Computer dead ...

[[AK]Abaddon]

I'm guessing my video or north bridge has fried ... last night I suddenly got flashing textures and screen garbling in a 3D game (EVE Online). The computer then locked up and went into power save mode. When I reboot, the flashing textures occur in Windows as well, and cause a lockup within a couple of minutes. I updated my video drivers just in case, but the problem persists.

Edit: When I boot into Safe Mode, everything is stable. When I do a normal boot, I cannot even get to Windows anymore ... just get flashing lines on the screen.

Suspicions:

Video card fried (It is an 8800GTS and has always run scarily hot -- 64 C at idle, up into the 80s running). Edit: This is looking most likely. I'm getting vertical flashing lines across the screen at BIOS stage of startup all the way into Windows. I uninstalled and reinstalled my video drivers, and now Windows acknowledges the card on startup (and installs drivers) but inside Windows the card is invisible. The Nvidia Control panel will not display and it seems my computer's video is running on default drivers (and there are no flashing textures). My guess is that the higher-level functions on my video card are toast. Could still be the North Bridge too, I suppose.

CPU Cooler may have pulled away from the MB enough that it is not cooling effectively (Seems to be okay, but have not pulled it and reapplied compound). It is a large, heavy heat sink, so this could be the issue.

Passive cooling on North Bridge or MOSFETS may have pulled away from MB (Or just was not effective enough over time -- it still seems to be firmly attached).

I do not have any extra components on hand for testing, so it looks like it's going back to the local shop that built it two years ago, to get the problem sorted out.

ASUS P5N32E-SLI
Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 (2.4 GhZ)
eVGA Nvidia 8800 GTS
2 GB Mushkin DDR2800 memory
650W ThermalTake Power Supply
500 GB WD SATA HD
Windows Vista 64 Home Basic

[[AK]Bribo]

How is eVGA about replacements? I know I used to buy from BFG and they were really great about replacing bum cards. Lifetime replacement free of charge.

[[AK]Gunny Highway]

Do you have a spare card laying around? to swap out. Also go into safe mode and remove/uninstall the display adapter and reboot let windows redetect the device and install the drivers on its own and see what happens. Also may want to try swapping power connectors to your video card or unplug as many devices as possible to eliminate the power supply as a possibility.

[[AK]Beaker]

If your card fried and take it from someone who fired 4 laptop video cards this sounds like a video fry....

You need to check all your cooling fans for failure too. I found my cooling fans failed before my video card did it's just I didn't know it till the video started going.

[[AK]Abaddon]

Thanks folks – it appears I will be able to RMA it through the shop that assembled the computer. The owner told me to get the machine over there today so he can run tests on it. The video card has a limited lifetime warranty and the motherboard has a 3-year warranty.

I did remove the card in Windows, and reboot and allow the computer to detect it. Although the computer detects the card and installs drivers (and will let me install drivers) the video card is not operating. The only video I get is “pass-through” video using the default VGA drivers – the Nvidia Control Panel is not showing up.

At bootup, I’ve got flickering “Matrix” style lines trailing across my BIOS Splash screen and over the Windows loading screen.

All of my fans are operating … including the one on the card. It seems a bit weak though. At the time it started to fail, the air coming out the back was very hot. Like I said, the video card has always run extremely hot … wondered about its longevity.

[[AK]Abaddon]

Vidoe card is confirmed to be toast.

Looks like no RMA for me, though ... I should have registered the card to get a two-year warranty; without it, my one-year warranty ran out 4 months ago.

I hate registering products, as I like to minimize the number of folks who might put me on a mailing list and/or telemarketing list.

[[AK]Rocks]

I smell an upgrade heading your way. Tough way to justify it, but none the less, go shopping!

[[AK]Bribo]

Vidoe card is confirmed to be toast.

Looks like no RMA for me, though ... I should have registered the card to get a two-year warranty; without it, my one-year warranty ran out 4 months ago.

I hate registering products, as I like to minimize the number of folks who might put me on a mailing list and/or telemarketing list.

Next time buy BFG. Lifetime warranty and I didn't even register it.

[[AK]Mydrial]

Next time buy BFG. Lifetime warranty and I didn't even register it.

I second this one....I cooked a 6800GT-OC card by further overclocking it way past the limits......they replaced it no questions asked.......the rep I spoke to even seemed to get a kick out of how far I OC'd it before it blew.....Great company