I'm not sure what exactly is going on. I wish I had more info to give. This is all I know:
After using the computer for some time, the screen will blink on and off. When back on, the computer will not sleep, and if I try to sleep it by tapping the power button, it shuts down (not a safe shut down). After this blink, the graphics card doesn't seem to be recognized. I have a gadget that tells me the activity of my graphics card and it tells me that it isn't doing anything after the blink. That's the only reason I think it has an effect on the graphics card. I have also checked the devices section for graphics cards after the blink, and it doesn't show up there. This is about all I know. The only other information that I have is that when I shut down or restart, the problem appears to be gone but will show up again after using it for a while. I have also realized that the GPU has been getting abnormally warm, upwards towards 60+ degrees Celcius for basic use such as surfing the web, watching YouTube, etc.
I have an HP Pavilion dv6-7014nr Entertainment Notebook PC running Windows 7 Home Premium. I have had this computer for about a year and a half and this problem just started showing up about 2-3 weeks. I haven't made any dramatic changes in the past couple months, so I'm confused as to why this is happening.
I posted on Windows forums, but they were useless. Hopefully I can get a better response here.
I'm not sure if this is the right board for this, but this is where I put it.
I'm not the best with computers, but I know my way around. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrew