White Screen of Death

Okay so I try googling this problem but everyone keeps asking about white screen happening after logging in. I got a random white screen during the middle of my browsing. I have a Windows 7 Desktop.

Unfortunately, the details you're providing are quite vague. Do you have a screenshot of sorts of this "white screen"?

There's no way for me to give a screen shot. My computer just stopped responding and my monitor gave me a huge blank white screen. The cursor didn't appear as I moved the mouse, so it literally just froze with a blank screen.

I'm sorry for being vague but it caught me off guard and I'm still in awe since that was the first time I ever experienced a white screen.

What were you looking at while browsing?
Was it a flash-heavy site? Java-heavy?

What other programs were open?
Specs?

Does the main source still work fine? Do you have more than one hard drive? Switching hard drives will let you know if the problem lies there.

It could also be something wrong with the graphic card. If you're listening to music (as an example) does the computer continue playing whatever you were listening to? That's a key to know if the issue is video-only. If that's the case try with another monitor/a different graphic video card.

I have another question, when you reboot the computer are you able to see the screen again as the computer shuts down? If that's the case I would re install Windows/check for viruses.
You will need to troubleshoot yourself if you want to find out. Otherwise I'd suggest the opinion of a technician.

obZen said:

What were you looking at while browsing?
Was it a flash-heavy site? Java-heavy?

What other programs were open?
Specs?

Click to expand...

At the time it happened, I was watching a Youtube video and had another tab open (browsing PC) on Google Chrome. I was also IM'ing on Skype.

Specs:
Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard Company
Model: p7-1210
Processor: AMD A6-3620 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 2.20 GHz
Memory: 6 GB (5.49 GB usable)
System Type: 64-bit Operating System

Kenchiin said:

Does the main source still work fine? Do you have more than one hard drive? Switching hard drives will let you know if the problem lies there.

It could also be something wrong with the graphic card. If you're listening to music (as an example) does the computer continue playing whatever you were listening to? That's a key to know if the issue is video-only. If that's the case try with another monitor/a different graphic video card.

I have another question, when you reboot the computer are you able to see the screen again as the computer shuts down? If that's the case I would re install Windows/check for viruses.
You will need to troubleshoot yourself if you want to find out. Otherwise I'd suggest the opinion of a technician.

Click to expand...

I've never opened up my computer so I'm assuming it's only been 1 hard drive inside my computer since the day I bought it. :x
When I listen to music whether on iTunes or Youtube, it plays when I hit play and stops when I hit pause. Not sure exactly what you're asking.
I manually shut off the computer when it white screened, turned it on and started Windows normally and everything was running fine. I opened Malwarebytes to do a scan and a bunch of adware files showed up. I quarantined all of them. So far no issues ever since.
I did a scan with Avast last week and it said my computer was healthy so I'm guessing adware caused the problem?

Alfieri said:

When I listen to music whether on iTunes or Youtube, it plays when I hit play and stops when I hit pause. Not sure exactly what you're asking.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I wasn't really clear enough. I meant if by the time the computer freezes you can still hear music playing (that would indicate that the issue is just a problem with the video since the music is still playing).
Doesn't seem to be the case anyway.

Alfieri said:

I manually shut off the computer when it white screened, turned it on and started Windows normally and everything was running fine. I opened Malwarebytes to do a scan and a bunch of adware files showed up. I quarantined all of them. So far no issues ever since.
I did a scan with Avast last week and it said my computer was healthy so I'm guessing adware caused the problem?

Click to expand...

I don't personally recommend the use of more than one antivirus/antimalware applications at the same time in one computer; this usually leads to conflict between the mentioned since they treat each other like a threat.
Just as a piece of advice, of course I don't think this is part of the issue.


Anyhow, with the information provided I cannot really tell :(

The best way to know if the issue relies on the Operative System would be to try Safe Mode. If the issue doesn't happen there we can say for sure that the issue is probably related to some kind of malware or one of many applications not working properly.

From my point of view, it's highly possible the issue comes from the Graphic Card, I have heard of similar issues with AMD in the past.

Avast + Malwarebytes is just fine, as long as Malwarebytes is only being used as an on-demand scanner
Let them clean whatever adaware
I always recommend Malwarebytes on top of another AV

Though, check your graphics drivers, hopefully you don't have a corrupt graphics driver

obZen said:

Avast + Malwarebytes is just fine, as long as Malwarebytes is only being used as an on-demand scanner
Let them clean whatever adaware

Click to expand...

I just further researched this and you are correct. My apologies for anyone who reads my previous incorrect statement, glad to see I learned something new today :)

obZen said:

Avast + Malwarebytes is just fine, as long as Malwarebytes is only being used as an on-demand scanner
Let them clean whatever adaware
I always recommend Malwarebytes on top of another AV

Though, check your graphics drivers, hopefully you don't have a corrupt graphics driver

Click to expand...

Yeaaaah! Today I was watching a Youtube video and it kept buffering so I thought my wifi connection was being slow so I unplugged my router and re-plugged it to see if that would help. Internet was still slow. Then the Windows Action Center said that my AMD/ATI Video Card was having problems. I opened up the action center and it said that there are updates available for my Radeon HD Graphics Card. I'm currently downloading the 2 updates and I'm hoping the issue was just that my graphics card was "out of date."

So... did it work? ~_~

Happily ever after!?

Kenchiin said:

So... did it work? ~_~

Happily ever after!?

Click to expand...

Yeah my computer is behaving normally now. :)
Guess it was just pesky adware lol.