Something just gave up...

Associate
Joined
11 Nov 2006
Posts
26
I've never had any serious PC issues like this before, but I'll try and explain everything that happened and hopefully someone can offer me some advice.

I was playing WoW and a load of wavy green lines appeared on the screen. The video froze, but the sound was still playing normally, so WoW itself can't have locked up.

I restarted and the Windows XP loading screen had some glitchy, white lines on it. Once it got to where the login screen would usually be, the monitor lost signal and went on standby.

I checked that all my fans were still running, and I managed to get into the setup screen and it looks like my temperatures are fine.

On the next restart, I got to the screen that told me Windows was unable to start properly due to suddenly shutting down the last time and it gave the option to start in safe mode. Well, I wasn't able to move the cursor, and random letters in each word were flashing. Eventually it started itself and the same thing happened: the monitor lost signal at the login screen.

Is this an issue with my graphics card, or something else? It seems really odd that I can see some things and not others, but all the graphical glitches do lead me to believe it's a video problem. If it's not that, are there any surefire ways of telling which component gave up and conked out?

Any help with this will be massively appreciated, as I'm now worried that I'm gonna have to find the cash for a brand new PC. :(
 
Associate
OP
Joined
11 Nov 2006
Posts
26
Alright, it's restarting at the login screen now, which would explain why my monitor loses signal at that point.

It's not the RAM. I had some old sticks of RAM lying around and the problem remained exactly the same when using them instead of my current RAM.

It's possible I could convince one of my housemates to let me try their graphics card in my machine, and my card in theirs... but it depends on how protective he is about his PC.

Anything it could be apart from the card? I'd be more than happy to replace this old 7600 GT, but I need to be sure that I'm not gonna buy something and still have the same problem...
 

RJC

RJC

Don
Joined
29 May 2005
Posts
29,003
Location
Kent
I agree with the others in pointing to problem gpu, only way to find out is to test another cpu, hopefully one of your house maes will let you do this.
Another thing to try is re-installing drivers.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Sep 2009
Posts
2,407
Location
Brighton
I know it sound stupid, but check the cable going into the graphics card and the monitor. I thought I buggered my whole PC after cleaning it inside... Changed the graphics card for another, still no good... Then found the cable was slightly hanging out the back of the monitor :p
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
6,590
Location
Nottingham
Graphics cards gone plop 99% sure

Also anyone noticed a lot of these types of threads at the moment with peoples graphics cards dying.
Theres been a sudden rise in GPU death recently on OcUK forums!
 
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