Can a monitor cause a BSoD?

[sloppydragon]

The HTPC keeps freezing, rebooting and BSD'ing. So I replaced it with a whole new computer. This one was doing the same thing, so I figured it might be the power in my room, so I got a UPS with AVR (auto voltage regulator) and put the HTPC and TV on it (and nothing else). That didn't work. So I thought it might be the USB network device, so I replaced it. Still happened. The only other thing left from the first computer is the keyboard. Out went the wireless keyboard and I put in my USB remote mouse. (no keyboard). Still happened. The ONLY thing that the new computer and the old computer have in common at this point is the monitor.

Have you ever heard of a monitor (plugged in via HDMI) causing problems that caused a PC to freeze, reboot or BSD?

I can not fathom what else could be the problem. All that is left is software. They both use W7, but so do my other computers. The old HTPC and the new HTPC use different AV/Malware software. (Eset and SAS vs AVG and Malwarebytes) The old used Firefox, the new uses Chrome. I am forced to use silverlight for Netflix, but after that they don't use any of the same software, plus everything else works fine on either the laptop or the desktop.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?

Also, the new case has better heat dissipation and I used low power/low heat components in the new HTPC, so it's running at about 35°C as opposed to the old HTPC which ran at about 45°C.

I use the HTPC for streaming Netflix almost exclusively, so there's very little CPU load.

 

[price_th]

I have seen something similar. Laptop in a dock connected to HDTV. If I tried to boot the laptop in the dock, windows would crash and reboot. Took it out of the dock to boot and then dock it, then it was fine. Only happened when it was previously shut down as a restricted user. As Admin it was fine. Go figure.

 

[duxducis]

the only thing coming to mind is bad HDMI cable or bad hdmi port (or controller) in monitor.
Possibly something to do with sound as well, (if you use audio pass thru hdmi)
if you have multiple hdmi ports on back try using different one.
i have 3 and 1 burned out but the rest work fine

 

[Cloudcpu]

I am having a similar problem I purchased a new ASUS 24" monitor and I started to get random BSOD on an otherwise very stable PC I also tried the monitor on a different PC and starting getting BSOD on that machine again normally a pretty stable work machine. I have been researching this an some people suggest edid codes on the monitor could be the culprit. I am going to try an HDMI cable (replacing my DVI cable) to see if that resolves the issue. In the old days a bent serial pin caused these kind of issues but that was twenty years ago on an 80X88 pc maybe this is a new phenomenon as I have found a few blogs on this topic trying to trouble shoot my issue.

 

[sloppydragon]

BigMac70:

What BSOD code are you getting?

Initially, on the old machine, I was getting the BSD code for video card errors. So I replaced the GX9800 card I was using with a newer GT220 card. That worked for about a month.

I have to admit I have not looked up the BSD code on the new machine as I'm using the on-board Intel GPU with HDMI out.

The "brains" of the new machine (CPU, mobo, & ram) have run flawlessly for the last 4 years as my Windows Home Server. As I stated before, the old HTPC and new HTPC have no hardware in common and except for silverlight and W7, no software in common.

The leads on my multi-meter are too large to test the HDMI port on the back of the TV, but I'm running the TV's native resolution, but I'd probably need a scope to find anything anyhow.

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." -- Arthur Conan Doyle

Since we've eliminated all the hardware and software, no matter how bizarre it would appear, all evidence suggest that the TV must be sending feedback to the PC causing it to crash. Unfortunately, I lack the equipment to test the TV's HDMI output for the culprit.

 

[sloppydragon]

Have any friends who would let you hook up your HTPC to their TV to see if it still crashes?

The problem is that the crashes are intermittent. Some days it doesn't crash at all, other times it crashes after a few minutes. This computer was on 24x7 for the last 4 years without a flicker.

I have tested it with other monitors (for a few hours at a time) and it runs fine.

I've used SIW and Unbuntu Live CD to run various diagnostics and they all come up clean. I am confident in the performance of the PC.

I think for the first time in 30 years of sitting in front of a computer, I'm seeing a monitor causing a computer to crash.

This is what seeing a UFO must be like. I've seen something that experience tells me shouldn't happen. All my research tells me that it's not probable. Meanwhile those I tell are highly skeptical. 😱

 

[sloppydragon]

Best answer selected by sloppydragon.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey