Big problem

My problem started about an hour ago. I was playing Battlefieldfield 2 when all of a sudden my PC locked up, I had experienced smaller lockups earlier, but the game would go on after a small pause. But for this one I had to reset my PC. When I booted it back up, the whole screen was filled with vertical lines, but things were still showing (bios etc.) The XP-loading bar appeared, and loaded, but when my desktop should've appeared my screen went black and my monitor went to rest. The PC was still loading though, I know this because the lights on my keyboard turned on and the HDD was still working.


I'm typing this from safe mode, as I don't experiece any of the previous now...

PS: Pics can be added if needed..



I cleaned the card, but no help. I have no problems whatsoever running the system in safe mode. I've also reinstalled my driver, but that didn't fix anything

I sometimes have the same exact startup problem, if i can read enough to type my login info after hitting enter the monitor shuts off but the PC is still working. Usually after i re-seat my video card it boots normally which makes the problem elusive to me.

If your problem is more persistent than mine i would suspect the vRAM on your graphics card has been damaged,Ive seen it happen more than once. Wouldn't happen to have a reading of the videocard temps when it locked up would you?

Not really, but you can be quite sure it was under heavy load though.. BF2 has always been pretty intense for my system, requesting the max out of it. But anyway, the system works perfectly fine in safe mode, so I'm not believing it's broken yet ..

If im not mistaken,and if i am someone surely will correct me, while in Safe Mode windows XP uses its onboard graphics controller not your videocard.

Elder,Rahja,snoggy, someone confirm?

Ooh, that might be true.


I'm glad to say the problem is fixed though After installing my GPU driver again, I rebooted. Still the same problem. After another reboot it seemed to be working again though.

Thanks for the help!

Good to see you've got it working, time to go into your Event Viewer and see if it gives you any information on why this happend.
Control panel->Administrative tools->Event Viewer, then click the System Log and find the error.

Side question, What video card do you have anyways? Wouldnt doubt the sporadic graphical anomolies are a sign of my card showing its age.

Keep an eye on your temps on your GPU, sounds like it maybe getting hotter than you want it, if this is the case, and its not sorted you can fry the card.

Also can u go ahead and post a pic anyway of the error you where getting.

i had the same problem on my desktop and i had to by a new graphics card to fix it

Windows XP doesn't have it's own on-board graphics controller. The on-board controller would be part of the chipset and not all chipsets have one. Also, most of the time, if you have a discrete video card, the on-board (if you even have one) is disabled .

So, no, Windows does not use an on-board video controller in safe mode. It does, however, only use basic VGA graphics routines. These routines access simpler sections of the GPU which can result in a video card working in Safe Mode, but not in Normal Mode.

As Pinkest mentioned, the first thing you can do is to re-seat your video card in it's slot. Also make sure that the fan on the video card is working (if it has one). Also, make sure that all your drivers - mobo, graphics, and sound - are up to date.
I recently had a similar problem with my rig (Vista). It went away after I went to Windows Update and installed some "optional" updates to do with the motherboard and "Windows Platform" (?).

It wouldn't unless you physically removed your monitor cable and replaced it to the on-board video output port.

Overheating... clean clean clean or Video card is going bad

It was really clean though, I had cleaned it not even a month ago. My GPU is a Nvidia 6700XL. I believe it's a non-branded(?) 6600GT, or close.

I'm not really seeing anything special in my eventlog, but that's because it's swarmed with data lol

Okay, so it happened again... I was playing GW when I had a lock up. Rebooted and had the striped again :/ I'm in safe mode now. I guess I can safely say my GPU is slowly dying?

yeah, it's dying. a friend of mine had it after he reseated his GPU fan, without applying thermal compound. a perfectly good 9800PRO gone to waste

uhh.. I guess I could aswell turn this into a new GPU buying thread then, I guess.. I'm on really low budget, even spending €75 on a new card would be pretty painful.. *sigh*

Is it even possible to get a really decent gaming card (that runs BF2, GW, Crysis, for example on a pretty decent level?) for a low price?

Did you "re-seat" it? Which means, open the computer, find the video card (it should have the monitor plugged into it).
Basic re-seat - pull up and push down on the card to wiggle it in/out of it's socket a couple of times.
Full re-seat - Remove the screw (or w/e device) holding the card in place and remove it. CAREFUL: You should need to push aside a retaining clip at the back of the card. Plug it back in - re-install screw.

While you have the card out you can blow any dust out of the socket and check the connections on the card for dirt or corrosion.

Yes, I did that the first time I had the problem. There wasn't much dust in it, too. Also tried the basic re-seat after having it put back in already, but it didn't help either

well not sure but ive never had comp gpu probs, but i have repaired a few RRD Xbox 360 and that sounds like it overheated and the scilicon <-- spelling) has started to weaken, so if redeating doesnt help check to see if you gpu has an x bracket holding the heat sink on, if it does those are commonly crap, as stated from microsoft "using the x bracket was a mistake". This has plagued many console users and a simple retightning or removal of the x bracket fix it, BUT its also a diff platform so may not be the best idea, but positive if its x bracket type it over heated and is going dead (ive fixed some xbox 360's that to day have no further probs, but some crap out again in a month.

Is it an old AGP or a PCI-Express card slot? If it's PCI-E then yes you should be able to find a much better video card for under your budgeted amount. I'd look at a ATI HD 4850 which is probably at the high end of your price range or a 4830, or the equivalent Nvidia offerings. Or for less, the ATI HD 4600 line.

not too sure about crysis, but something like the HD 4670 would easily handle all the other games. if you can provide more info on your computer, that would be great.

@Silvernova, I'm not sure; I'd have to take it out again to check

@Kador; Yes, I've been looking around for a new card already.. Found the Ati 4770 (for example, http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?...H4770+&x=0&y=0 <-- So many different cards??) Which looked fine.. I'll also have a look at the cards you mentioned

i would check newegg.com to find your new card, infact i think i saw the hd4670's from HIS on sale ----------> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161287
will be more than enough to run most games at decent settings, and yo ucould crossfire later

I've played Crysis on this computer, on low settings ofcourse, but it didn't look like crap Or i've gotten used to it already.

This PC is already 4 years old.

intel dual core-processor 830 3,0 GHz 2 x 1mb L2 cache 800MHz FSB
1024 MB DDR2 533 MHz 64 bit dual channel (2x512)
250 GB seagate 8 MB cache S-ata
Nvidia GeForce 6700 XL 128 mb PCI-e


I guess I could invest in some more ram too... PS: I noticed my PSU is only 400W..

ram could be a bit higher, are you running xp? i hope so anyway

Yes I am running XP

the only thing i can think of is your gpu isnt dead.... YET, but it is def going, and if you get a new card that doesnt vent outside the case, try to add a fan or repostion your current fans to get more flow in the bottom of your case. also just know that 70c is ok underload on the gpu but the lower the better, most cards are tested i heard up to 85-90 and higher. My cards under load on crysis with max settings after 8 hours only hit a high of 43c, thats with all fans focused on creating better flow in the bottom of the case, the rest of the somp is water cooled. ALSO if you dont have any software to read your temps download gpuz it will tell you loads and temps
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

maybe something like the HD 4770. it has a peak power consumption of only 80W, and performs very close to the HD 4850.

I'm trying to find out how much Watt my current GPU has... I can't find it anywhere on the internet, though
My PSU is only 400 watts

I guess I'll paste my mobo info here, how can I see if the GPU works with it?

Medion OEM built by MSI MS7204 1A
Supports Intel® Pentium 4/ Celeron D Prescott LGA775 processors (Prescott
and Smithfield) in LGA775 package.
† Supports 2005 Performance FMB CPU VR Design.
† Supports 3/4 pin CPU Fan Pin-Header with Fan Speed Control.
† Supports up to Pentium 4 3XX, 5XX, 6XX & 8XX (Prescott and Smithfield)
Chipset
† Intel® 945P chipset
- Supports FSB 533/ 800/1066MHz.
- Supports PCI Express x16 graphics interface.
- Supports DDR2 533/667
Read more on: : i3D.net Game Forums http://forum.i3d.net/showthread.php?t=24144
† Intel® ICH7/ICH7R chipset (optional)
- Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) controller, 480Mb/sec, up to 8 ports.
- 4 SATAII ports with transfer rate up to 3Gb/s.
- 1 channel Ultra ATA 100 bus Master IDE controller.
- PCI Master v2.3, I/O APIC.
- ACPI 2.0 Compliant.
- Serial ATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Matrix RAID. (for ICH7R)
- Integrated AHCI controller (ICH7R).
Main Memory
† Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM
† Supports up to 4GB memory size.
† Supports Dual channel DDR memory architecture.
† Supports DDR2 533/667 memory interface.
Slots
† One PCI Express x16 slot.
† One PCI Express x1 slots.
† Two 32-bit v2.3 Master PCI bus slots (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface).
† The second PCI slot (PCI 2.2, in green color) supports 3 devices.
On-Board IDE
† One Ultra DMA 66/100 IDE controllers integrated in ICH7/ICH7R.
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation modes.
† SATAII controller integrated in ICH7/ICH7R.
- Up to 300MB/sec transfer speed.
- Can connect up to four SATAII devices.
- Supports AHCI controller with SATA Raid 0, Raid 1 and Matrix Raid (ICH7R).
On-Board Peripherals
† On-Board Peripherals include:
- 1 floppy port supports 1 FDD with 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88Mbytes
- 1 serial port
- 1 parallel port supports SPP/EPP/ECP mode
- 1 Line-In / Front-Out / Side Surround / Center Bass / Back Surround
Getting Started
- 1 coaxial SPDIF-Out / SPDIF-In / Optical SPDIF-Out / SPDIF-In
- 8 USB ports (Rear * 4/ Front * 4)
- 1 RJ-45 LAN jack
LAN
† Intel 8100C
- Supports 10 / 100 Mb/s.
1394(optional)
† Supports two IEEE1394 onboard pinheader. Transfer rate is up to 400 Mbps.
† Controlled by VIA VT6307 chip.
Audio
† High Definition link controller integrated in Intel® ICH7/ICH7R chip.
† 7.1 + 2 channels audio codec Realtek ALC882.
- Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec.
BIOS
† The mainboard BIOS provides “Plug & Play” BIOS which detects the peripheral
devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
† The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) function which
records your mainboard specifications.
Mounting and Dimension
† mBTX Form Factor: 26.7 cm x 26.5 cm
† 7 mounting holes

Nvidia GeForce 6700 XL 128 mb PCI-e

From what i can tell, this card does not require additional power from the PSU, it seems to get all of its power directly from the PCI-E port itself.

a 400 watt psu should be fine on most common computers, you only really need anything higher if you plan on overclocking, running extensive cooling solutions, or sli/crossfire, which even then most 550w psu's will get the job done. Have you ever overclocked the gpu? If not, even one of my friends at overclocker's club said the gpu overheated (without a fail safe warning) and started destroying the chipset itself. So your prob left with a card thats either A. going to need to be pampered with low gpu settings in game's, or B is far to gone to do more than maybe load and display windows on your monitor. You may want to check out some of the FS forums on some overclock or even just geek tech web sites, you may find a very good card for loads cheaper than stores ( just bc we go thru gpu's and cpu's that are still fine, just bc a new model comes out and we want it ) In fact a friend of mine may send you his nvidia ? not sure which one 1gb 128 bit pcie card at decent clocks for nothing more than shipping rembersment or maybe 20 bucks, I know the card works he just got tired of seeing me run max settings with 120 fps's in most games locked due to v-sync. So just let me know if your interested in this card and ill get you more specs on it.

The guy with that card is now running crossfire hd 5870's on a 450w psu, watercooled and oc'ed cpu and HT

Not that it should affect the video card, but 1gig of RAM is not enough to run XP plus games. You should get another Gig while your at it.
There are lots of very good video cards that will run with a 400watt power supply (provided it's a good PS with a real 400watts)

It might, but I'm certain there's a cable coming from the PSU. Maybe for 'extra power' during peak moments?

@Quaker, I had already decided to get some more. I know 1 gig really isn't a lot.. But it seems like I've managed for the past 3-4 years

@Silvernova: That's really kind of you. I'll think about it
Here's a pic of the inside of my case;




As I don't have a lot of space I'll have to go with a compact card
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3986/hpim2532.jpg

I'm still in doubt.. I really don't know which one will fit
Both are 9600GT




Which one looks the smallest in height to you? I couldn't find a side shot anywhere :/ I'm thinking of going with the first one..

your case looks to be able to fit most modern graphic cards, with possible exception on the radeon hd 5870. though i have to say, it seems to be arranged in a rather strange manner. your expansion cards faces upward, instead of downward.

i still stand by my suggestion on the HD 4770. it is roughly the same size as a 9600GT, uses less power, and will blow it out of the water in every benchmark.

Hmm, you'd have to see it in RL that it's pretty cramped though. My current fan really isn't that high, and when I see these cards I'm pretty much sure they'd hit the cable going in my motherboard... Also, they can't be too long or they'll hit the heatpipes of my CPU, which run really hot. I'm going to the store this afternoon and I'll ask for the 4770, luckily the store is pretty close so returning shouldn't be an issue

Anyone of the 2 cards you posted should fit into your comp, there pictures make them look massive, any website that you buy from should tell you there length, so you can always double check, your current card does indeed pull power directly from the PSU the original cards didnt, so it may have been a Rev 2 of the card.

Anyway hope you get your problem sorted soon.

Hi I've just returned from the store with a .... R4650.. I know it's not top-of-the-bill, but the salesman was being a real dick about the return policy and I didn't want to run the risk of buying a card that doesn't fit in. So I settled with something 'less', which is still great I hope. It fits in perfectly and I'm downloading the drivers right now XP booted as it should

I looked at the 9600GT's in the store, and they looked to big to fit in, my measurements said the same. So I went on the safe side and bought the MSI card.

MSI R4650-MD1G( 1GB ddr2, 600mhz clock / 1 ghz)


Also bought some extra ram, lol

hehe, let's hope your new RAM work with your motherboard. anyways, the 4650 is already significantly faster than your old card. enjoy

It works Yay

Thanks for all the help guys, it was wonderful

From the look of things, it's a BTX case and mobo. That doesn't affect the video card, but the BTX form-factor died an early death and is an up-grade dead-end.
Also, from the look of things, you'd have a hard time fitting any sort of high-end, large, dual-slot card in there, but a 4770 should of fit. I'm not sure how a 4650 compares.

if memory serves me correctly, the 4650/4670 is about half an inch shorter. the 4650 uses about 50ish watts at full load, the 4670 uses 70W, and the 4770 uses 80W. all three would technically work with his setup.