I've had a reoccuring problem on my Windows XP desktop. Recently, when I boot up my computer, as soon as I enter in the password and the homescreen comes up, the screen begins to blink. It flashes black for a second, then goes back to the normal screen. Then it flashes black again about 5 seconds later, and this process repeats. After 5-10 flashes, or a minute of being logged into my computer, the screen flashes off again, then stays off. The light on the monitor turns off, as if I had turned off my computer, but my computer is still running. Then about a minute later, the monitor turns back on, BUT, all it shows is a screen that is gray and black and fades between the two, as if someone were pouring gray over a black screen. This pouring image goes on for about 2 minutes, then the monitor shuts off, and the computer is soon to follow. Additionally, I had been having problems with sketchy images and randomly and incorrectly colored pixels in the weeks coming before the above problem. My computer is a Dell XPS of about 2 years, running XP. Is there anyway to fix this? If not, would I be able to retreive all the files+information saved on my computer, and if so, how would I go about doing this?

Either your video card is going out, monitor is failing or your power savings [acpi] settings are messed up. I would check or turn off all power settings, borrow a monitor from a friend and last replace the video card. Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Teachin...

You could try the montor with another computer - but there's probably nothing wrong with it, unless it's a really cheap LCD model. If you have two (or more) monitor ports on a video card in a slot, a single monitor often must be plugged into the primary monitor port in order for the video to work properly. If you have two cards in slots, a single monitor often must be plugged into the primary port of the primary card in order for the video to work properly. ACPI settings problems do not cause video corruption, nor can driver problems in Windows normally cause most of the symptoms you describe. The video does not need drivers before Windows loads, so it should work fine up until Windows is loaded in any case. If you have a video card or cards in (a) slot(s), the fan(s) on it(them) must be spinning and not have built up mung on the fan or the heat sink. If this happens only after the computer has warmed up - the latter may be your problem. - and/or you may have mung buildup on the cpu fan and heatsink, and/or the cpu fan is not spinning properly. Your problem could be caused by a failing power supply. Check your PS. See response 4 in this: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

Thank you both for your fast replies. Taking your suggestions, I individually removed each of the video cards (i have dual vid cards) and tested the computer with one video card for each card. It turned out that one of the cards was highly corrupted, while the other was in perfect, or at least good enough, condition. My computer seems to be running well again. Thank you very much.

The most frequent reason a video card gets damaged is because of this: ATX moards are always powered in some places even when the computer is not running, as long as live AC power is being supplied to the case and the power supply. You MUST disconnect the AC power to your case / power supply whenever you change any connection inside your case or plug in or unplug ram or a card in a slot, otherwise you can easily ruin something! This is especially important for AGP and PCI-E cards! Other common ways a video card gets damaged.. - by a faulty power supply putting out too much voltage or shorting - it was not all the way down in it's slot at some time when the computer was running - it may have been all the way down in it's slot, but a screw that is supposed to hold it down was not installed when a monitor was plugged into it, the card moved in it's slot, and was not all the way down when the computer was on at some time.