Display failing after ten minutes.

[bruxism]

Hi everyone.

This is my first time so first of all, hello to everyone!

So what brings me here is desktop PC has come to a grinding halt after 3 years of use and abuse.  Running windows XP, try my best to keep it clean of all viruses etc, and generally stay up to date with maintenance.

The problem seems to be in my video card, although i'm not really sure.

The symptoms:  Computer works just fine for ten minutes, until the display ceases to exist.  Turning the computer on and off again won't work, although turning the computer off, waiting half an hour and turning it back on again will "sometimes" give me ten more minutes of display.

Internally, video card seems to get very hot, not sure if that is normal or not, as i have never had occasion to touch it before now.

So, what say you computer geeks?  is my computer finished or is there hope for it yet?

[JJ 3000]

It may be an isuue with overheating. Download speedfan and post back with your temps.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_speedfan/

[bruxism]

unfortunately this is going to be a problem...

you see, when this first started happening, i decided that perhaps the problem was that my windows had had enough and that i should do a clean install.

so now i have quite an annoying problem of being halfway through reinstalling windows when display gives out.

in summary, no display - no windows reinstall - no speedfan

[patio]

I would un-install that video card and run it off of the onboard video to get the Windows install to complete properly.
But i'd still check the temps as well...are all fans functioning properly ?

[bruxism]

I don't think i have onboard video!

The motherboard is an Asus A8V series motherboard.  The video card i've currently got is an Nvidia something or other, going into the AGP slot of the motherboard.

So, am i right that i don't have onboard video?

If that is the case, i'm thinking I'm going to have to buy a new video card.  Could somebody please take a look at this site and tell me the cheapest thing i can get away with?

http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2

I don't play games or do anything super graphics intensive, just anything that works will be fine.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

[JJ 3000]

That board doesn't have onboard video. You need to get another AGP card. If you have a computer shop in your area you can probably get one there. This site has a good selection of AGP video cards to choose from:
http://search.pricewatch.com/s/search.asp?s=agp+video+card&cn=

If you know anyone else with a computer that has an AGP video card, you should borrow it, just to make sure the video card is the culprit.
By the way, are all of your fans spinning when you turn your computer on?

[bruxism]

yep, all fans spinning.

Unfortunately i don't know anyone who'd trust me enough to let me go into the insides of their computer.

my local computer shop is http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2

Are all those AGP video cards going to be compatible with my current setup?  can i just order any one of those?

Thanks for all your help.