[Solved] help Graphics card dead?

[Richard_T]

All of a sudden ive started having probelms with my P.C, its a windows 7 home premium desktop system, with a dual core CPU ( E6400 i think) 4GB RAM and a Radeon X1950 graphics card with 256mb GDDR3 RAM.

 

heres the problem:

I started to get blue screen errors, usualy page_fault_in_non_paged_area

 

so after diging around on the web, i opened up my p.c (its been a while) and cleaned out the dust, i disocnected and cleaned the contacts for the RAM and disconected and removed the graphics card, which was extremly hot to the touch.

The fan on the graphics card was also completly blocked with dust, which i removed.

 

Upon re-assembly everything seemd OK, so i then atempted a full back up, but it crashed again with the same error, so i booted into safe mode, which then allowed me to make a back up.

Just before the PC freezes and locks up, the fan on the graphics card goes up to full speed.

 

maybe its a driver error?

So ive now wiped the hard drive, and re-installed, however when adjusting the screen resolution the fan on the graphics card went to full speed, the screen went odd, and then the system re-booted with the page fault in non paged are errror message.

)

Try again, this time i tried the system rating option ( rate this system ) and again full speed on the graphics card fan, followed by the screen going off and displaying "no input"

 

 

So after all that, is the card dead, and what would people recomend for under £100 as a replacment card, if it is that?

[Jelly Bean]

Hello there.....

 

Now I know you suspect the GPU of issues....

 

But your origonal error points to a faulty RAM stick or sticks....

 

Have you tested each RAM stick individualy?

 

Remove them all and place one in and reboot...

 

What happens?

 

Do this for each stick on its own...

 

Faulty RAM can give the appearance of a faulty GPU or a dead GPU such as black screen....

[Richard_T]

Thanks for the quick reply, ive currently got it running memtest 86, so far no errors.

[Jelly Bean]

It takes a little while to run you may get bored.....

 

Are you getting any beeping apart from the first post beep?

[Richard_T]

just the usual beep, im goign to leave memtest running for a while ( i can leave it for a few days if required)

the reason why im suspecting the graphics card, is because it was incredibly hot ( to hot to touch )the fan was clogged, and just beore i get a crash, the newly cleaned fan goes into overdrive.

 

memtest has just completed its first test with no errors, test std, pass 1, err 0, ecc errorrs ( blank)

[Richard_T]

Men test has been running all night, and still no errors.

[4ndy]

Sounds like a power problem. If this is the case, potentially, you could underclock GPU and/or the memory to gain stability whilst you save up for a more monstrous pack. What PSU do you have watt-wise?

Also check the heat sink has seated back on properly after you cleaned it (if you took it off?) Possibly may need to reapply thermal paste on the GPU & mem (if covered). Incorrectly/poorly fitted cooler can cause stability issues.

Edited October 5, 2011 by 4ndy

[Richard_T]

The cpu heatsink didn't come off, and the psu is 570 watt.

[KenB]

Your original diagnosis ( problem Video Card ) looks favourite to me.

The fan on the graphics card was also completly blocked with dust,

This could have caused the initial overheating and damaged the card.

 

Do you have another card / onboard graphics that you could try out ?

[Richard_T]

ive got no onboard graphics, and no alternative.

memtest is still chugging away, with 18 tests passed, and no errors, so mit looks like the ram is ok.

So it looks like i need a new card, the old graphics card is an ATI Radeon X1950 card with 256mb of Ram, and its labelled as pci express.

im asuming that a PCI-E card will fit, would one labelled as PCI-E 2.1 fit as well?

budgets about £80

[KenB]

Hi,

 

would one labelled as PCI-E 2.1 fit as well?

Yes - they are usually backwards compatible.

 

Before you spend your hard-earned ..

Could you try your "problem" card in another machine - a friend's possibly ?

[Richard_T]

thanks for the advice, i know some one who is chucking their old pc out, and i may be able to salvage something from that.

I was thinking of updating my P.C at some time with a motherboard/CPU bundle, followed by a new graphics card, then the ram, bit by bit over the next 12 months or so,

(although i need to remember to take the anti static wrist band off before i go to the pub)

[KenB]

If you can swap the Video Card this will confirm if it has died or not.

 

Yes - an anti-static band draped into your pint wouldn't do your street cred any good :)

[Richard_T]

Just want to say ahuge thanks, it appears it was the graphics card

[KenB]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Good to hear that your problem has been solved :)