month ago, I was using my computer (watching anime, instant messaging, etc) and all of a sudden, my computer screen went crazy on me. There were lots of colors and lines. Then, it went back to normal and I got a pop up window telling me that my graphics accelerator had to reset itself and that I needed to reboot the computer. I did just that and everything was fine again.
The same thing happened 2 weeks ago but the problem wasn't solved as easily. After rebooting the computer, I tried to first get on my msn messenger but as soon as it signed me in, my computer went into standby mode and I had to manually turn the computer on. I tried two more times but the same thing happened so I opened up my computer and dusted it out because I thought that maybe trapped dust might be overheating the computer and causing it to go into standby mode. There wasn't too much dust but after cleaning it, the computer worked fine.... until yesterday.
Again, the screen went crazy on me and got that "graphics accelerator..." pop up so I rebooted the computer but it didn't work. About 20 seconds after loggin into my account on this computer, it went into standby mode. After several tries, it stopped going into stand by mode and I had time to consult my brother through msn. He suggested I go to ATI's website and download a new graphics driver. So I used the link he gave me and did as he said.
My computer seemed to be running fine again but this morning, I experienced the same problem but I can't find any solution to this anymore. My computer shuts down everytime I try to run more than 3 things at once.
This is a gateway computer that I bought in 2003. I got an internal and external hard drive about 2 years ago. I haven't had any major problems with this computer until now. Is there anything a computer hardware illiterate person like me can do to fix it or should I just take it into geeksquad?
About a month ago, I was using my computer (watching anime, instant messaging, etc) and all of a sudden, my computer screen went crazy on me. There were lots of colors and lines. Then, it went back to normal and I got a pop up window telling me that my graphics accelerator had to reset itself and that I needed to reboot the computer. I did just that and everything was fine again.
The same thing happened 2 weeks ago but the problem wasn't solved as easily. After rebooting the computer, I tried to first get on my msn messenger but as soon as it signed me in, my computer went into standby mode and I had to manually turn the computer on. I tried two more times but the same thing happened so I opened up my computer and dusted it out because I thought that maybe trapped dust might be overheating the computer and causing it to go into standby mode. There wasn't too much dust but after cleaning it, the computer worked fine.... until yesterday.
Again, the screen went crazy on me and got that "graphics accelerator..." pop up so I rebooted the computer but it didn't work. About 20 seconds after loggin into my account on this computer, it went into standby mode. After several tries, it stopped going into stand by mode and I had time to consult my brother through msn. He suggested I go to ATI's website and download a new graphics driver. So I used the link he gave me and did as he said.
My computer seemed to be running fine again but this morning, I experienced the same problem but I can't find any solution to this anymore. My computer shuts down everytime I try to run more than 3 things at once.
This is a gateway computer that I bought in 2003. I got an internal and external hard drive about 2 years ago. I haven't had any major problems with this computer until now. Is there anything a computer hardware illiterate person like me can do to fix it or should I just take it into geeksquad?
