Black screen; tiny blue squares followed by computer restarting.

[Rage Against]

I have a Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit with too many programs downloaded.
I'm trying to uninstall most of them, but I don't even know if that's the problem.
I'm trying to record with Sony Vegas and it works for awhile, but then this black screen with checkered blue squares pops up and then my computer restarts.
If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it.

 

[usasma]

This isn't my area of concentration, but I'll offer some suggestions because this topic hasn't been answered yet.

The video artifacts suggest a video card problem to me. Is this a desktop or a laptop?
If a desktop, open the case and check for dust clogging the cooler and to see if the fan on the card is working.
If a laptop, check to be sure the cooling fan is blowing air out - and then blow the ventilation ports out with canned air (don't use a vacuum cleaner or an air compressor as it can cause damage to the system)

Try these free video card stress tests:

FurMark download site: FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net
FurMark Setup:
- If you have more than one GPU, select Multi-GPU during setup
- In the Run mode box, select "Stability Test" and "Log GPU Temperature"
Click "Go" to start the test
- Run the test until the GPU temperature maxes out - or until you start having problems (whichever comes first).
- Click "Quit" to exit

Prime95 download site: Free Software - GIMPS
Prime95 Setup:
- extract the contents of the zip file to a location of your choice
- double click on the executable file
- select "Just stress testing"
- select the "Blend" test. If you've already run MemTest overnight you may want to run the "Small FFTs" test instead. (run all 3 if you find a problem and note how long it takes to error out with each)
- "Number of torture test threads to run" should equal the number of CPU's times 2 (if you're using hyperthreading).
The easiest way to figure this out is to go to Task Manager...Performance tab - and see the number of boxes under CPU Usage History
Then run the test for 6 to 24 hours - or until you get errors (whichever comes first).
This won't necessarily crash the system - but check the output in the test window for errors.
The Test selection box and the stress.txt file describes what components that the program stresses.

Two other video stress tests (may be more stressful than FurMark):
Video Memory stress Test - МИРNVIDIA / Утилиты / VMT
Artifact Locator - МИРNVIDIA / Утилиты / Artifact Locator
Sorry, but I don't read the language that this website is made in.