Pink Screen of death???

Has anyone gotten a completely pink screen in XP before? I was typing a paper on Thursday then all of a sudden my screen went pink and the computer wouldn't respond. The mouse pointer was the only thing I could use but it disappeared after about 30 seconds, then I had to force a shutdown (power switch). I have never heard of or seen anything like this. I know (or I'm pretty sure) this computer doesn't have any viruses because it has never been connected to the internet besides to allow windows and programs to update and get drivers. The only thing I could think of is maybe my overclock messed with something. The PC is almost the same as the one in my sig except it doesn't have an 8800gts and has 1 80 GB HDD, only 1GB ram and no soundcard. This is quite disturbing as I use this pc as my "work" computer and to have an odd problem like this which causes me to lose unsaved work is a major issue. It hasn't happened again (yet) but I'd like to know what caused it and how I can avoid it. I already turned down the OC is there something else I should look for?

 

Was your desktop color(not the picture) set to pink by any chance? That would explain the color.

I don't have any experience OC'ing so I don't know if that would be your problem, but I'd still recommend trying to update everything.

Did you change anything on the computer on Thursday? If so, try to either revert it or doing a System Restore.

Greg

 

Never had a pink screen. Check your system for spyware or a virus just to be sure.

 

I've never had a problem with this PC in 1.5 years... I'll download some anti-virus stuff later and give it a whirl. My school offers sophos, anybody know how they are?

 

well, if your vid card was OCed or over heating, that could cause it

 

I have Sophos, also from my university. I don't really know how good they are comparitively (most reviews focus on consumer ones), but so far it's been OK. It doesn't slow the computer down (provided you have 768 MB RAM [XP]), and hasn't caused any problems going online, even with games, but doesn't have an easy turn-off method. The only thing I'm slightly concerned with is this log entry:

20080127 021325 Virus/spyware 'Mal/ObfJS-H' has been detected in "C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\cache4\opr02F3B.htm". Cleanup unavailable.

A Google search says it's a low-risk Javascript trojan. That cleanup was unavailable somewhat concerns me.

 

A friend of mine was having the same issue. I'm betting it is the GPU overheating. Her CPU was well within range, but the computer seemed responsive...just no video. I updated the video driver and installed NHC to keep the temps down. We'll see if that makes a difference.