What's killing the video card?

[OTrog]

I just built a system and the video card failed to even show the first post. I returned it and the tech confirmed the card was dead.

I went home with a direct exchange, popped it in and everything went along as it should but after a day of installing things I went for supper during a long download and came back to what seems to be another dead video card.

Video card: BFG Geforce GTS 250 OC
MB: Asus P5QL-Pro
PS: Antec True Power New 550W

What else should I be checking before putting in another video card?

 

[stevensl2]

Have you installed the RIGHT drivers?

System good enough cooling? BIOS set to default?

 

[Outlander_04]

voltages

 

[belial2k]

you could have a short in the PSU or MB.

 

[OTrog]

Thanks to those who have replied so far. I have a little more information now. I pulled a Geforce 8400 from another machine. It did not even show POST in the new box but putting it back in the old one it worked fine. I can now at least hope that the second video card is ok. The 8400 does not have a direct connection to the PS and has minimal requirements for power in comparison so that isn't likely the problem.

I can't really vouch for anything once the OS is up since it is Win 7 RC but they are the most recent.

Cooling should be more than adequate but the monitoring software was the last thing that finished installing before I walked away so I can't confirm.

The BIOS is essentially default, I turned off the IDE and turned on SATA hot swap support but that's all. I think I'll try clearing the CMOS anyway to tick it off the list.

Voltages looked ok when I was browsing the BIOS settings but again the monitoring software was just up as I left.

Things seem to me to be leaning toward the motherboard. Any more I can do to confirm that without the comparable parts to swap? Otherwise I'll probably have to take the whole box in and hope that I'm right.

 

[belial2k]

try to breadboard it first to make sure it is not shorting out on the case.

 

[OTrog]

Got busy and didn't have a chance to pursue this till now. I did try the breadboarding but that didn't do it.

Clearing the CMOS did the trick though!

I almost didn't try it because I really didn't do much with the BIOS settings. Windows 7 gave a very long message about not having saved settings because of a hibernation state. Maybe it went into a coma instead of hibernation but so far the hardware seems intact.

Thanks to everyone for their support. I probably would have given up without having a list of options to try.