Tech help needed

Also, take out one RAM stick and try them one at a time and see how it goes.

Your computer is what, 2 -3 years old? Not hugely old, but the price to replace parts is going to go up the older it gets.

But whatever you do, never ever buy an Acer anything. They're unreliable, and the components they use are substandard. They have a tendency to fail earlier than they should. And getting them to replace it under warranty is a nightmare.

Hmm, ok, thanks for the warning.

So, there i was watching a tv show on my computer using VLC or whatever it's called and thinking "Hey, at least the problems aren't so bad that i can't do this..." when the computer let out a horrible screeching noise (from the speakers) and locked up. On restarting, it did nothing but beep BIOS'ly at me - 1 long, 2 short, which i think indicates a video card fuck out.

Joy.

We got our computers at the same time and I've had to replace the video card twice in mine, so... yeah, that could be it.

at least you're sure what the problem is

Check out

MSY

Cheap prices. And they have a shop in Fyshwick near Domayne.

MSY have been great down here. The one time I had to return something under warranty it was quite painless. They don't tend to stock the bleeding edge, but what they do have is near enough that it makes no real difference.

Ok, further update in the ongoing saga/Greek tragedy:

I've managed to get the computer to blue screen seperately with each stick of RAM. Which means that either both sticks are scrweed (possibly but less likely) or the video card is to blame (much more likely). Unfortunately, while i do have onboard video, i appear to have been a bit of an idiot and misplaced (probably chucked out) the appropriate cable for that.

I'm not going to make any purchases until I'm a little more certain about the video card being the issue, so i'll need to purloin myself an appropriate cable.

A VGA cable is pretty damned cheap.

Sigh. It turns out I do have a VGA cable lying around... but I was wrong about my computer, it doesn't have onboard video.

is your video card PCI or PCI express? Whatever it turns out to be, I'll see if I can dig up a spare.