[Video Card] GTX280 Purple screen of death

[desertfox31]

Been having a problem lately where whenever I load up a game I get the purple screen of death.

(Not my picture, but exact same image)

Called up tech support and went through the whole deal with them, checking if the card was getting enough power, if it was overheating etc. Eventually reseating the card fixed it UNTIL I restart/shut off my computer then I would have to reseat the card again to get it working. Now even that is not working and its crashed two or three times without any stress on the card (browsing the internet) and im getting pretty frustrated because I have already RMA'd a previous GTX280 and my computer is going to be out for another week if I have to RMA it again :/

I have noticed after reading a couple of forums that some people are having the exact same problem as me (even down to the reseating fixing it) and have sent an email to them seeing what else is in common. Anyone else have similar things happen to them or know how to fix the problem short of RMA? :/

My Specs:

Intel Quad Core Q9450@ 2.66
4B DDR3 (2x2)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB (7200RPM)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB (10000)
evGA E-GEFORCE GTX280
Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer
Vista64
ASUS P45 DDR3
Antec P182
Silverstone Zeus 850W

 

[bpogdowz]

I tried a GTX 280 in a motherboard and got purple or green but I couldn't even see nothing like yours the windows screen. It was not getting enough power. It could be the VGA/HDMI/DVI cable. It could be the motherboard. It could be the graphics card but it's eVGA so I'm guessing it's the cheap ASUS Intel board. It don't look like what I was getting so it's probably not the PSU. If you're using a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter that could be part of the problem also.

 

[desertfox31]

Just tried new cables, same thing.

 

[desertfox31]

So I called up tech support and after waiting for a bit then talking to the guy and seeing if it had enough power etc he pulled up the test logs from when the original card was RMA'd, apparently it passed with flying colours so it seems its something on my end. I don't have another computer to test it in so looks like im heading over to a shop nearby and seeing what happens if they put the card into a different computer.

Although the more I look into this there are so many people having the EXACT same problem as me with all different types of hardware.

 

[warezme]

I have only seen something similar with a card I had, 8800GTX, when they first came out whereby the motherboard tray was just a little to far way from the edge of the case and when the card was screwed into place it cause just enough tweaking to pull the card enough to cause it go all colorful or not boot at all.

Fortunately the case was aluminum and I was able to push the back plane in enough to bend it more toward the mobo tray and this relieved the stress and the card behaved itself.

You can also try a separate PCIe slot to see if the issue persists. If it does..., RMA it.

 

[tastelikecrab]

could be the PCI-Ex16 on ur mboard

 

[desertfox31]

So im debating taking it in to bestbuy, I called up asking if I could test my videocard in there system and test it. They said that they only test whole computers, it would be $60 but apparently they will check voltages and everything and find out what component is screwing everything up... is it worth it? I have heard some horror storys about bestbuy geeksquad

 

[bpogdowz]

No bestbuy are high school diploma crackheads. The best thing to do is to order a new motherboard and troubleshoot it yourself.

 

[desertfox31]

Believe me, the last thing I want to do is bring it to bestbuy but setting up a new MB is beyond my skill level.

 

[godspeed7]

I've been having the EXACT same problem, I've tried lots of different things, changing RAM configuration, chaging CPU settings, overclocking, etc...
But I still got the same issue no matter what.

I've even RMA'd my GTX 280 3 times.. I'm really surprised with the good service I've gotten from EVGA..

I've come to strongly believe its my motherboard, because I have another Video Card that also acts up, not as worse as this but it gives me artifacts then shuts down.. I unfortunately cannot use another Video card Slot, as it will tell me to place it in the 1st slot.. (EVGA 780i .. which unfortunately is not under warranty... )

It isn't a Power Supply issue, because my two video cards do not require near as much power... a GTX 280 vs X1950 PRO..
I have a 6 and a 8 pin connector, no adapter is being used..

This is what my problem looks like:

Still hoping to find out what the problem is... Wish I could avoid spending 50$ at the tech and replace the MB myself, but I want to be pretty sure..

 

[andre_74]

Hi Everyone,

Did you find a solution to this, I am also having the exact same problem as-well.

Godspeed I have the exact same error as you even down the same little box and perfectly the same pattern on the screen.

I am using a Eurocom laptop with a NVDIA 9800M GT. It has worked well for a couple of years now in the last few weeks it keeps doing this purple screen and it crashes. I cannot do anything I have to shut it down and then reboot. It was fine and issues started in late March.

I am using XP service pack 3. I did a system roll back to before the issues started and they do not go away. I have tried all sort of new graphics drivers old (on my original CD) and the latest from NVIDIA. But it still keeps happening.

95% of time it seems to happen if I have Incredimail 2 open and I replying to e-mail. I am suspicous of this. You don't by any chance use it do you ?

If not this, do you use a Maxtrox triple head to go digital edition. I split the DVI on my laptop across two external screens using this. I am somewhat suspicous of this too, as get the error on the LCD's but have not yet got it when use only the laptop screen ? Maybe it would come but I don't use the laptop screen that much.

I am worried it is the memory on the NVIDIA card itself but it may not be, as I have read people with the same issue and replacing the card does not solve it.

Anyway, any thoughts from anyone, would be great. I am getting to the point where I don't trust the system to work on, but it is farily new (2 years) and cost me nearlly $5000. So it would be great if anyone knows how to solve and or trouble shoot this.

Thanks again

Cheers

Andre

 

[godspeed7]

Nope, I have come to the conclusion that the motherboard PCI-e slot is not working; because I get problems with my 2 video cards (not exactly the same problem, but both of them have wierd graphical glitches right before freezing. My system.. so I will be changing motherboards soon..
From all the different ways I've used my computer, it is not software/driver problems, my video cards work 100% perfectly on other computers. i have tried another power supply with the same problem, so I am getting enough power. It is either the motherboard or the CPU.. I'm pretty sure it is motherboard related.

Sorry if I'm not more helpful than this...

 

[Kanryb]

Nope, I have come to the conclusion that the motherboard PCI-e slot is not working; because I get problems with my 2 video cards (not exactly the same problem, but both of them have wierd graphical glitches right before freezing. My system.. so I will be changing motherboards soon..
From all the different ways I've used my computer, it is not software/driver problems, my video cards work 100% perfectly on other computers. i have tried another power supply with the same problem, so I am getting enough power. It is either the motherboard or the CPU.. I'm pretty sure it is motherboard related.

Sorry if I'm not more helpful than this...

Hello Godspeed
I've gotten the same problem as the one on this old thread and since you're the last reply, Im writing this to you. What I want to ask you is: did it help changing your motherboard?

Thx
Kanryb

Btw, I've had my custom pc running perfectly for about 2 years with no problems, but suddenly I got this problem - I also have a MSI GTX280.

 

[godspeed7]

Hello Godspeed
I've gotten the same problem as the one on this old thread and since you're the last reply, Im writing this to you. What I want to ask you is: did it help changing your motherboard?

Thx
Kanryb

Btw, I've had my custom pc running perfectly for about 2 years with no problems, but suddenly I got this problem - I also have a MSI GTX280.

Hey, I apologize in advance because my memory is a little hazy on this subject.. I remember the problem very clearly.. but where to start? Let's turn this into a bedtime story (yeah, it'll bore you to sleep)

ONCE upon a time...
About that time when I wrote this message here, I decided to get a different Motherboard (an ASUS P5 or something of the sort that uses the 750i chipset), and I am convinced my motherboard was the problem, because the video card worked fine. But going from an EVGA 780i motherboard to a cheaper ASUS Psomething was a big performance hit.

I had saved up some EVGA BUCKS (kind of EVGA credits you can use to purchase their stuff), so I had gotten an EVGA 470. I parted with the 280, and the other person told me it worked great.

In the meantime, with the new video card, I decided to give my "old" EVGA 780i motherboard a second chance.... and I've been using it just fine with my new EVGA GTX 470.. for approximately a year now.

AND they lived happily ever after...

Sometimes I wish I just had the extra budget to simply start a brand new PC from scratch instead of banging my head trying to figure out pc issues!

Maybe my mobo is defective, but just doesn't affect this newer video card, maybe the video card was defective too. Hey, I had it RMA'd twice and they always sent it back saying it was perfectly fine.

There is no simple answer, I think the easiest is to simply get it checked at a GOOD tech.. they have all the equpiment to test it and try out different parts.

 

[nforce4max]

Hello Godspeed
I've gotten the same problem as the one on this old thread and since you're the last reply, Im writing this to you. What I want to ask you is: did it help changing your motherboard?

Thx
Kanryb

Btw, I've had my custom pc running perfectly for about 2 years with no problems, but suddenly I got this problem - I also have a MSI GTX280.

When something like this happens after years of normal function there is usually some form of degradation that must have taken place during those two years.
The first thing you can do is inspect the card for any burn mark of damage that is hard to miss. Has the cooler ever once been removed? If so it is easy to lose the thermal pads for the power vrm or mess them up. The vrm on these cards are not very stable at high temps but if kept rather unusually cool compared to your more normal cards they hold up but for mine I had no choice but to replace the dried out thermal compound and ended up with the problem but caught it early on when I found that previously stable overclock was causing the card to lock up or throw some artifacts but validated the card after the fix. I am going to later do without thermal pads and use metal shims instead due to my need to maintain the card but at least it was better built than what it is going to replace. Nvidia done better on the 280 than they did on the 275 and many Fermi cards.

 

[Kanryb]

When something like this happens after years of normal function there is usually some form of degradation that must have taken place during those two years.
The first thing you can do is inspect the card for any burn mark of damage that is hard to miss. Has the cooler ever once been removed? If so it is easy to lose the thermal pads for the power vrm or mess them up. The vrm on these cards are not very stable at high temps but if kept rather unusually cool compared to your more normal cards they hold up but for mine I had no choice but to replace the dried out thermal compound and ended up with the problem but caught it early on when I found that previously stable overclock was causing the card to lock up or throw some artifacts but validated the card after the fix. I am going to later do without thermal pads and use metal shims instead due to my need to maintain the card but at least it was better built than what it is going to replace. Nvidia done better on the 280 than they did on the 275 and many Fermi cards.

First of all thanks for the reply - I really appreciate it

I haven't removed or tampered with the graphic cards cooler or anything else on my pc for that matter. First I thought it had to do with some software, but after I updated everything I could, I guessed that it was a hardware problem. So I cleaned everything (damn, the pc has never been as clean). I haven't disassembled the card, so I haven't checked for any burn marks inside it (there is none on the outside). I fear ruining the card totally if I open it.

I'll try to explain my problem more in detail:
I can start up the PC normal. After I typed my password, two things can happen: either it goes purple (or other colors, but you know what I mean) or it starts normally. If it starts normally, I can use the pc normal, internet etc. but if I try opening a video file or starting a game, it can go purple. The weird thing is that if it goes purple opening the video/game, I can still hear the music in the background while the screen is freezed.
It is possible for me to start the game but if I do these artifacts starts appearing randomly. After a while with the artifacts, the screen will then flash for a split second then totally freeze (just freezing the image not going purple) but the background sound still plays. I can hit ctrl+alt+delete and as soon I do that the game continues. I hurry clicking "cancel" and all is fine. But it's annoying as hell especially in FPS games. My guess is that some of the graphic cards ram is damaged and every time the pc tries accessing it, it freezes. It's just a wild guess. I live in Denmark and the rule here is: is the product 2 years old, you can't RMA it.

But you're saying that it's the graphic card causing the trouble and it should be replaced?

 

[Kanryb]

Hey, I apologize in advance because my memory is a little hazy on this subject.. I remember the problem very clearly.. but where to start? Let's turn this into a bedtime story (yeah, it'll bore you to sleep)

ONCE upon a time...
About that time when I wrote this message here, I decided to get a different Motherboard (an ASUS P5 or something of the sort that uses the 750i chipset), and I am convinced my motherboard was the problem, because the video card worked fine. But going from an EVGA 780i motherboard to a cheaper ASUS Psomething was a big performance hit.

I had saved up some EVGA BUCKS (kind of EVGA credits you can use to purchase their stuff), so I had gotten an EVGA 470. I parted with the 280, and the other person told me it worked great.

In the meantime, with the new video card, I decided to give my "old" EVGA 780i motherboard a second chance.... and I've been using it just fine with my new EVGA GTX 470.. for approximately a year now.

AND they lived happily ever after...

Sometimes I wish I just had the extra budget to simply start a brand new PC from scratch instead of banging my head trying to figure out pc issues!

Maybe my mobo is defective, but just doesn't affect this newer video card, maybe the video card was defective too. Hey, I had it RMA'd twice and they always sent it back saying it was perfectly fine.

There is no simple answer, I think the easiest is to simply get it checked at a GOOD tech.. they have all the equpiment to test it and try out different parts.

Thanks for the reply Godspeed. I'm really glad you did
After reading your reply I ask myself: Should I buy a new motherboard or a new graphic card? - or both?

Btw, I've posted more details on my problem on this thread - if you wanna hear more about it

Thanks again
Kanryb

 

[nforce4max]

Sounds like a problem with the gpu because the system hasn't locked up and the game is still running in background. Either it is power related or thermal and if left with default settings it is likely overheated numerous times over the years for it to fail.

 

[Kanryb]

Sounds like a problem with the gpu because the system hasn't locked up and the game is still running in background. Either it is power related or thermal and if left with default settings it is likely overheated numerous times over the years for it to fail.

Okay, so you're saying that it's only the gpu causing the problem and it should be replaced?

The reason why I'm asking is that I want to know if only the gpu needs to be replaced...

*Even though I'm sad about the gpu being broken, I can't really blame it since I've been using it alot

 

[majorgibly]

Least it's better looking than a blue screen.

 

[nforce4max]

Least it's better looking than a blue screen.

Lol :lol:

 

[nforce4max]

Okay, so you're saying that it's only the gpu causing the problem and it should be replaced?

The reason why I'm asking is that I want to know if only the gpu needs to be replaced...

*Even though I'm sad about the gpu being broken, I can't really blame it since I've been using it alot

Just replace the card as there might not be to much you can do to improve it but you can try to replace the old stock thermal compound.

PS the tabs holding the back plate to the plastic shroud are going to break but don't worry they are only an annoyance and won't hurt the card. Also the fan connector is crappy and doesn't allow you to remove it completely except to put the cooler aside the card the length of the cable. Move back and forth once the screws are out and wiggle the cooler till it starts to get lose then eventually it will pop off. Mine was dry in the middle and had to take a pocket knife to scrap it off.

 

[sitremba1]

I came from a similar thread on Nvidia and found a Fix!

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?s=0988a8e9e72c56201dc057df9592e9b2&showtopic=209008&st=60

Essentially, blow away all nvidia applications and drivers and install the Generic VGA driver, not the default NVIDIA driver. Install the 258.96 driver from http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-uk and reboot. Your problems will be absolved.
For some reason, the drivers after this one cause universal problems in 280's