Random Crashes, Video Card Suspected

AnnihilationRob

Baseband Member
Messages
34
I have had a number of problems with my new system and I suspect my video card. Here is the system:

  • Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black (WD6401AALS)
  • Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 (F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ)
  • Video: Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 (100252HDMI)
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz (BX80605I5750)
  • MoBo: Gigabyte P55 Micro ATX (GA-P55M-UD2)
  • OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Here are some of the problems I've been experiencing:

  • My computer screen randomly goes black. When I ctrl alt del the screen comes back but the resolution has been reset to the lowest setting. When I restart the computer everything is back to normal.
  • If I leave my computer for awhile and it goes to screen saver (i haven't set a screen saver so its just black) it stays black despite my shaking of the mouse. I usually can't to the ctrl alt del thing in this case, I just have to force restart the computer.
  • I get the blue screen of death occasionally.

After each occurrence my computer says something to the effect of "ATI graphics driver failed". All of these seem to occur more often when I'm running fairly intense programs, Adobe Fireworks and Cakewalk Sonar (audio mixing program) in particular, but I have noted a few occurrences when I'm surfing the web or even when nothing at all is running. I have contacted ATI and installed the latest drivers and whatnot to no avail. Do I need to just buy a new video card? Anyone else experienced any of this?
 
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