Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

Need to know if the graphics card caused the problem..

Tags:
  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share
August 13, 2013 4:09:49 PM

I have a Dell XPS Studio 435t:

i7 920
6 gigs DDR3
Original power supply: 475 watt(can probably get specific currents if needed)

Some weeks ago I upgraded the GPU to a GTX 660ti. Everything was running great until one day weeks later I got that amber light of death when I tried to start her up. No beeps, no post screen, no nothing...just the fans running and what seemed like no activity from the processor. I assumed the motherboard or the CPU was the culprit, but I had no way to determine that without extra parts. So, like an idiot, I gave it to the geek squad(please don't hurt me too bad for that...it was the only place I could go in this area). Well I guess they're so incompetent that they can't even run a diagnostic without a video display, so they claimed it was pci failure. I can tell you it was more than that because the mouse and the keyboard wouldn't power up either.

Ok so in an attempt to run down the problem I put the original GPU back in, and still had the same problem. I'm wondering if its possible that installing the 660ti could have done something to the motherboard that caused it to fail. I know that sounds unlikely...especially since I've read at least one user doing the same thing to the same computer with the same GPU and his still works apparently. I just don't want to get all new components and have the same thing happen again.

More about : graphics card caused problem

August 13, 2013 4:29:07 PM

My first guess is power supply went dead. Do you have a spare or can you borrow from another computer to test it?
m
0
l
August 13, 2013 4:34:59 PM

Fire2251 said:
My first guess is power supply went dead. Do you have a spare or can you borrow from another computer to test it?


Excellent suggestion...but I already tried that and probably should have mentioned it though. I had the original power supply tested and it came up as having low voltage on the positive side. So I replaced it, albeit with a cheap 520 watt model from BB, but I would at least have thought I would get something. But that actually didn't fix the problem. I know this is straying off of GPU talk, but do you suppose the voltage problem in the original PSU could have permanently damaged the motherboard? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I just need to rule out the GPU and assume it's still good for whatever I end up doing next.
m
0
l
Related resources

Best solution

a b U Graphics card
August 14, 2013 9:21:05 AM

Stephen Myers said:
Fire2251 said:
My first guess is power supply went dead. Do you have a spare or can you borrow from another computer to test it?


Excellent suggestion...but I already tried that and probably should have mentioned it though. I had the original power supply tested and it came up as having low voltage on the positive side. So I replaced it, albeit with a cheap 520 watt model from BB, but I would at least have thought I would get something. But that actually didn't fix the problem. I know this is straying off of GPU talk, but do you suppose the voltage problem in the original PSU could have permanently damaged the motherboard? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I just need to rule out the GPU and assume it's still good for whatever I end up doing next.


Cheap 520 watt from BestBuy is worse than your original PSU, you have to try 650 watt and above from reputable, like Corsair, Seasonic or alike.
Do this first and report right away.
Share
August 14, 2013 10:27:58 AM

You should try to reset your CMOS, you can do this by finding the small flat battery on your motherboard and remove it fir 15c seconds, put it back in and see if it boots. The same thing happened to me. Hope I helped
m
0
l
a b U Graphics card
August 14, 2013 10:45:14 AM

nmkbhj said:
You should try to reset your CMOS, you can do this by finding the small flat battery on your motherboard and remove it fir 15c seconds, put it back in and see if it boots. The same thing happened to me. Hope I helped


15 sec is not enough, should be at least 20 minutes, at the same time, press and hold power button for 20 sec to discharge remaining electricity.
m
0
l
August 14, 2013 6:48:28 PM

Kisianik said:
Stephen Myers said:
Fire2251 said:
My first guess is power supply went dead. Do you have a spare or can you borrow from another computer to test it?


Excellent suggestion...but I already tried that and probably should have mentioned it though. I had the original power supply tested and it came up as having low voltage on the positive side. So I replaced it, albeit with a cheap 520 watt model from BB, but I would at least have thought I would get something. But that actually didn't fix the problem. I know this is straying off of GPU talk, but do you suppose the voltage problem in the original PSU could have permanently damaged the motherboard? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I just need to rule out the GPU and assume it's still good for whatever I end up doing next.


Cheap 520 watt from BestBuy is worse than your original PSU, you have to try 650 watt and above from reputable, like Corsair, Seasonic or alike.
Do this first and report right away.


I was afraid of that. Are you sure it has to be 650 watts? Nothing in that machine requires a PSU of that power, according to the specs. Would a good 550 do the trick?

I did try removing the CMOS battery as well, but I may not have had it out long enough. I'll try that again.
m
0
l
August 14, 2013 7:39:46 PM

Just removed the CMOS battery for what was probably longer than 20 minutes. No good. Even though the PSU I got was probably not the 'best buy', wouldn't I still at least get something different happening?
m
0
l
!