Graphics card issue...

karmagarda

karmagarda

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Hi all,

I'm in a bit of a pickle PC wise and looking for some help/advice... although I think I know the issue already... :(

I originally blamed avast for this, but seemingly it was just coincidence that it happened when installing that. What I started getting was wierd blue/red lines lines on my monitor. After a quick search I found reports of a certain virus that targets your video drivers and can cause this problem. But it seems this isn't my issue. Seems to be an issue with my graphics card instead.

The symptoms depending on the resolution I use. At 1280x800 it's red/blue vertical lines on the screen - about 5/6 groups of 6/7 jaggy/moving lines. Looks a bit like an ms dos version of the matrix :lol:. If I use 1680x1050 I get red jagged horizontal lines (at a slight angle upwards) and looks even worse.

Here's what I've done so far to narrow it down to the card itself:

- Restored windows back to a previous working date. (because initially thought it was a virus)
- Ran disk checks/virus scans/etc
- Plugged the monitor on my laptop and it worked fine
- Removed the graphics card, made sure all was clean on the connection points, cabling looked ok, stuck it all back together again
- Reinstalled graphics card drivers (about 6 times from dell, windows, then directly from nVidia)

Still getting the same issue. I have a dreaded feeling that my card has gone kaput. But I don't have a second vga slot on the machine to check if it's actually a motherboard chipset or something that's causing it (highly unlikely)...

And the worst bit... I'm outside of warranty. It expired last September.

Any of you other tech heads come across this? And would you agree that it sounds like my precious nVidia 9800 has had it's final day?

:'(
 
Well it defo sounds like graphics card or drivers. Dont suppose you can take the card out and put it in another machine? Worse case, its about £90 for a new 9800.
 
aligibbs said:
Well it defo sounds like graphics card or drivers. Dont suppose you can take the card out and put it in another machine? Worse case, its about £90 for a new 9800.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't have access to another PC to test that out right now. But it's a good suggestion. Worst case I can take it to work with me tuesday and test it out then.

Sounds like I'm forking out a few pound for a new card though :shake:
 
Yea, not sure I can suggest much apart from that really :( Defo checked the cable for bent pins etc? Got a spare to test with? What machine is it? Sure its not got build in gfx? It might be hidden under a plastic clip or something (I know my dell does....)
 
Do videos/dvds play properly or are they corrupted as well? Had a similar problem a few years back that turned out to be a faulty processor.
 
aligibbs said:
...What machine is it? Sure its not got build in gfx? It might be hidden under a plastic clip or something (I know my dell does....)
Click to expand...

Ohhh... let me check, never thought of a hidden slot!
 
No hidden slot. And it's a Dell XPS 420. I was quite surprised that it doesn't have an onboard card to be honest.
 
Before I call it a day I'm going to run a few more scans and checks etc. I've just remembered that the original scans I did were in fact before I did the system restore. So here's hoping it brings something up...
 
What make of monitor are you running.

My Samsung sometimes does that on initial power up but mine I'm sure is down to a cheap 3mtr DVI cable.

Seen it also on Dell monitors.
 
Just back from a very long chkdsk. Didn't solve anything yet unfortunately. My monitor is a dell monitor, came with the package. It works fine if I plug it into the DVI slot on my laptop so it rules out either a dodgy cable or monitor. So it's definitely something up on the PC.
 
Oh, and I'm not overclocking the card. Checked the fan out too and it seems fine. I'll keep at it, hopefully it's not faulty.
 
had a similar issue a while ago, turned out my psu was on the way out and not supplying enough juice to fully power the system. Do you have anything running off the psu you can disconnect to allow more power. This could help rule out power issues.
 
ConradGrice said:
had a similar issue a while ago, turned out my psu was on the way out and not supplying enough juice to fully power the system. Do you have anything running off the psu you can disconnect to allow more power. This could help rule out power issues.
Click to expand...

Didn't really have much plugged in apart from a scanner, but didn't help. Think I give up! Gonna have to fork out for a new graphics card. Can't believe it. :razz: :lol:
 
Have you recently upgraded the OS to Win 7

You mention vga slot on your mobo????????? mobo will have a PCI-E slot for the graphics card, silly question but you are plugging it into the correct slot on the mobo
 
karmagarda said:
Didn't really have much plugged in apart from a scanner, but didn't help. Think I give up! Gonna have to fork out for a new graphics card. Can't believe it. :razz: :lol:
Click to expand...
If thats whats needed dont worry, top quality cards are as cheap as chips nowadays.
 
Download HWMonitor, it's a little program that will tell you what sort of power your PSU is producing & the temperature of your Graphics & CPU
 
Can't see how to check the psu output. Temps seem fine at 40 degrees celcius, maybe a bit warm, but nothing out of the ordinary.
 
Does it only happen in Windows? Is there anything that triggers it? You can see if it is an OS specific issue by either entering your BIOS and leaving it there or bringing up the boot options menu (tapping F8 when the computer starts) - if you see no artifacts, it's likely not a card issue.
 
Where I work, graphics card fans die every week nearly- since they have become so cheap (though we only order £30-40 ones) it doesn't matter too much.
 
trencheel303 said:
Does it only happen in Windows? Is there anything that triggers it? You can see if it is an OS specific issue by either entering your BIOS and leaving it there or bringing up the boot options menu (tapping F8 when the computer starts) - if you see no artifacts, it's likely not a card issue.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion. The mode the card will be in when in the bios or boot options screen will be using a fraction of the video ram on the card that windows will be using so the problem may not be apparent in those modes.

The symptoms described sound very much like the card to me, the OP has done pretty much every they can to try and resolve it (I would have concluded the card much sooner to be honest). I've had cards fail like that in the past (one had its fan and heatsinks clogged with dust on inspection).

I had a 9800GT fail on me in 2008, replaced it at the time with a 8800GT (effectively the same card) for less than half the price I paid for the 9800GT originally. You'll be able to get something that matches the performance of the 9800 for very little outlay now.

If the OP still has doubts. you could probably get a local independent PC shop to test it (the likes of PC World wont give a damn or may charge you).
 
I've had a Nvidia 9500GT give up the ghost on me in the past. I got something similar to you when it was on its way out (eventually the whole screen turned green and red before going black).
When I pulled the card out and reverted back to the mobo graphics all was fine which confirmed the card was goosed.
As a replacement I bought an ATI HD4670 and i'm pleased with it, best bit is it only cost me £50 from ebuyer.com.
 
trencheel303 said:
Does it only happen in Windows? Is there anything that triggers it? You can see if it is an OS specific issue by either entering your BIOS and leaving it there or bringing up the boot options menu (tapping F8 when the computer starts) - if you see no artifacts, it's likely not a card issue.
Click to expand...

Happens always. As soon as I boot I get wierd things happening to characters etc. So it's definitely not the O.S.

aligibbs said:
Where I work, graphics card fans die every week nearly- since they have become so cheap (though we only order £30-40 ones) it doesn't matter too much.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is the fan seems to be fine. The heatsink didn't have any dust build up either. I wonder did it get a jolt during the night as I had it left on the night previous.

ChrisJ_SLH said:
I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion. The mode the card will be in when in the bios or boot options screen will be using a fraction of the video ram on the card that windows will be using so the problem may not be apparent in those modes.

The symptoms described sound very much like the card to me, the OP has done pretty much every they can to try and resolve it (I would have concluded the card much sooner to be honest). I've had cards fail like that in the past (one had its fan and heatsinks clogged with dust on inspection).

I had a 9800GT fail on me in 2008, replaced it at the time with a 8800GT (effectively the same card) for less than half the price I paid for the 9800GT originally. You'll be able to get something that matches the performance of the 9800 for very little outlay now.

If the OP still has doubts. you could probably get a local independent PC shop to test it (the likes of PC World wont give a damn or may charge you).
Click to expand...

Would you believe I had pretty much came to the conclusion it was the graphics card quite early, but I was kinda clutching at straws to be honest hoping something else that I could fix was wrong!

stupar said:
I've had a Nvidia 9500GT give up the ghost on me in the past. I got something similar to you when it was on its way out (eventually the whole screen turned green and red before going black).
When I pulled the card out and reverted back to the mobo graphics all was fine which confirmed the card was goosed.
As a replacement I bought an ATI HD4670 and i'm pleased with it, best bit is it only cost me £50 from ebuyer.com.
Click to expand...

I'm thinkin of either picking up a nVidia GTS 250 or a Radeon HD 4850... What you all reckon?
 
Does this happen from the moment you turn the pc on or when windows loads the drivers?
You could take the pc down to minimum configuration, ie 1 stick of memory, cpu, graphics card no hdd's/DVD rom etc attached (assuming the issues shows constantly) or just your system drive if needed.

If that still shows an issue then swap the one stick of memory with one of your other's to check.

If you want, do a search for Barts PE boot disks, you'll be able to downlaod a diag cd that boots into WinXP direct from CD which may help you test.
 
karmagarda said:
Happens always. As soon as I boot I get wierd things happening to characters etc. So it's definitely not the O.S.
Click to expand...

This was posted while I was typing.......doh!

Check the processor before buying a graphics card. Get hold of some diag software from t'internet
 
PaulF said:
Does this happen from the moment you turn the pc on or when windows loads the drivers?
You could take the pc down to minimum configuration, ie 1 stick of memory, cpu, graphics card no hdd's/DVD rom etc attached (assuming the issues shows constantly) or just your system drive if needed.

If that still shows an issue then swap the one stick of memory with one of your other's to check.

If you want, do a search for Barts PE boot disks, you'll be able to downlaod a diag cd that boots into WinXP direct from CD which may help you test.
Click to expand...

Happens as soon as I turn it on. I never thought of the ram being the issue. Let me give that a bash and see...
 
PaulF said:
This was posted while I was typing.......doh!

Check the processor before buying a graphics card. Get hold of some diag software from t'internet
Click to expand...

Argh! We're doing it again! Yeah, let me go do some more checks before I jump to conclusions...
 
ChrisJ_SLH said:
If it occurs from switch on then I would be 99.99%* it isn't the processor or the (system) ram it is the gfx card.

Waste no more time, bin it, buy a new one.

*(0.01% reserved in case it isn't and I have to offer a groveling apology)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. And I've just noticed that in the advanced display settings it cannot pick up the name of the graphics card so somethings up with it. Ah well... Now it's time to decide between the nVidia GTS 250 or a Radeon HD 4850...
 
karmagarda said:
Yeah, I agree. And I've just noticed that in the advanced display settings it cannot pick up the name of the graphics card so somethings up with it. Ah well... Now it's time to decide between the nVidia GTS 250 or a Radeon HD 4850...
Click to expand...

I would go with the radeon card. The "50" series are exceptionally well equipped.
The only thing that stopped me getting a "50" over a "70" was budget
 
Well, at least I can 100% say it was graphics card now! I ended up getting an nVIDIA inno3D GT 240. Picked one up for under 90 quid. I would have gone for the Radeon but unfortunately at £40 more it was crippling my budget at the moment. And to be honest I wouldn't really take full advantage of it.

Anyway, PC is back up and running, and I have to be honest, the GT240 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 9800. Already seeing a performance difference, and it has a much quieter fan too! I'm a happy (but slightly poorer) bunny :lol:
 
stupar said:
Glad you got it fixed mate!
Click to expand...

Cheers! And I'm still impressed by it. Started it up again this morning when it was nice and quiet to test if it was actually quieter... can't believe the difference to be honest! The 9800 was a fairly noisy beast before it kicked the bucket :lol:

Cheers all for the advice and help along the way :) was very much appreciated :thumbs:
 
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