Video Card dead?

Biggzy32

Reputable
Jan 15, 2015
10
0
4,510
I was playing a game on Steam and my computer screen turned a greenish blue and froze. So I had to turn off my computer by holding down the power button.

Now when I boot up the screen is all distorted and grainy and completely unreadable. I sometimes will get a screen that says the video tdr failure.

I've read through some solutions mentioning to do various things including updating driver software. But I can't even make it to the home screen. I was able to get to the BIos screen but it's all distorted as well. Is my video card fried?
 
Solution
not every card will need or have a 6 pin. the gtx 750 and 750ti spring to mind.
some cards are very efficient to the point that the fans will only come on when the unit starts to get hot.
my sapphire dual fan HD 6970 most of the time one fan is running at 30%, but when I game or need the card both fans come on. my card is a power pig so a low power draw card without a 6 pin could run passive some of the time.
The PCIe slot itself can provide 75W to the card, if the card needs more than that it will have either a 6 pin, an 8 pin, or one of each or two 8 pins. my card has one of each an 8 and a 6 pin, but my card needs 250W.

the fans didn't move but did it power on? did it boot?
does your power supply have another 6 pin you could try. if...

Biggzy32

Reputable
Jan 15, 2015
10
0
4,510
Thanks.

I'm still having trouble. I'm not really great with computers so bear with me. I went and bought a new video card when I opened it, it didn't have the 6 pin connector for the power supply. So I googled that and saw that it could get power from the motherboard or something. So I plugged it in the PCI slot and the fans didn't move.

I returned it and got a different card that has the 6 pin power connector, got home plugged it in and the fans come on but I get no display on the monitor. I read that it needs a certain amount of power but I think I'm good there. My power supply is 460W total and the requirements for the card is 400W.

Any suggestions? Thanks

Edit: I took out the graphics card all together and plugged in the monitor to the HDMI slot on the back which goes straight to the mother board and I'm now able to get to my home screen. Everything seems fine so I have to assume it's the video card. Now that I'm able to see the display what can I try, if anything to fix the old one?
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
not every card will need or have a 6 pin. the gtx 750 and 750ti spring to mind.
some cards are very efficient to the point that the fans will only come on when the unit starts to get hot.
my sapphire dual fan HD 6970 most of the time one fan is running at 30%, but when I game or need the card both fans come on. my card is a power pig so a low power draw card without a 6 pin could run passive some of the time.
The PCIe slot itself can provide 75W to the card, if the card needs more than that it will have either a 6 pin, an 8 pin, or one of each or two 8 pins. my card has one of each an 8 and a 6 pin, but my card needs 250W.

the fans didn't move but did it power on? did it boot?
does your power supply have another 6 pin you could try. if the PSU is modular make sure the other end of the cable is securely connected into the PSU.

which power supply do you have, make and model please? some power supplies are not very well built and falsely claim a higher wattage than they are capable, some will deliver 300 watts only in 5V, so lets make sure the PSU is a reliable one.
 
Solution