Is my video card dead?

[rof3]

So I'm in safe mode right now...I was playing BF2 earlier and all of a sudden, my screen went all screwed-up looking. I don't know a better way to explain it, but maybe this screenshot will help. My first thought was, Oh crap, my video card. So I rebooted and Windows was fine, so I thought, OK, maybe it was just a one-off. But then after a bit my screen went black...my monitor said it had no input. I rebooted and as soon as I logged into Windows it went black again. I don't have the problem in safe mode, which would be consistent with my first thought when BF2 went all weird - Oh crap, my video card.

I have an MSI RX9800 Pro (never been OCed) and I don't know what sort of temp it's been at, but I know my airflow/case/etc are not conducive to overheating (my CPU, also never OCed, idles around 37 C in my Antec 1040).

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[jcstathopulo]

This sounds more like a driver issue than a hardware issue. Try downloading the latest video card drivers from ati for your card in safe mode. Make sure that you uninstall the origional ones before you install the newest ones. Hopefully this will fix your problem.

 

[KeepItRed]

My bro got that when his Catalyst was like 5 years outta date. He installed 5.7 and it was brand new.

 

[rof3]

Oh maybe I should have mentioned...I'm running Cat 5.7 based Omega drivers...well, I think they're 5.7 but they might be 5.6, let me check. Either way they're not five years old.

Edit: I have 2.6.42 instead of 2.6.53, I'll update and see if that helps. Thanks.

 

[rof3]

Well I updated my Omega drivers and I'm safely in Windows (non-safe mode) and hopefully that's resolved the problem. If anything bad happens again you'll definitely hear about it. Thanks for the help.

 

[rof3]

OK, I got back from taking a shower and my screen had gone all screwy again. I had left iTunes playing and 'switched user' so the logon screen was up. It was distorted in the same way as in that BF2 screenshot in my first post.

I restarted into 'normal' Windows (not Safe Mode) and it's fine so far...also, I now have the latest Omega drivers (Cat 5.7 based) so that's not the problem.

I wondered if it might be a problem with my monitor but I doubt it because turning the monitor off/on has no effect.

TIA again for any help.

 

[Oyeve]

Try using just the catalyst drivers and not the Omega drivers. Also check to make sure the fan on the card is spinning properly and that there are no dust bunnies on the HS. Also, check your APCI settings, maybe something is napping after a certain amount of time. Also, remove and reseat the card (unplug PC first ).

 

[ixelion]

(unplug PC first )

Unplugging the PC will result in you becoming the ground for any electrical discharge.

You should leave it pluged in.

Anyway you can also try reducing AGP speed to 4x and/or disable fastwrites.

 

[rof3]

OK, I should have mentinoed this, I played BF2 for a few hours yetsterday with no problems....fan is spinning and no dust bunnies I can see.I'll try teh standard Cats.

Now I'm in safe mode, and it actually just happened again (good thing I'm alreadreplying) so wouldn't that imply that it's not the drivers, since tthey don't getu used in safe mode?

If my video card doesn't get used in safe mode, and this just happened in safe mode, wouldn't it be more likely to be a motherboard problem? Man this motherboard has been one problem after the next...

Possibly noteworthy is that when I press Print Screen everything goes all sort of...well...like a shiny piece of metal with a flashlight being waved at it is the best I can do to describe it. The black scanlines fade to white and back a couple times.

(Sorry for bad typing, I can't see the screen properly as this stupid issue just happened again, and also my frustration is not helping my typing.. You may have to do some guesswork working out what I'm trying to say because it's impossible for me to see what I'm typing.)

 

[rof3]

Can't find the Edit button so II'm making a new post...here's a screenshot I managed to get uploaded of what this looks like...just a link because I can't see the site well enough to find the image code for this forum:

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=8/22714233239.png&s=x1

OK, rebooted into 'normal' Windows once and the screen went all black after about a minute, so I poked around in my case and thought the big power cable to my motherboard *might* have been loose (I might have loosened it myself just then). Could that have caused it?

 

[CrucialLabs]

Bad video card...get it replaced.

 

[rof3]

Well I haven't had this problem since (possibly) plugging the power cable into my mobo properly...I want to avoid buying new bits if possible, because when I upgrade my video card it will probably be to PCI-E which means buying a new motherboard, and I think it would be a bit stupid to buy a new socket 754 motherboard, so I'd need to upgrade my CPU too...but like I said before, if this problem starts recurring you'll hear about it.

Thanks for the advice.