I am having a problem with my computer and I think it may be the video card. I have an AMD Radeon R9 270 video card in a Dell Windows 10 64-bit system with 24 GB memory and 3.4 GHz Intel CPU purchased in 2014.
Problem: Sometimes the screen suddenly goes black, or a solid color, or a series of thin vertical lines in color. The computer sounds stop and a loud hum is heard, or a soft hum, or no sound at all (I think the sound comes through the speakers, not from the computer interior). The mouse and keyboard do not work so I have to do a hard shutdown using the power button. After a few seconds, I powerup again and when the system returns everything is fine. This may happen once every month or two, or every week, or even twice in one day.
So far it has only happened when I play games online. The fault is not the game because it happens in different games from different companies on different servers. It can happen when something in the game is busy or when I am just standing around "in town."
The problem started a couple of years ago but because it only happens now and then it is hard to pin down. I have tried calling Dell Support but the problem is unpredictable and inconsistent so they haven't been able to help. I have run diagnostics on my system and everything passes. The System Event History shows only that an Unexpected Shutdown occurred. I have updated Windows with no improvement. I have updated the video card driver (several times) with no improvement.
The warranty on my system expires later this month, so if my video card needs replacing I need to do it now. Can you tell me if this is a known problem or if it sounds familiar to you? Thanks for any help you can provide.
