Help!

[shinigamiX]

OK, My rig seems to be dying. None of the PCI slots work(there's power but none of the devices are working) and just after after the windows boot screen and before the Welcome screen, there's a strange occurence in which the screen is filled with random colors:

Could it be:
The CPU?
The Motherboard?
The Graphics Card?
My prime suspect is the motherboard, as there was already the problem with the PCI slots.

 

[turpit]

OK, My rig seems to be dying. None of the PCI slots work(there's power but none of the devices are working) and just after after the windows boot screen and before the Welcome screen, there's a strange occurence in which the screen is filled with random colors:

Could it be:
The CPU?
The Motherboard?
The Graphics Card?
My prime suspect is the motherboard, as there was already the problem with the PCI slots.

Dude, you computer is possesed. You need an old priest, a young priest, and an exorcist. STAT

 

[turpit]

OK, now that I got that out of my system, your going to have to post some more info.

How old is the system?
Video card, PCIe, AGP or PCI? What type is it? How old is it?
You say the screen is happening between the boot and welcome screens, is windows booting all the way and functional?

 

[shinigamiX]

Really? But that screen just shows for about 2 seconds before booting normally, after which everything works fine...
I took it to a repair shop and they told me about the PCI slots. Plus I tried myself.

 

[shinigamiX]

I have a:
Pentitum 4 640
MSI 945P Neo
Gecube X1800XT 512MB (Pleeaaaase don't be broken)
2B DDR2 533 RAM

 

[shinigamiX]

If by 'digital' you mean DVI, then yes, I use digital signals..

 

[shinigamiX]

Could be my monitor, it's two years old and I can see refresh lines (cheapest LCD on the block at the time...)
Tries it with safe mode, didn't happen... so my graphics card is fine?(pleasepleasepleaseplease)

 

[shinigamiX]

So if I somehow got better cooling for my card, the problem would be fine? Besides, aside from that problem is runs fine, even if it can't be fixed I'll just keep this card til I can upgrade to DX10...

 

[DeMonOfElRu]

Really? But that screen just shows for about 2 seconds before booting normally, after which everything works fine...

Really ??

Does it always happen at the same spot/point in time ?? If so, I think its more of a settings problems on your video card "just before" booting/turning off. In this case , on the next boot , this statement would come into effect ...

Likely what is happening, as soon as your computer boots it is using a low refersh, low resolution but as soon as the welcome screen comes up it switches to a higher refresh, higher resolution and the RAMDAC is overheating.

If its the RAMDACs that are just plain bad .. I don't think it would be this specific .. would it ?? (IF it was specific in the first place that is)

Sorry if my "actual" explanation sounds a bit confusing.

 

[Weeble]

I had very similar symptoms when the fan on the card was dying and it was overheating. I could get into safe mode at first (tried driver adjustments as I thought it might be corrupt) but after a while it got worse and I couldn't do anything with it.

Mine started off corrupting during boot and then progressed slowly to artefacting in everything (I assume by that time the memory had gently fried itself). Have you got a mate who can lend you a card to try?

 

[gOJDO]

have you tried to boot with another PSU and another graphics card?
Also check the northbridge cooler and temeperature.

 

[shinigamiX]

OK, here's what happens:
POST
Windows Boot Screen
The the 'mysterious occurence'
Then the welcome screen where I choose the username, etc.

 

[DeMonOfElRu]

Hmm ... that is strange. So it DOES occur in one spot everytime.

That is precisely the time when windows is adjusting the default res/refresh you have during post to the windows' settings. Usually it just goes blank for a bit , not turn snowy. Maybe its just your card's way of reacting to the sudden change. After it adapted , everything works fine again.

 

[shinigamiX]

Yea. One thing I haven't done yet is reformat. As soon as I get hold of a legitimate copy of XP I'll see if that will fix things.