xp screen crashes, but not in safe mode

[SimonCleaver]

Hi all,
running xp home
No problems when in safe mode, but when logged in as any user the screen keeps going black (like a power shut down) for about 1 second. Then comes back on, normal for about 30 seconds, then flashes of and on again.

Quite an old machine, so maybe video card is on the way out and cannot handle higher input when logged in Normally.

Any suggestions for a good video tester. Can I put it on portable USB so I dont have to install any progs on the machine.

many thanks for any advice or trouble shooting guide

 

[Rider]

You can always try dxdiag.exe. It should already be installed on the computer.

 

[SimonCleaver]

thanks.
machine crashed before dxdiag.exe could fully load.

I put in another graphics card and everything was fine.
But this maybe because it also installed new drivers for new card.

I put back in old graphics card and updated drivers.
Still has same problem.

But now when I put back in new graphics card and boot, I boot error of 6 beeps, followed by 2 beeps and no boot up.

Put old card back in, machine boots up, but screen flashes off every now and then - or crashes machine completely if graphic intensive.

This is a friends machine - no updates at all, so putting on SP2 now and will try to reinstall drivers again.

Thanks for advice on dxdiag.exe, I'll try again once I get pc fully updated.


SOLVED: New graphics card and fully updated pc