Computer Screen Goes Haywire and Shuts Down – How to Fix

This happened to me the other day. My son’s laptop computer screen suddenly went haywire like this image. It was also blinking and flashing. At times the image looked like a strange digital plaid. It kept happening even in safe mode. I’ll spare you the long boring story and share the solution which saved me from the fate of having to buy another computer. Here’s the solution and why you should read this even if this isn’t your problem today.

Before you go through a whole bunch of possible solutions involving computer scans and safe mode and event logging, try this.

Buy a can of compressed air and blow the dust out of your computer!

This will likely fix your problem (even though you can’t believe that right now) and if it doesn’t then you can always go on to try all those other fun solutions.

How to Blow the Dust Out of Your Computer

Turn your computer off and unplug it.
Take out the battery.
Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to clear out any additional electricity.
Blow the can of compressed air in short bursts into any and all of the vents on the bottom of your laptop or computer.

In fact even if you don’t have this problem, this is something you should do on a regular basis as a maintenance measure, just like changing the oil in your car. Your computer will run faster and that darn fan that keeps coming on will finally be able to rest.

If you want to know why your screen went haywire, it’s because the dust inside your computer was making your video card overheat. When that happens, your computer will shut itself down to protect itself. By removing the offending dust, you have miraculously fixed your computer!

Woo! Eat your heart out, Geeksquad!! 🙂

Please Share

Please share this important tip with the whole world, especially your friends and family who will think you are a genius and love you forever for saving their computer and making it run faster!

Tweet, Stumble, Facebook, Email are all good ways to do this. 😉

And please let us know if this helped you with a comment!

Thanks!