Hey folks, it's that time of the month again. Time for my computer to have its own drama.
Although it's somewhat serious this time.
Ok, so first things first, chronology of events.
I'm running Civ 5, i.e. a high use program. All of a sudden, mid game the screen totally freezes, and the screen begins to turn white, small little vertical lines but more an more slowly emerging. Try ctrl alt delete, try a few other things, but to no avail. Total system crash. No choice but to shut down manually.
Upon restart, I get as far as the boot menu when it shuts down automatically.
Second re-start startup repair launched. It finds a problem, but informs me it's unable to fix it. Report sent to Microsoft.
At this point, I decide to attempt startup without startup repair. Successful. System appears to operate normally, inc. civ 5 and games, but, obviously something is very wrong.
Searching online for information, varying answers, but most point to a hardware fault with the video card specifically. I run a system clean and a defrag, mostly just to test the water.
Upon running "Driver Booster", which updates out of date drivers, system automatically shuts down, reason unknown, but restarts without drama.
At this point, I've backed up all files and prepared for the possibility I may not be able to salvage it.
This morning, upon startup, there were serious distortions on the display, closest example would be like the effect when you turned off an old-fashioned TV set. But through distortions I can make out a bluescreen. No choice but to shut down manually again.
Upon power up, serious problem. Things start normally, there's a brief buzz as per normal from the cd drive, but then, nothing. The display does not even activate the backlight, screen remains pitch black as if off. The actual sound the computer makes is abnormally quiet, all sounds normally associated with startup simply don't happen. The only visible sign on life is the power light.
Attempt to launch in safe mode, (hold down F8 before and during and after pressing power button) no effect. Same as above. All functions, inc. boot menu thus inaccessible.
But this point, I am now fairly sure the video card and/or some other hardware is shot and probably beyond repair, but I'm here for a second opinion.
Have at it, and thank you all in advance.
Machine Specifications:
Dell Inspiron 1720
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2370 @1.73GHz
Installed Memory (RAM) 3.00GB
32-bit
Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) (Previously, Windows Vista)
Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT Video Card