My screen goes black when audio is playing.

**HiJackZX1** · 10-21-2007, 06:15 PM

Well I finally , finally, finalllllllllyyyyyy finished my install. I seem to be having a major issue though. My motherboard is a VIA EPIA M10000G. When I turn on the PC, it loads very slow.... the Windows splash screen is there for at least 2 minutes, and in the middle of the 2 minutes the screen goes black for a few seconds, you hear a pop in the speakers and windows splash screen continues. Then everything starts loading up. Once its on the main windows screen you see the screen lightly flickering, I then play some music and that when all hell breaks lose. The more bass the song has the more ****ed up the screen gets..... if the music is blasting the screen goes completely black and I have to either power down (hard shutdown) or wait for the song to stop.... I know its not the monitor, but the PC its self. Is it that the PCs graphics card sucks? I have never ever seen or heard of this type of issue. I also noticed that video is really choppy, and if its full screen, forget it, its like watching a slidshow with slow transistions. I am wondering if maybe its is my setup.... every component is in the center console, including all USB devices, XM, the distribution boxes for the power, and a heavy circuit breaker. The amps are also in the console at the bottom, i disconnected them and the screen still acts all funky, so I assume its the PC. I also here a light sound and when I speed up the sound goes to a higher pitch. What can I do to get rid of that also?

Anyones help would be really appreciated, thanx!

**HiJackZX1** · 10-22-2007, 02:16 PM

I guess no one has ever experienced this issue before?

**legacy05gt** · 10-22-2007, 03:09 PM

what app are you playing music with? does this app have a visualization turned on for when the music plays?

The slight noise that you hear when speeding up is probably due to a ground loop... you can purchase ground loop noise eliminator for a couple bucks for that.

**HiJackZX1** · 10-22-2007, 04:24 PM

well if i watch anything woth motion it is very very choppy.... and the loader the music the more the screen gets messed up looking... i can also see some type of noise on the screen, its not clear, u can see little lines moving on the screen. Im going to try to take the pc out and test it in my home. If i see the lines, its the pc, if not, its the car.... if thats the case, im going to start rewiring the car and move all electrical equipment (amps and heavy power cables) under one seat, the pc under the other seat, and all components in the center console.....

**HiJackZX1** · 10-22-2007, 04:28 PM

Also legacy, when u say your XP is lited, does that mean you used something like NLite? The load time on my pc is really really long..... also should I have antivirus on the pc, doesnt that slow it down? I currently have nortan antivirus corporate edition

**legacy05gt** · 10-22-2007, 04:36 PM

ok, you should tackle these one at a time. First, yes, i used nlite to chop my o/s. Secondly, yes, Antivirus will slow down your PC. I highly suggest you remove it. Does your carpc connect to the internet? you probably do not need an AVprogram running in the background.

I would take your PC out of your car, hook it up to a regular monitor, and see if you get the same results. If not, then it can be a problem with your display, maybe the refresh rate is not set correctly. No one here can troubleshoot this better than yourself. Take other possible factors out of the equation. Anything else running other than CF?

**2k1Toaster** · 10-22-2007, 04:40 PM

norton is bloated crap. Take it off the PC. The CarPC is a closed system, you wont be getting viruses on it, it just causes trouble.

And the louder the music, the more power the amps draw. If you wire guage is insufficient, then the screen wont have enought to power its circuitry. The PC will do the same thing, but it has some reserve in the power supply, so it will freeze for the duration of the note, and then come back. Which could be the possible choppiness.

What guage wire are you using?

What speed is the hard drive? 4200RPM?

have you done anything in the BIOS? I had a M10k before and it booted in under 30 seconds with a fully bloated XP Pro install. Only difference from standard stock install was I removed MSN messenger. Thats it. I know fast boot times can be achieved.

**HiJackZX1** · 10-22-2007, 05:30 PM

CF isnt running at all, im having issues with that too.... I want to get the hardware working before i move to software.... I think maybe I will split everything apart first..... that way confusion will be eliminated.... I know the display has to be working, I tried it on my laptop and I have no issues, but i will try again , just in case.....

Also my system is not closed it is always connected to the internet via Sprint Broadband.

The guage wire I am using is 4 guage to a circuit breaker then from that breaker to two 8 guage wires, one is for the rear amp (which isnt installed) and the other goes to a distribution box which is were the pc and to two 150 watt amps go (300 watts total).

Maybe i have to keep it all on 4 guage instead of branching it out to 8 guage?

**HiJackZX1** · 10-22-2007, 07:56 PM

how many watts can 4 guage usually support? I do not know how many the PC takes.... i think its 160 watts. Then the amps for the front and rear are 300.... so thats 460.... i then have 2 ten inch speekers for the back, would like to put 500 watts on those, bringing me to a total of 960 watts. Maybe for the amps I should get a capacitor? That would help with power drain.....

So here is going to be the new layout.... all amps will go to the back like they should, that way there is no interference to the PC and monitor..... The amps will only be on 4 guage and the pc will have a line that comes out of a circuit breaker from the 4 guage but then converts to 8 guage.

Would it hurt to encase the 4 guage wire in that pvc tubing and run it under the car? I would also like to put the circuit breaker under there too. That way the main wire does not come in any contact with the cars original wire harness..... This is turning out to be a very big mission. My car is huge but the way they designed it, it has no hiden compartment space and no room to hide anything.......

Any suggestions would help, i think this new plan is in the right direction.