Strange Issue That Occurs Every 2 Weeks On Windows 10 PC

Hi everyone I am new to the forum Im hoping someone here can assist me I have a Dell XPS 8700 desktop with an AMD Video Graphics card(HD Radeon) I put in windows 10 clean on July 29th when the operating system was released, first upgraded then did a clean install..thought everything was fine, but every two weeks for the past month..I will be on the computer, everything will be fine, and all of a sudden the mouse will freeze up, I can have firefox open at the time, then the screen will go black, then I will see a zillion little boxes and lines, different colors, then the screen goes black again, then it just keeps on looping doing that over and over again, black screen, colored screen, black screen, colored screen, etc etc..I have to turn off the PC and reboot it to fix it..I called Dell, they said it sounds like a video card issue, had someone come here a few days ago and replace the video card, about 2 hours ago, it happened again..was just on firefox had four tabs open..I called Dell and Dell is sending someone with a new motherboard(2nd time this PC has had a motherboard replacement since I got it, and this PC isnt even two years old yet) the reason is because I mentioned to them that a while back I updated the Dell BIOS to A11 and while it was installing(It installed fine but failed during verification process) I rebooted the PC and it showed that the A11 BIOS was installed just fine, but the technician thinks maybe the BIOS is the cause which makes no sense since this issue doesnt happen all the time, not sure what to think anymore..motherboard replacement, video card replacement, another motherboard replacement its ridiculous

bro67 said:

It sounds like you have a driver issue. I had to uninstall Windows 10 after the first release they issued, was failing miserably with every problem imaginable. You can try and do a Display Driver update for the GPU. Also can do the SFC /Scannow and the Dism fixes, to see if that picks up any problems.

So it doesn't sound like something went wrong with bios? I had a feeling it couldn't be that since if it was the motherboard the computer wouldn't even turn on..how do I do that scan I'm not familiar with it..dell uninstalled the video card drivers so many times I told them maybe something got corrupted but when they were trying to install the chipset driver the pc kept on rebooting before the thing installed so that is why they thought it's a motherboard problem,,this has only occurred with windows 10 as much as windows 8 sucked I never had anything like this happen

Lakerfanalways said:

So it doesn't sound like something went wrong with bios? I had a feeling it couldn't be that since if it was the motherboard the computer wouldn't even turn on..how do I do that scan I'm not familiar with it..dell uninstalled the video card drivers so many times I told them maybe something got corrupted but when they were trying to install the chipset driver the pc kept on rebooting before the thing installed so that is why they thought it's a motherboard problem,,this has only occurred with windows 10 as much as windows 8 sucked I never had anything like this happen

If it's a BIOS issue and you can get to your desktop I'm sure that you can run the update again and it will overwrite the BIOS already installed.

to run sfc /scannow

right click start or press windows key and x key at same time
select command prompt admin
type sfc /scannow press enter
note the space in between sfc and /

let it run
if it finds errors
take a snip image and post
to take a snippit image
click start
select all apps
scroll to windows accessories
open snippit
press new
use mouse to left click and hold while you drag across the screen of what you ant to capture....


if no errors

open command prompt admin
type Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth press enter
this will scan the windows image for errors and list them
if any type Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth press enter

these are trouble shooting steps to get pc operating normally again

but I also agree it could be a display driver needing updated or the bios update needs re ran if it initially gave you errors..

a while back when I upgraded to 10 I had display issues similar to yours as well but my system is running dual intel and NVidia display adapters

icpwolverine said:

to run sfc /scannow

right click start or press windows key and x key at same time
select command prompt admin
type sfc /scannow press enter
note the space in between sfc and /

let it run
if it finds errors
take a snip image and post
to take a snippit image
click start
select all apps
scroll to windows accessories
open snippit
press new
use mouse to left click and hold while you drag across the screen of what you ant to capture....


if no errors

open command prompt admin
type Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth press enter
this will scan the windows image for errors and list them
if any type Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth press enter

these are trouble shooting steps to get pc operating normally again

but I also agree it could be a display driver needing updated or the bios update needs re ran if it initially gave you errors..

a while back when I upgraded to 10 I had display issues similar to yours as well but my system is running dual intel and NVidia display adapters

did the sfc /scannow and it found zero errors..now Im doing the DISM.EXE scan to see if it finds anything which I doubt..its really troubling that in the past two years(This computer was purchased on 9/16/2013) this PC has had two motherboard replacements, a video card replacement, and still nothing but problems..the technician is coming tomorrow with another motherboard will see what happens otherwise I will just demand them send me a new PC because it hasnt even been two years yet

Sounds like you got a "lemon" PC if still under warrantee I'd get them replace entire PC also

Could be the display drivers just ain't compatible with your video card. I would try uninstalling current nvidia programs and drivers then open control panel then open devices and printers. Then right clicking your PC icon select device installation settings and disable the auto update for devices. Then go to your PC product support page and downloading original drivers for the nvidia card. How ever if you got the video card yourself and put it in yourself then use the drivers that came with it.

Also if desktop PC open the case and take video card out wait a few minutes then re insert it. Make sure it is seated properly. Then go from there

icpwolverine said:

Sounds like you got a "lemon" PC if still under warrantee I'd get them replace entire PC also

The XPS 8700 was purchased on 9/16/2013..I extended the warranty for another four years thank God I did that, usually I dont buy extended warranties but I just knew that something eventually would go wrong..I have an AMD Radeon HD..they have uninstalled and installed and uninstalled and installed the drivers repeatedly who knows if maybe that is the cause. I have AMD Catalyst Corner on my PC, I have from windows update it installed automatically some driver, and when I go to device manager it has the installed driver there so basically like three drivers who knows if maybe something got defective, whats weird is that I have a Sony laptop that is older than the PC and it works just fine, no issue with the video card or anything. Do you think that Dell would replace the whole PC and give me a new one since its not even two years old yet