Help! Broken PC advice please.

[Discord]

Hi all, hope you can help.
Rig: Duo 6600, Asus MB, XFX 7600GT, 2 gig ram, Antec power supply

Last night my monitor went black even though I could still hear the software I was running in the background. No amount of rebooting etc. helped.

I plugged my laptop into the monitor and.. it still works..

My dilema - is it definitely going to be the gfx that broken or could it be something to do with how the mb distributes power to it. The XFX I have doesn't have it's own power cables.

Reason I ask is that when I reboot I do sometimes still get the XP flag while loading. Then about half way through everything goes black again. This happens at the sametime that the lights on my backlit keyboard come on. Presumably this is the drivers stage of the boot process?

Oh and (sorry) my gfx has two monitor ports on it. I only get the boot logo on one of the ports - which is not the one it was connected to when this fault happened - nothing on the other.

Hope that makes sense - at work so had to be quick!!

Advice please!

 

[akhilles]

Not enough details about the parts. Some Antec psus can crap out after a few months.

Ok, when you power the pc on, does the harddisk led blink like it does normally? Wait for it to blink like it's loading windows, then it stops at around the same time as usual at the logon screen, press power on pc. It it shuts down, chances are your parts are fine.

Did you switch from vga to dvi or vice versa before this problem?

 

[will14]

If you see the XP flag.
Hit f8: choose safe mode/debugging mode or directory services restore.
If your getting no video at all try swapping an old video card/friends.
If you can't do this then remove your cmos battery and booting.
It sounds like an XP issue and not hardware, especially if the flag is coming up/XP is loading.
I would imagine if it was hardware windows would grace you with a BSOD.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

If the screen cuts out to black right after the Windows flag, that sounds to me like a video card problem. Or at least a problem between the monitor and card. But since you tested the screen on your laptop, it seems more likely that it's the card.

There's a signal problem, the card may not be able to supply your screen with the digital signal. Since it's an XFX 7600GT, there should be two DVI ports (no DB-15) and if the other one doesn't display anything at all, that's not a good sign.

I get a similar problem with my system, but only if I start up a game and then go back into Windows multiple times. At some point, the signal is just lost and I get a black screen.

Do you have a 2nd video card you could try? At least to test it out and see if it still happens?

 

[Discord]

Unfortunately my other GFX cards are AGP and the Asus board (PW5) only has AGP.

Windows does boot completely. I can hear the logon music in the background.

I'll try f8 tonight and see what happens (it was late and I didnt think about that at the time).

I agree though: the fact the the first port on the gfx card gives no output at all is a little worrying.

I think I'll end up having to see if there are any local repair shops that can test the card for me. It's only 6 months old so I can send back to DABs - but it's taking valuable time outta the beta testing I'm doing.

Funny that when your PC breaks like this you really are stuck! My receipts for the card are on my PC and my work don't allow netmail access. Also, can't use the internet to find local repair co's... I'll have to use the phone book.. can you imagine!!!

.. lol and DABs return policy.. I have to complete a form... online!!!

Grrr

Thanks for you input though

 

[Discord]

ok, booted in safe mode (actually f5 not f8).

it worked!!

reinstalled my nvidia drivers and now things are ok...ish

the gfx card still only outputs on one of the DVi ports. Also if I do anything with the Nvidia settings (including just right clicking on the start bar icon) the screen flickers.

I still suspect the card has developed a fault. At least I'm up and running so I can print my receipts etc.. Will now see if i can test the card elsewhere before I send it back.

 

[will14]

glad it worked and f5 that's odd but oh well.
I"d say ride your failing card until you see a cheap DX10 one =)

 

[PC_Side_Line]

did u have a storm in the area recently? or did power go out unexpectedly?

did some1 drop the pc during a recent travel period?

do u have carpets in ur house?

is the humidity constantly low where u live?

u should buy a UPS and hook up ur monitor and pc to the ups and then the ups goes to the wall.

look for 750 vdc or 1000 vdc types for ur pc