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[wierd]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2090921/how-to-create-hotkeys-for-windows-sleep-and-shutdown.html

[Akura]

That method doesn't allow for mapping to anything with the Fn key. Still useful though.

[Xvareon]

I have a problem with my computer crashing out.

Description: My monitor, sound, keyboard & mouse are all abruptly turning off at once, seemingly at random, with no warning beforehand. The CPU is still 'running' in that the lights are on and I hear the fan running, but there is no display on the screen, and the keyboard Caps-Lock keys etc. will not turn their corresponding lights on and off, even though the light remains on if it was on when the incident occurred. The problem happens even when I'm not running a memory-intensive application. Sometimes, it happens even when I'm trying to boot up the computer. I have to turn the power off and back on, which usually works, at least until the next time this happens, which is several times a day at random intervals.

PC specifications: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Service Pack 1 -- Intel Core i7 2.67GHz (8 CPUs) processor -- 12 gigs RAM -- Kingston 480 GB Solid-State Hard Drive (Factory new) -- DirectX 11 -- AMD Radeon R7 360 series GPU -- Corsair CX600 power supply -- Intel Desktop Board DX58SO (Motherboard)

What I think is happening is that my motherboard is bad, because of my keyboard's caps-lock light not turning on and off, which means the signal isn't going through the motherboard and back like it should. The input/output paths just shut off. I've heard it may also be a bad RAM stick, but I dunno about that. Especially since I ran a Windows Memory Diagnostic and did not uncover any problems. Anyone here have or had a similar problem, or know how I can figure out exactly what the problem is so I know what I need to fix or replace?

[wierd]

Sounds power related. Sounds suspiciously similar to "capacitor plague" of yore.

Things to check for first:
It the outlet you are plugged into properly grounded, and wired correctly/does this problem happen when on a different outlet on a different breaker?

Does your house get reliable mains power from the electric company? (Many rural locations have unreliable power delivery due to wind-whipped cabling.)

Does adding a UPS reduce the rate of incidence?

After checking wall outlet and power delivery issues, check to be sure your board is configured properly. Some of those fancier boards do "voltage tweaking" to slightly overvolt the ram a teeny bit so you can drive it faster. This often leads to instability with these kinds of symptoms. Try using failsafe defaults instead of optimised defaults, and see if that helps.

If it is neither of those, check to be sure you did not put too much thermal paste on the heatsink. Too much acts like an insulating blanket and cooks the CPU instead of helping to keep it cool. That can lead to strange behaviors, like spontaneous lockups and poweroffs.

Finally, check for signs of capacitor plague. This has not been a problem for many years now, but getting hot can trigger electrolyte breakdown/blown vents on electrolytic capacitors.  Check for orange goop/crust on the tops or legs of the capacitors, or if the little cross shaped creases in the tops have "puffed out", or opened. If you see either of those, replace the motherboard.

[Xvareon]

I run my computer power through 2 surge protectors in line. It has worked flawlessly for almost 2 years now. And yes, it is properly grounded. We get reliable power that only turns off in particularly major storms these days, though we very rarely have "brown-outs" for short periods of time. I haven't tried using an uninterruptible power system. Don't even have one, lol, that would cost about as much as a new motherboard anyway. And as far as I know, there is no "thermal paste" on the heatsink, and it's working just fine.

However. I checked the capacitors as advised. One of them, marked with the characters "CR5BV", right below a little green light on the motherboard, is crooked, looking quite skewed off to the left. And that's not the only one. The capacitors marked C364BU and C506BU are both skewed off, the first being majorly to the right while the other is only slightly off. But three capacitors off-axis like that probably isn't good for the board. They aren't puffed out and there's no orange crust on them, though.

[wierd]

Bent to one side probably wont cause issues.

What will cause issues is if the vent has blown.

See for instance, this image:



If the tops are bulged out, it is bad.
If the top has goo leaking out, it is bad.
If the top is pristine and flat, the vent has not blown, and the cap is probably good.

[Tellemurius]

Surge protectors should not be chained, its redundant and its possible for one strip to trip the other. UPS are pretty cheap nowadays. APCs has a basic unit on amazon for 45 bucks https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HDC236Q course that is within the US.

As for this situation, have you checked the windows log for any hangups? There might be a recorded event for a stalled software or hardware failure. You say the display goes out, its possible the video card driver crash and was not able to recover. My AMD 390 sometimes have these issues as well where the driver will crash and theres a few seconds where my screen is flashing.

[EnigmaticHat]

If it was the power supply or motherboard, the CPU fan should stop running and there shouldn't be any lights at all on your keyboard.  If the CPU overheated or the CPU fan isn't powered your computer should shut down immediately.  It sounds to me like your computer is freezing due to a problem with your graphics card or its drivers, hence why the monitor stops working but the keyboard is still powered.  You could try getting one of those GPU heat monitors and reinstalling the drivers (I do it by going to control panel and hitting "uninstall driver" then restarting, don't know if that's best practice).

[BigD145]

Surge protectors should not be chained, its redundant and its possible for one strip to trip the other. UPS are pretty cheap nowadays. APCs has a basic unit on amazon for 45 bucks https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HDC236Q course that is within the US.

Cheap UPS's are generally garbage. Their output may cause hiccups in whatever they are attached to.

[Tellemurius]

Its APC, they even sell replacement batteries for it. Honestly that price is not bad just incase you dont want your home tower to blow up.

[Parsely]

So I have this monstrous Samsung Syncmaster SA950 display monitor my friend gave me because it reportedly was not displaying anything at all even when it powered on. It came with an AC adapter and a DisplayPort cable.

Hooked it up to my computer and turned it on; I believed my friend but the display works fine for me right now! I get "Check Signal Cable: HDMI" on the display, even though this DisplayPort cable is plugged in. I tried to access the menu but it only allows me to select PC or AV mode, no other settings. I tried an HDMI cable and it displays just fine and I get access to all the menu options.

So great, it works (except sometimes it didn't for my friend apparently)! This would be fine, except I only have one HDMI port and I want to use this as a secondary monitor, so I'm hoping to get this DisplayPort cable working if possible so I don't need to spring for an HDMI bridge. It's jacked into an AMD Radeon R9 200 and the drivers are up to date.

Any ideas on what the deal is with the DisplayPort cable, or why it might have stop displaying before and started displaying again? I found a user manual online and I'm checking that out now.

[wierd]

No, and wouldn't bother.

You can get display port to HDMI cables. Get one, plug into PC's display port and monitor's HDMI port. Call it a day and stop worrying.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EIYZP3U/ref=asc_df_B01EIYZP3U5050043/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B01EIYZP3U&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167140037427&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9428723408845634631&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9024386&hvtargid=pla-309875162575

[BigD145]

No, and wouldn't bother.

You can get display port to HDMI cables. Get one, plug into PC's display port and monitor's HDMI port. Call it a day and stop worrying.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EIYZP3U/ref=asc_df_B01EIYZP3U5050043/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B01EIYZP3U&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167140037427&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9428723408845634631&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9024386&hvtargid=pla-309875162575

Even cheaper http://www.dx.com/s/display%2bport%2bhdmi?cateId=0&cateName=All%20Categories&category=123

[EnigmaticHat]

My computer doesn't have a wireless card because that costs money and ethernet is better.  Is there some way I can connect to the router and then through the router connect to the printer?  Or should I just get a USB cord printer?  (I couldn't think of the words to google this)

[Aklyon]

My computer doesn't have a wireless card because that costs money and ethernet is better.  Is there some way I can connect to the router and then through the router connect to the printer?  Or should I just get a USB cord printer?  (I couldn't think of the words to google this)

Our wireless printer/scanner/copier here is just a normal all-in-one with nonfunctional (requires a now-lost cd) wireless capability. Does your printer have no non-power cables?