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Geek Culture / Graphics card issue

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The Zoq2
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Joined: 4th Nov 2009
Location: Linköping, Sweden
Posted: 24th Dec 2012 21:06
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Hello guys. I got some upgrades for my PC for christmas today (more RAM and an SSD) However, I have ran into some issues when installing the RAM that I thought you may be able to help me with.

Basicaly, I started to install the RAM since I thought that would be the easies to check for errors. But when I tried to opened the case, I noticed that the graphics card was in the way of the little "switches" holding the RAM in place. So I figgured I would just have to remove the graphics card and put it back in place once I had put the RAM in. However, things didn't go as planned. I managed to get the RAM sticks in place and put the GPU back, but when I booted the computer the screen got no signal. I opned the case back up and noticed there was some dust in the PCI ports. i cleared that and restarted the computer. Nothing, however I had not sealed the GPU properly and did that.

It helped and for the first time, I was able to see the screen. Windows said that there may be a problem with soem hardware and asked me to run the system repair. But I figgured that I could just start windows normaly. (I have bad experience with the system repair taking several hours). Windows 7 booted up and it got to the screen with moving balls of light and text telling me that windows is starting. But then it died. My screen said there was no signal and the computer still ran (just like before). So I tried restarting it again. Nothing. Then I went into the failsafe mode. This worked and I tried reinstalling the GPU drivers, then I restarted the computer again. Still the same issue. Now I tried to run the windows repair thing, it said trying to repair but nothing hapned and after 5 seconds it said the repair was finished. I clicked finish and restarted the computer. Nothing. The last thing I tried was to run the system recovery, but that didn't help either.

So, this is where i'm at. Windows sort of starts but then it dies and the screen gives me the no input signall error. Do you have any idea of what the problem may be?
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nonZero
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Joined: 10th Jul 2011
Location: Dark Empire HQ, Otherworld, Silent Hill
Posted: 24th Dec 2012 21:41
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You may have damaged your PCI slot or your gfx card. I had a PC (waaaay back) with a damaged AGP slot. The best fix was remove card, push against the board, replace card, boot. Obviously the Orcish approach. Sometimes just wiggling it worked. Was definitely the slot as my card worked in a friend's PC.... Back to the point...

To Diagnose:
1. Power off completely
2. Remove the video card.
3. Boot up (I'll assume you've a board with some onboard graphics).

If you can boot fine in normal mode, then I guess your question now becomes "Card or board?" which you can solve by testing the card in another PC.

If (and only if) your boot fails, check the board's manual for the BIOS RESET PINS location and use either a jumper (or a piece of conductive metal if you're experienced and have a steady hand) to short the BIOS RESET PINS. The reason for this is some BIOS won't detect that your card isn't there and therefore not default to onboard video (Personal experience: don't buy cheap boards, lol).

If you are now able to boot your PC then you'll have to test your card in another PC or another card in yours (to see if it is in fact the PCI slot or the card).

The issue may resolve itself during the process (could be moisture, dust, being loose, etc). Also, it either is stuffed, don't beat yourself up, it may have coincidentally packed in. It happens.

Can't make any guarantees on this advice but it should diagnose your problem. I hope this is of use.

Here's a little something I threw together for Christmas
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bitJericho
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Location: United States
Posted: 24th Dec 2012 22:19
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Did you remember to plug in the power plugs for the graphics card (if any?)

Reseating a few times could help. Try again without the new ram, who knows, maybe that's no good and does cause weird things to happen.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me.
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The Zoq2
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Location: Linköping, Sweden
Posted: 24th Dec 2012 22:20 Edited at: 24th Dec 2012 22:21
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The thing is that the graphicscard works until windows gets past or if I boot in failsafe mode the start screen. And I dont think that my motherboard has an onboard graphicscard.
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Isocadia
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Posted: 24th Dec 2012 22:39
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I had the same problem on a NVidia 9800GX2 that died, might not be the same hardware problem, but my problem was this:

My card had overheated, but was still working fine in safe-mode, during windows installation and even in normal mode without any drivers installed. What happened was apparently the damaged part would only make the GPU stop working if called upon by the NVidia driver. I replaced the card for a GTX660 so I don't know how to fix it, though baking that card might work.

So your GPU might be damaged in a place that's only used by the NVidia driver.

Now that I think of it, maybe trying to disable certain features might fix it, though I doubt it.
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bitJericho
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Posted: 24th Dec 2012 22:40 Edited at: 24th Dec 2012 22:42
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Quote: "The thing is that the graphicscard works until windows gets past or if I boot in failsafe mode the start screen. And I dont think that my motherboard has an onboard graphicscard. "


I too think it's unlikely it's the ram but as a general rule of thumb when you add new equipment and any part fails, the thing to do is to rule out the new equipment!

And hey, just moving stuff around could fix the issue.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me.
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 24th Dec 2012 22:43
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I could try and remove the new ram. But the part about the GPU being broken when the nvidia drivers are used seems likley
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nonZero
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Posted: 25th Dec 2012 19:11
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Quote: " And I dont think that my motherboard has an onboard graphicscard. "

How old is your board? I think about 90% of boards under 4 years old have onboard 6200 equivalents or better. If you remove your video card and there is still a place at the back to plug in the monitor, you've got onboard graphics (although it'll likely be a VGA out).

Here's a little something I threw together for Christmas
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 25th Dec 2012 21:27
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Well, the computer is only 1 and a half years old, but the 2 DVI/VGA ports have been sealed in the back. Im guessing that means HP didn't bother to put one in.
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 27th Dec 2012 16:44 Edited at: 27th Dec 2012 18:27
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I went to the local computer store and let them have a look at it. They just called and told me that my PSU was way to weak for the computer. Which is realy odd since it has been running "fine" for the last year and a half and since I brought it prebuilt from HP. I guess what I will take away from this is to never buy anything from HP again

Edit: Aparently the old PSU had 400w output while my gtx 550 needed 500w alone.
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Green Gandalf
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Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 28th Dec 2012 01:16
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Quote: "while my gtx 550 needed 500w alone"


Sounds like a nifty room fan heater to me. We could do with one of those as our central heating has broken down.
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Isocadia
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Posted: 29th Dec 2012 11:08
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I doubt your GTX550 actually uses 500W, since my 9200GX2 ( which has 2 GPU's in one card ) only used around 300 when maxed out. The 500W means that an avarage computer with that card would need about 500W to run in total

But if I remember correctly, PSU's degrade in the way that they deliver less and less power as time goes on, so it's possible that your PSU stopped giving enough power some time ago.
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 29th Dec 2012 12:44
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That sounds about right, still 400W when the system needs 500w is a bit to bad. I finaly got the computer back up and running now. And it's funny how much better it runs with more RAM and without the crap that HP put in it in the first place...
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nonZero
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Posted: 29th Dec 2012 22:03
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I think the lesson is next time build your own PC. Surprising that HP would cut corners as I thought they were a good brand (although I've never owned a prebuilt machine, I did have a hand-me-down modded Compaque workhorse pizza box with a 486 cpu).
Also, I never knew a PSU could deliver less wattage over time. Usually mine always worked and then one day stopped dead. Glad I picked up that little tip as I'll be prepared next tower I get.

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Isocadia
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Posted: 30th Dec 2012 00:17
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Well, it might also be a bad PSU my brother had. Anyway, when we bought it it was a 450W PSU, though it actually only delivered 430W. 6 years later, it was only giving about 350W ( depending on it's mood, sometimes it was more sometimes less ). So if your PSU is bad, it might degrade over time.

Anyway, if you buy corsair, I don't think that would happen
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