Help! My computer makes a noise and then black bars appear. Is this a software or a hardware problem?

Question:

I have tried every suggestion and nothing works. I have run AVG and Spybot and Adaware every two days.I have Zone alarm firewall. I have updated the graphics driver and have changed the graphics on AOL. I have used CCleaner. It happens on and offline. Sometimes my computer freezes up. The black bars appear on the taskbar, sometimes the toolbar, buddy list, AOL channels. Dell helped me with testing the hard drive-it's fine-and the test-can't think of the name of it-but, that was fine, too.(the one where I had to tap on F12, sorry.) I have a Dimension2400, windows xp, dial-up. Aol says its a software problem and so does Dell. The gentleman at Dell hardware suggested to google it, which is how I found out about AOL's graphics could cause black bars to appear and I unchecked the graphics compression and cheared the cache and even tried using a different brower, But nothing helps! Thank you. SuzeQ

Answer:
Your computer is being bogged down by something.
I'll bet this happens when you change windows or minimize what you are working on and the black bar appears. My guess is you need more RAM. If you hold down on the windows key on the keyboard and press pause break it'll tell you or goto click start > control panel then double-click on system.
If you have 512MB of RAM or more. I would also try uninstalling anything you don't use. If all that has already been done. It also could be a heat related issue make sure the computer is dust free inside and doesn't have anything blocking the exhaust fans.
Otherwise, Take it to a professional

Sounds like you have tried several things. Most people would have given up by now. A couple of questions for you. What type of noise? Does it lock up your system completely? For a software type problem: First suggestion is to make sure you have the most up to date virus software and run it. Second, uninstall completely the last software that was put on your computer. See if that works. Hardware type problem: get a low cost new video card put it in and try it out. you may have to disable any built-in video.

this is a problem.it means you are going to get a virus soon. you have to download the xp cd again on your computer. i know this because i amj a techincian.

Help! My computer makes a noise and then black bars appear. Is this a software or a hardware problem?

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