Help please - graphics card upgrade only works for a while

[mr1970]

Hi there

I bought a Packard Bell box at Christmas just to have a Windows box around the house (I moved to Mac recently). It's very low end so I bunged in an extra 2GB of RAM which made a difference. Next thing seemed to be to lose the slow on-board graphics, so I swapped this for a passively cooled Nvidia 7300GT - didn't want much noise. After a bit of faffing around I finally managed to persuade the machine to ignore the onboard graphics and use the new card instead - so far so good.

Not long afterwards, the splash screen on bootup started to look a bit funny - not illegible but definitely some pixels in the wrong place. This would get worse if the machine had been used recently, and indeed eventually the displays just blanks (it's just done it again after 10 minutes or so).

So...not knowing too much about this, I'm guessing it's a heat issue but not sure what to do about it. I could just get a card with a fan, I could abandon the idea altogether or...what? Could there be something actually wrong with the graphics card?

Apologies if this is real beginners stuff but I'm struggling a bit on this one.

The card in question, incidentally, is an Asus EN7300GT Silent.

Very many thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer.

Regards

Ally

 

[physx7]

Not long afterwards, the splash screen on bootup started to look a bit funny - not illegible but definitely some pixels in the wrong place. This would get worse if the machine had been used recently, and indeed eventually the displays just blanks (it's just done it again after 10 minutes or so).

So...not knowing too much about this, I'm guessing it's a heat issue but not sure what to do about it. I could just get a card with a fan, I could abandon the idea altogether or...what? Could there be something actually wrong with the graphics card?

From my understanding of your problem, the bootup screen is all discolored and the display occasionally blanks out?


1. I used to have the problem of a discolored and messed up BIOS startup screen when I upgraded from integrated to an ATI HD 3850. I resolved it by updating the BIOS.

2. If you think the card might be overheating then take the side panel off the computer and blow a fan on the graphics card. See if anything is different.

3. Are you updated to the latest drivers?

4. What operating system are you using? Is it updated?

5. Is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121021 this your card?

6. Do you know how to check the temperature of your card?

7. If all else fails can you exchange it for another one?

 

[sailer]

It also possible that the PSU doesn't have enough power for the card. That 7300GT doesn't take much, but some of those cheap computers were paired with PSUs that were also cheap and barely adequate for the bare computer, much less any add on cards. Check the wattage of the PSU before you do too much more. If its small, 250wt or less, you may have a problem with it. Next, if you can, try checking the card in someone else's computer to verify that the card itself is good. If it is good, check the BIOS and upgrade it if possible, as physx7 suggested. Some cheap machines allow that, others have a locked BIOS. You might also double check that the computer runs with its stock graphics, without the 7300GT.

One thing for sure is that if this Packard Bell is in the cheap, throwaway class of computers, I wouldn't invest very much money in it. There's a lot of computers being sold at or under $500 these days which just aren't worth the money to improve. They are built for simple things; going on the internet, word processing, and so forth, but they aren't able to run anything beyond simple games. Its the old idea of you get what you pay for and you don't get what you didn't pay for.

 

[physx7]

It also possible that the PSU doesn't have enough power for the card. That 7300GT doesn't take much, but some of those cheap computers were paired with PSUs that were also cheap and barely adequate for the bare computer, much less any add on cards. Check the wattage of the PSU before you do too much more. If its small, 250wt or less, you may have a problem with it. Next, if you can, try checking the card in someone else's computer to verify that the card itself is good. You might also double check that the computer runs with its stock graphics, without the 7300GT.

+1

Thanks Sailer, I forgot about the PSU..