Several times while watching a video on my Dell Isperion 580 with these processor types: Intel Pentium, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5 the screen goes black and the audio stutters and the computer will not respond. I then have to turn off the computer manually and then turn it back on. I was wondering if there is a reason why my computer occasionally crashes while viewing video (note it does not crash every time I view a video and it does not crash while viewing a particular file type). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

A couple of thing to try first is to upgrade the BIOS to the latest version along with making sure that you have the latest video driver.Blogging about Windows for IT pros at www.theexperienceblog.com

How do I go about doing that?

Please visit this page to download the BIOS, and follow the instructions on doing this: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R255683&SystemID=INSP_DSKTP_580&servicetag=&os=W764&osl=en&deviceid=23401&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=1&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=378211 This BIOS upgrade specifically upgrades the built in video card to the latest version, which hopefully solve your problems. Depending on what video card you have you can find the latest video drivers at http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INSP_DSKTP_580&os=W764&osl=en&catid=&impid=Blogging about Windows for IT pros at www.theexperienceblog.com