Help Help Help!

[suprafreak6]

I was playing guild wars, then all of a sudden the screen turned into lines, and a blue screen came on that said i need to restart (wasnt BSOD) i turned the computer on and at the bios screen its all lines and stuff then at the windows loading screen the computer just doesnt respond, the screen goes into power save mode and thats all... over heating problems? anyone for help PLEASE!

[suprafreak6]

AHHHHHHH! Wheres help when i need it! I turned the computer off, and im letting it rest but i dno what else to do. Think its a graphics card or harddrive problem....is what i say....but harddrive sounds like its spinning and everything else is running fine

[suprafreak6]

I JUST TURNED IT ON AND heres what happened,
the bios screen is all blotched with only numbers appearing correctly, it loads to the black windows xp screen, (i do require a login screen) and then the screen just goes into what i think is the power save mode...now if its the graphics card causing the problems, then why does the windows xp screen come perfectly clear, the bios screen is the blotched part. but then again xp wont load!
AHH! someone please help before my dad find out and kills me...

[tesco]

your video card is probaly overheating.
Did you try checking if the fan on it is running? :unsure:

[suprafreak6]

ill check tommrow, but if the fan is working fine then what?
and if the fan isnt working then what?
does this mean im going to have to buy a new gfx card

[suprafreak6]

anyone else got any ideas as to what the problem is?

[zapjb]

No magic solutions here. But dust in the HS fins or on the fan of the video card. I'd check those.

[suprafreak6]

hmm i was lookin at old threads, could it be the moniter? It is a crt. definatly will try another tommrow but ill try to dust off the fan of the video card

Any other ideas guys?
So far we think its the gfx card, anyone else have anything to say about it?

[Virtualbody1234]

Wow. rossco just told you to check the fan on you graphics card. Your answer is that you'll check it tomorrow? :blink: :blink: :blink:

I guess you don't think it's urgent enough. I guess it's not urgent enough for my help then too.

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

its either a heat condition on the vid card or your agp slot took a shit (prolly a heat condition on the vid card)...........my agp slot took a shit :( which means.....motherboard death by smashing with a hammer :)

[suprafreak6]

im using pci x16
anyways my parents were making me go to sleep sorry bout that virtualbody, would really appreciate your help now PLEASE

[suprafreak6]

i cleaned the graphics cards heatsink and the fan is working and has been yet the screen blotches. Harddrive is booting seems like windows is working in the background, could it be the monitor?

[ApacNTS]

have you taken the video card out of the slot and reinserted it fully? is the monitor cable all the way into the plugin(could try undoing and redoing this)? have you tried booting in safe mode(would restore default resolution and may work)?

[suprafreak6]

how do i boot in safemode? like what do i push during boot screen
as for taking it out i have done (so i could clean fan and heatsink) i have taken the monitor cable out.

I was thinking to try another monitor and another slot, because my mobo has 2 pci x16 slots, so could it be the slot thats causing problems? as someone has said already

[suprafreak6]

ok i started in safe mode, and the icons and fonts lookfine, but the background and such are being abnormal, there are lines and break lines in the background.
What should i do while in safe mode?

[suprafreak6]

device manager and everest shows no problems in hardware.

[dodgy368]

its either a heat condition on the vid card or your agp slot took a shit (prolly a heat condition on the vid card)...........my agp slot took a shit :( which means.....motherboard death by smashing with a hammer :)

Nothing like trying to cheer the guy up ay microsoul?:lol:

[ApacNTS]

nothing u can do i jsut thought that maybe the screen coldnt handle the resolution so in default settings it would correct itself. since it didnt i would swap the card to the 2nd pci slot, and if that doesnt work try a new monitor. otherwise it sounds like ur vid card is messing up.

[zapjb]

Maybe it's the monitor? Did you rig another computer to it?

[suprafreak6]

ill try both of those asap

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

its either a heat condition on the vid card or your agp slot took a shit (prolly a heat condition on the vid card)...........my agp slot took a shit :( which means.....motherboard death by smashing with a hammer :)

Nothing like trying to cheer the guy up ay microsoul?:lol:
yea, Im good like that :lol:. But seriously, I was playing BF2 when my pc locked up, when I rebooted, my color and screen size was 640x480 at 4 bit color!!! (I dont think a PC has had 4 bit color since 1984) The pc kept locking up. I checked the vid card in another pc, and its fine. Tested a linux live cd to make sure it wasnt the OS, and the same on it. Tested another card in the PC....nada, still messed up. My mobo is dying, the agp slot took a poop, and so are some of the pci slots cuz my soundcard vanished :lol: But I doubt hes having this problem.......or is he :shifty:

[suprafreak6]

well the other slot didnt work, i guess its probly cuz its for only the second card in a SLI, okay so now i put the card backto where it was, same problems. Could it just be the monitor? hmm will try that next...
what other things could i be...do most of us agree that its the graphics card?
well anyways what will the company or the website that sold it to me (newegg) do?
do they have a parts and labor warrenty or anything?
if i havnt said i have a pny 6600gt pci x16 just to remind all

[dodgy368]

Right, you have to do the Sherlock Holmes method, deduction!:naughty:

Try your monitor on another pc, this will rule out or prove a monitor problem, let us know please.;)

[ApacNTS]

yup try the monitor first, if that doesnt clinch it then it's down to mobo or vid card. hope it's the monitor, then you'll have a reason to get a lcd :P

[suprafreak6]

yup! ill try using another monitor asap! it would be so much better for me if it was just the moniter

[clocker]

Yes, it would.

If not, try using an old PCI vid card and see what happens.
Your problem is lack of spare parts to swap out and diagnostic tools to eval the issue. The vid card, mobo, RAM OR CPU could be the root cause here and there is no easy way for the home user to narrow down the choices.
Newegg does not warrantee the products they sell, you will have to deal with PNY.
We've never carried that brand at the shop so I'm not familiar with their RMA policies/procedures.

[Virtualbody1234]

... The vid card, mobo, RAM OR CPU could be the root cause here and there is no easy way for the home user to narrow down the choices.
..
It could even be the PSU.

[clocker]

Yeah, basically it could be anything.
That's whats nice about working in a shop.
I could pull the parts one at a time and install them into a known working PC or just start replacing parts in the troublesome one.

@sf6....
Unplug everything not needed to POST (i.e., HDDs, opticals, USB cables, PCI cards...everything) and work from there.

[suprafreak6]

well im pretty sure its either the mobo, moniter, or gfx card. because safe mode ran almost normal, except for colors and a lines. All fonts and programs ran normal. I just woke up so im about to test another monitor and if that doesnt work, im goin to go pick up a pci card for about 50, its always good to have spares, isnt it?

[Virtualbody1234]

well im pretty sure its either the mobo, moniter, or gfx card. because safe mode ran almost normal, except for colors and a lines. All fonts and programs ran normal. I just woke up so im about to test another monitor and if that doesnt work, im goin to go pick up a pci card for about 50, its always good to have spares, isnt it?
You can get a much cheaper PCI card for testing purposes. In fact, you could probably find one in an old discarded PC.

[suprafreak6]

hmm how cheap can i find a pci card for testing purposes? and as for old pc's i think i may have an old 32mb one laying around, but id feel safer just buying a new testing one

[Virtualbody1234]

hmm how cheap can i find a pci card for testing purposes? and as for old pc's i think i may have an old 32mb one laying around, but id feel safer just buying a new testing one
That 32mb one sound perfect for the task.

I use an old 4mb one.

[suprafreak6]

shoot the 2 32mb ones that i have are agp not pci, well its not the monitor i just tried this one. and i guess my only option left to figure out if its the gfx card is to go buy a pci one..anyone wanna recommend a really cheap one? that will get the job done for testing purposes? preferably at tigerdirect i got one right by my house

[suprafreak6]

im probly getting, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1699398&CatId=0
because that could test the port and gfx card?
i might also get a regular pci what do u guys reccomend?
i need to check if its the mobo or the gfx card
i think its the gfx card
i could get this one too
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1520508&CatId=0

[suprafreak6]

shouldnt it be plug and play? cuz i mean how am i going to install the drivers when i cant see the screen?

[ApacNTS]

well if you install the new one shouldnt it have temp drivers to run the card until you install the correct ones? meaning u would see it correctly?

[Virtualbody1234]

shoot the 2 32mb ones that i have are agp not pci, well its not the monitor i just tried this one.
And what happened with that card? Did your system work?





im probly getting, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1699398&CatId=0
because that could test the port and gfx card?
i might also get a regular pci what do u guys reccomend?
i need to check if its the mobo or the gfx card
i think its the gfx card
i could get this one too
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1520508&CatId=0


What motherboard do you have?

You just said that you had an AGP graphics card and now you say you want to buy a PCI Express card? I don't suspect you have both type of slots.

[suprafreak6]

sorry bout that confusion i have a pci x16 mobo not agp, and i was implying that i couldnt use the other 2 cards because they were agp not pci, so yeah should i just get the cheapest working one? i mean it will still work for testing (always good to have lying around)

[ApacNTS]

yeah why spend 40 when u only need a crap one at 13 to get something to show, i think im running on an 8bit chipset right now and i can see just fine heh.

[suprafreak6]

cool, okay ill see what they have in the store and pick somethin up...
what should i pick up an pci x16 or pci

[lynx]

Check the power connector on your graphics card and swap it with another if possible. You could get all sorts of wierd effects if the card isn't getting enough power, which is why VB suggested it might be the PSU.

Unplug everything not needed to POST (i.e., HDDs, opticals, USB cables, PCI cards...everything) and work from there.
Follow that piece of advice to rule out as much as possible.

[ApacNTS]

well the pci is the cheapest at about 13 bucks, so i'd say go for that. cheap and is a good solution

[clocker]

Go to a PC repair shop and beg/borrow or steal a used PCI vid card.
$5 max.

[ApacNTS]

heh oh come on clocker have a heart you know you have extra's just lying around collecting dust :P

[clocker]

Only AGPs, which wouldn't help in this case.

[suprafreak6]

picked up a 5200 128mb im going to install it once i get back to my house, im not home (at a friends) going to let my bro use it once i get my 6600gt back from the pny, i looked online and it looked like they will send me another one, all good, but i just hope its the graphics card not the mobo

[clocker]

We got it the first time.

[suprafreak6]

sorry, i was just saying i picked up a pci card...my mistake

[suprafreak6]

okay i installed the card, and...it doesnt work, well it worked partially and sometimes works and sometimes doesnt, which leads me to believe, that its the psu, because that would make sense wouldnt it?
6600gt requires < power than a 5200 no? would a power supply tester help or no? because im sure i could try that but then again everything else powers on decently...

[zapjb]

What brand of sh*tty PSU you got? Just a guess about sh*tty part.

[Virtualbody1234]

You know what? I'm getting tired of trying to diagnose these systems without the specs posted.

Post the specs of each and every part of your PC. That way we might have a clue what we're dealing with here. :angry2:

[suprafreak6]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817148008
sorry bout that guys
i have
Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200M0 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
PNY VCG6600GXPB Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

[clocker]

okay i installed the card, and...it doesnt work, well it worked partially and sometimes works and sometimes doesnt, which leads me to believe, that its the psu, because that would make sense wouldnt it?

So far, nothing makes sense.

Let's see if I have this right.
You have only the motherboard, RAM (one stick only, please), CPU and video hooked up.
Sometimes it POSTS and sometimes it doesn't?
When it does POST with the new card is the BIOS screen still messed up or not?

[suprafreak6]

the bios screen runs normally but when xp loads the screen starts going into safe mode, i have everything hooked up, not just motherboard, ram and cpu
ill try just those 4 asap
(what do u mean post)

[lynx]

Power On Self Test.

It's what the system does before it starts to load the OS. The place where you select bios setup.

Can you get into bios setup? If so, does everything look right?
If it looks ok then it less likely that there's anything wrong with the parts inside your case, and more likely that the problem is related to your monitor or refresh rate incompatibility.

[zapjb]

I still guess sh*tty Aspire PSU.

[suprafreak6]

Power On Self Test.
Can you get into bios setup? If so, does everything look right?


Yes and Yes, but i dont think thats the problem because ive tried multiple monitors and sometimes the screen stays on but sometimes doesnt, it used to work find or has been working fine for the past month and half

as for the psu i think its that or mobo ill figure out a way to deal with the psu
if im goin to get another one anyone know the best one for around 500 watt thats as cheap as possible (doesnt make sense i know)

[Virtualbody1234]

Can't you try another PSU fron another PC?

If you buy another PSU then choose it by its quality and not by "how many watts".

[zapjb]

We need a *Sticky* about discerning quality PSU's Vs pos high watts psu's.

[suprafreak6]

okay now it barely works, the percentile of the times it works is about in the bottem 10%
i dont have another pc with that strong of a psu

[suprafreak6]

okay i can tell windows is working in the background but yet no video is coming on the screen, if its not the gfx card then what is it?

[suprafreak6]

just tried running it with only the mobo ram and video card connected but no hope

[Virtualbody1234]

okay now it barely works, the percentile of the times it works is about in the bottem 10%
i dont have another pc with that strong of a psu
What PSU is that? You don't need 500 watts to do a test with the minimum components installed. The purpose is to rule out a faulty or poor quality PSU.

Is it possible for you to see the voltage readings in the BIOS?

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

is there an option in your bios to select which video option is priority? mine has the option to either use agp or pci. I never messed with it, but maybe that would make some difference.

[suprafreak6]

i cant even see the bios screen anymore, everything seems to be working in background, but i dont see anything anymore

[suprafreak6]

so now for somereason, my computer is on but i changed the moniter and gfx card it does work, but i want my old gfx card back.. im going to rma it with the company, thanks for all your help. also i had to turn the fan on my psu on max rather then i normally do on medium

[clocker]

So now it's working fine?
Swap back to your original monitor and see if that was the problem.
Is the new vid card in the same slot as the first one?

Seems to me you've narrowed the problem down but still don't know specifically what item is bad.

[suprafreak6]

well ill try to be a little descriptive this time.
so first my new graphics card (5200 pci) wasnt working on my old moniter, so i changed moniters (KDS>COMPAQ) then it worked, i tried my 6600gt pci e x16 with the compaq moniter nothing happened, so would that mean it was the gfx card and moniter or what?
i think the KDS wire was a little loose

[zapjb]

What does (KDS>COMPAQ) mean?

[tesco]

Your 5200PCI is newer than your 6600gt PCIE? :blink:

[Virtualbody1234]

What does (KDS>COMPAQ) mean?
It means that he had a KDS monitor that he unplugged and then he connected a Compaq monitor.

[clocker]

so would that mean it was the gfx card and moniter or what?

You still haven't eliminated the PCI-e slot on the motherboard as the culprit.
You'd need another Express card to test.
Chances, are that yes, it's the vid card and the motherboard is fine but right now you don't know.

[dodgy368]

so would that mean it was the gfx card and moniter or what?

You still haven't eliminated the PCI-e slot on the motherboard as the culprit.
You'd need another Express card to test.
Chances, are that yes, it's the vid card and the motherboard is fine but right now you don't know.

Tried to help but think this is a wind up, if not, I'm sorry.

[clocker]

You think sfreak6 is kidding or what?
I'm sure he would appreciate any advice you have to offer.

[suprafreak6]

why the f*** would you think im kidding? I mean even if i was kidding wouldnt it help someone in the future who may have this same problem?

[suprafreak6]

but i forgot to say ill try to check if its the port, would another way to check if its the port is to try the card in another computer?

[clocker]

Yup.