Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Grinner1984 on July 23, 2009, 04:27:48 PM
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I recently had my display go insane on me while playing an MMORPG (the name of which I will keep to myself for fear of ridicule). The colours inverted and there was a huge amount of cross hatching on the display in general. Soon after this the system shut down and attempted to restart. I was able to get it to restart in safe mode but starting windows normally created a "infinite loop" with the graphics driver. While I was able to get it going in safe mode please note that display was still not itself and was showing cross hatching and incorrect colours.
I took my system round to see my dad who knows a bit more about these things than myself and he assured me after changing the BIOS settings to enable onboard graphics that it was my graphics card (was running an Nvidia 8600 GTS 256Mb) and if I get a new one and install it there would be no further problems. I then ordered the new card and installed it (an Nvidia 9600GT 512Mb DDR3) and up until this morning everything ran beautifully. When I went to start the system this morning the cross hatching and colour problems were back and I was unable to get the computer to start in anything but safe mode. My limited experience with hardware inside the case would suggest that since both graphics cards have had issues and 1 was brand spanking new that it is more likely to be the PCI slot that I installed it into.
I would love some more experienced feedback on this. Further information that may be of some relevance is that my dad also recently replaced the mother board due to a boot issue that I was experiencing. Help me please! :(
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Replace the monitor cable...
It's unlikely that 2 cards in a row would be bad but however i've seen it happen a few times.
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Replace the monitor cable...
It's unlikely that 2 cards in a row would be bad but however i've seen it happen a few times.
I would think that replacing the monitor cable would be a viable option except that a faulty monitor cable would not cause the computer to start up incorrectly it would just display poorly correct?
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Proper assumption....
How's the housekeeping inside this machine ? ?
It also could be a power issue...
Post the make and wattage of the PSU.
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Housekeeping? I am going to assume I know what you are talking about, internally the machine is relatively clean and seems to have enough space for things to "breathe". In addition to the graphics card I am only running one 200GB HDD and a DVD writer and card reader. Not sure if this is what you are talking about though.
Off the top of my head I beleive I am running an ASUS 450W power supply. There should be more than enough power in the sytem to run everything. I had no problems on the old board with the current PSU and it is only new as well....no more than 2 months old I would think. Really thinking it is an issue with the PCI express slot or perhpas something further reaching like the whole board being faulty but it is the only thing I can come up with that fits what is happening.
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Do you live within 300 feet of a cell tower or microwave transmitter(not a microwave oven)?
Is there a backup monitor that you can test the display with?
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No i don't live within a certain distance of said things. The issue is definately internal as it is stopping the computer from booting correctly. Removing the graphics card from the PCI Express slot and changing over to onboard graphics let me use the computer but gaming is barely possible.
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This would make the vid card the prime suspect...
You may be able to find an AGP replacement at a decent price...
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but... err... I don't know of any motherboards myself that have both PCI-E and AGP...
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Whoooops....
(Off to refill Coffee)...