Screen freezes random solid color

[Mayuukosan]

Specs:

MSI motherboard
ATI Radeon HD 5670 video card
AMD Phenom Quad core processor
8gb RAM
Windows 7 64-bit (also happened when in XP, I installed 7 a few months ago.)

Problem:

-While using my computer, the screen will suddenly freeze, change a solid color, (red, blue, green, it is random, sometimes with lines drawn through it vertically or horizontally) and the sound will either keep playing, stutter, or stop playing(also random).
-It tends to group together, if it freezes once, it will freeze several times in an hour, but then it might not freeze again for a week or so.
-If it matters, I have a dual screen display, the freeze affects both screens, the Main screen will turn a random color, the secondary will stay back-lit but the screen turns black always.
-It has been happening for about 6 months.

Other Information:

-This has not happened to me while playing games or other graphic intensive activities, it only happens when I am browsing the web or just watching videos, or writing. This might be coincidence, but about 75% of my time on my computer is playing games(Skyrim, Mirror's Edge, Amnesia, Vindictus, Portal, all high quality).
-It does happen in Safe Mode.
-No error messages pop up.
-Sometimes the "Windows was shut down unexpectedly" screen shows up and sometimes it does not. When it does not show up, the computer gets stuck on the "Starting Windows" screen, I left it sitting there for 8-9 hours and when I had returned it had still not started windows.

What I have done:

-First, I uninstalled/reinstalled my drivers for the video card and motherboard, and it worked okay for a few minutes then went into a series of crashes, same as before. Tried using old drivers, and new ones.
-Uninstalled Windows XP, formatted HD, and reinstalled Windows 7(for a different problem that was solved).
-Cleaned out case/Installed extra fan
-Ran the usual set of cleaners on the system.
-Checked the Event Viewer, the event ID for the only error was 41, "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly." All other events were only Information events about normal processes.
-My temps (running only Chrome, over 2 hour period) Motherboard 33-35C, Processor 24-27C, Video Card 48-52C
Running games (specifically Skyrim and Portal 2, high settings, over 2 hour period) Motherboard 34-37C, Processor 26-30C, Video Card 50-55C

Thank you to anyone who can help me. If I need to buy some new item for my computer, could someone recommend something that would work with my system? I am poor with knowing hardware. I would like to solve this without buying anything, if possible.

[Transfusion]

Let us first go over the basics:
To stress-test your system to check for errors you might want to use the following programs:
IntelBurnTest for your CPU: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/IntelBurnTest.shtml Run it on Standard, 1024MB, for 10 passes. If your system gets unstable in the process it will tell you.
Furmark for your Graphics card: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/FurMark.shtml Run the 720p benchmark. If your system gets unstable there will be artifacting on the screen or the picture will freeze.
MemTest86+ for your RAM: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Memtest86-plus.shtml Run it for 10 passes. It will indicate if there is a read/write error if your RAM is faulty.

I am pretty sure it is a hardware error; if it happened back when you had XP and also in Safe Mode it is not a software issue.

-Sometimes the "Windows was shut down unexpectedly" screen shows up and sometimes it does not. When it does not show up, the computer gets stuck on the "Starting Windows" screen, I left it sitting there for 8-9 hours and when I had returned it had still not started windows.

I have had an identical issue with a laptop that cropped up after I installed a WLAN card that drew too much power. The hard drive indicator did not light up.
What is the make and model of your PSU?
If possible, borrow a known working power supply from a friend and test... Also, please provide the exact model of your motherboard...

[Mayuukosan]

Sorry it took me so long to respond.

IntelBurnTest result: No errors
Furmark Result: No freezing or errors (Results 954 points 16fps)
MemTest86+ result: No errors

I will try waiting until my computer goes into a set of freezes and run the tests then, it is annoying because I really do not know how to replicate the issue, it seems to happen on its own.

My Power Supply I replaced about 2 months ago (went from Corsair 430w to a Corsair GS600 system), I have also tested on a Logisys 600w, can not remember the part number though.

Motherboard is a MSI 870A-G54.

Thank you for your response.

[Transfusion]

I was expecting your coputer to fail Furmark because of the extremey high stress that your graphics card is subjected to...
You have already replaced your power supply, and 600W is more than enough for a low-mid end graphics card like your HD 5670 which doesn't require an auxiliary power connector...

I find it plain weird that the crashes do not occur when playing games... got me stumped here...
I have this odd hunch that its yout RAM... because games make more use of the graphics VRAM and after the game is loaded into memory it, well, just sits there, at least until you save your game, whereas when you are browsing webpages your computer continuously caches webpages into memory...

What I would try:
1) Turn your PC off completely, unplug it from the wall outlet and then press the power button (without plugging it back in)
2) Reset CMOS while the computer is off (just move the jumper back and forth)
3) Move your graphics card to the other PCIe slot (so we can simultaneously test for IRQ conflicts)
4) Boot with only one stick of RAM inserted and then start browsing webpages or do whatever you think causes the problem.
5) If the error persists, switch it to a different RAM slot (alternate with all sticks of RAM until the error goes away; there might be a faulty stick of RAM in your 8GB causing the issue)
6) If the error still doesn't go away, try slightly bumping the RAM voltage in the BIOS (around +0.05V, don't go too high)
7) Browse random webpages.
8 ) If the error still doesn't go away, try slighly bumping the voltage of the CPU in the BIOS (around +0.05V too, don't go too high)
9) Browse random webpages.
10) I hope you are not reading this, but by now I think it is probably your motherboard that is the issue.

[Mayuukosan]

All right, here is what is happening currently...

I reset the CMOS, and moved the Video card. I noticed that instead of 2 sticks of 4g RAM (which is what I thought I had) I actually had 2 sticks of 8, making 16 total. Whoops!

I removed one of the sticks and tried to reproduce the error, but couldn't, tried with the other stick and couldn't get it to freeze with that one either. I ran with both sticks perfectly fine. I am going to assume it was something to do with changing the slot of the video card. *shrugs*

Thank you so very much for your help, and if this happens again I will reference this thread but for now I will mark as solved.

Very happy now!

[Thoamros]

I have exactly the same problem.

Same as you, I don't have the problem while I'm playing games or watching a film. Even if I have, it is much less frequently. Instead I generally have the problem while browsing on web. But sometimes as soon as I boot the pc, after Windows' password screen, problem occurs.

In addition:

When I install a driver for my video card from its website, no matter which version I install, I start having new problems while having the old ones. For example it often gives an error: "Display driver has stopped working and recovered". Screen goes black for 2 seconds and then it gives the error message. This happens like 2-3 times on every session then pc freezes, obligating me to reboot.

To solve this, I did remove the driver I downloaded from nVidia's web site. I am now using the Windows 8's included driver. Now I never have the "Display driver stopped" error. However, the problem which you also had persists.

I want to be able to install the latest driver and have no problem. Some games want me to update my drivers and I can't

The problem is so weird that I can't even be sure if it is the video card or something else.

By the way, I had a different screen freeze today, made me suspicios about the video card only. Because I had the solid color screen but music kept playing. My G15 keyboard's screen did not stop responding. And via using the keyboard shortcuts, I was able to see that pc was not stuck at all. But still, most of the time, I have the problem with a frozen PC.

My specs:

Gigabyte 890xa-ud3 Motherboard
ASUS Nvidia GTS250 GDDR3 1GB 256Bit DX10 Video Card
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition AM3 3.4GHz 8MB Cache 45nm
KINGSTON 4GB (2*2GB) Hyperx DDR3 1600MHz CL9 XMP Dual Channel
Windows 8 64-bit

I would really appreciate your help. I am ready to change the video card's slot but I am not sure if my motherboard is ok with that.