Why might my computer crash half way through playing a YouTube video?

In this excerpt from
Answercast #70, I look at a case where a computer suddenly shuts down while
watching online video.

Monitor goes black

So, by your “monitor going black,” I have to assume that, since you have to
restart your computer, that it’s not just your monitor going black.
It’s your computer actually crashing.

In other words, your computer’s no longer operating.

Is it just the monitor?

If you could, while the monitor was black, actually be able to do things
like type the keyboard sequence to shut down your computer (Ctrl, Escape, U, and
then Enter, I think would be the appropriate thing.)

Give that a look the next time you’re looking with the screen up. If you can
use the keyboard sequence to shut down your computer, then the computer is
still running. It’s not just the monitor.

Check video driver

So, in a case like this, a couple of different things come to mind.

Since you’re streaming YouTube videos, the very first thing that I think of
are video drivers.

When you’ve got video on your hard drive versus video that you’re streaming
over the internet, it’s not just where it’s coming from that’s
different. It’s very possible that the video format that’s being used
in those two different instances is in fact different. The reason that’s
important is that it is possible that a video driver can have problems or can
be susceptible to issues with one format that it’s not susceptible to the
others.

So for example, it’s possible that the video driver could randomly crash
when playing YouTube videos regardless of where they’re coming from versus
playing some other video that happens to be stored on your hard drive.

So the very first thing I would do is check for updated video drivers for
your video card to make sure that isn’t a problem.

Check for heat

The other thing that comes to mind right away is overheating.

Normally, you would assume that playing a video from your local hard drive
might not be as process intensive or as heat generating. I actually would
assume that as well.

However, like I said, these are different video formats that are typically
involved between the two. It is possible that the video driver (or whatever
software is actually involved in displaying the video) requires more CPU
horsepower – therefore, the CPU itself is heating up more.

It is possible that your computer is very simply overheating.

So, in a case like that, make sure:

• That all of the ventilation is good;

• That you’ve cleared out all of the dust from inside the machine;

• Keep an eye on the fact that your machine may simply be sensitive to heat
  and take the appropriate steps to make sure that it has the opportunity to get
  cool air and to run with air flowing through it unobstructed.

Screensaver?

And finally, this one seems really odd. It’s really off the wall but I have
to include it for completeness… and that is: I’m going to assume you have
already determined that this is not just your screensaver kicking in!

Many screen savers, or many monitors, will turn themselves off into a power
saving mode after certain amount time of inactivity.

Depending on what “inactivity” looks like to the monitor, it could be that
since you haven’t touched the keyboard for awhile or you haven’t wiggled the
mouse for awhile, gosh… “Maybe I should turn off the monitor because he’s not
actually here.”

That’s unlikely, but it’s such an easy one to test. The next time it
happens, wiggle the mouse, type the Shift key on your keyboard, do something to
prove to the computer that you’re still in front of it.

If that suddenly makes they screen come back without having to reboot your
computer, then you know that you need to look into things like the screen saver
settings in your computer and potentially the power management settings for
your display device.

So those are three things that come to mind: video drivers, overheating, and
power saving or screen saving type settings.