Over the past couple of days I've been having this particular problem: Whilst I'm using my computer (just normal things like surfing the internet and listening to music) it will suddenly seem to lock up, very momentarily, and then the screen goes black. Just before it goes off, I think the music stops momentarily and then starts again, as if there's a problem with the cpu or memory (if I'm not mistaken). When it does go black, it does not go to standby, the light remains green but no button on the keyboard works. The hard drives seem to be going a bit mad at this point, though my hard drives are often going mad, so I'm not sure if that's at all relevant. After waiting a short while, I have found that if I push the standby button the screen will go into standby, and then when I wake it up again the screen comes back, it comes up on the login screen and I can login again. Particular images that are on whatever window I was on when it happened are corrupted and black with strange white lines through them. Also, the taskbar now refuses to maximise, despite the fact that there are a few things still running in the background which should be there and I should be able to see.
Hopefully I've explained it all right. I wasn't quite so worried before because it only seemed to happen every three hours or so, but earlier it happened three times in the space of 10-15 minutes. I've looked around elsewhere for an answer but couldn't find anything that seemed that relevant. I've been considering updating the graphics card drivers, but as nothing has changed, I can't see why that would suddenly be a problem. The only thing I've installed recently is the new version of msn messenger - 'windows live messenger' - but I doubt that has anything to do with it. I'm hoping this is nothing too serious as I'm really short on cash at the moment and can't really afford to be splashing out on expensive new hardware.
Thanks in advance for all your help.