Comp Crashing = bright yellow or blue & gray striped screen

[cahepyp]

My computer is crashing even while doing low demand things like web surfing and word processing. When it happens the screen turns all bright yellow or it's blue and gray vertical stripes. It just started doing this about 4 weeks ago. It was maybe once the first week - but it's been getting more frequent and yesterday it crashed twice.

My comp:
OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820
MB: ASUS P9X79 PRO LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9Q-16GBSR
VID CARD : XFX FX-795A-TNBC Radeon HD 7950 Black 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2

I have 3 120mm fans, a 200m fan and a 135mm one that looks like the *censored*-end of an old hairdryer on my CPU

A friend of mine helped me build this comp off Newegg in August.

If you want any addition info I can probably find it - just ask.

[truenorth]

Does it do the same thing in safe mode? Do you hear or observe anything (other than the screen dysfunction) when it happens--like loud or changing sounds? Was there anything that you changed on the computer when this 1st appeared? Other than the display  does anything else happen like the computer actually shutting down? What do you do to recover from this occurrence? Is there a commonality to the timing of when this event likely occurs such as after a similar time of the computer being on?truenorth

[cahepyp]

I haven't tried safe mode as there hasn't been much commonality with the time. One time it's been on for 2 hours and crashed while I'm in Open Office,  but there are days when I run my games (Tera and SWTOR) for 10+ hours and nothing has happened at all. I've had 3-4 days between a crash - then days like the day before I first posted this it was 2 times in one day

There is no loud sounds, changes in fan speed, funny smells, etc. The monitor turns either solid yellow or it has blue and gray vertical stripes. The computer does not shutdown, but it will not respond (that I can see) to any input. I tried to shut it down by pressing ctrl-alt-del twice as a test to whether it's still working behind the screen, but there was nothing. Not sure if MS took that out between XP and 7 though. To recover I have to restart the computer from the tower otherwise it will just sit there.

It's crashed about 8 times now. I have changed nothing inside the tower since it was put together in August. Nothing around it has changed, it's never moved from where it sits on my desk and I blow the dust out of it every couple weeks.

[Computer_Commando]

Likely either the monitor or the graphics card.  Try a different monitor first.

[truenorth]

For whatever it's worth given your answers to my questions i concur with CC's thought,truenorth

[cahepyp]

Hmmm... my comp crashed again last night. I tried power cycling the monitor several times, it does it's bootup routine and then the screen returns to bright yellow each time. But when I reboot the tower, it fixes itself right away. So can I rule out the monitor?