Started with Green dots, now no picture... (GTX 260 core-216)

[SrgtButthole]

Well, it just started today on my lunch break from work. I got home at about 9:10 am and turned on my PC. What I saw were little green dots in a couple random places on my screen. they were in groups and slowly they started to get worse and my frustration level rose. Finally I checked all temps and clocks and everything was normal, card running at a mere 40c. I decided to restart, and after restart, however, all problems seem to be gone, I ran a couple different games(cod4, l4d2 demo, cs:s) and no problems. So I thought "oh well" and went back to work. I got off work at 1pm, went home. Turned my PC back on, And the screen is just COVERED with green dots! I looked at temps again (what I could see through all the dots) and everything is still fine. I try to go online to research this problem but the screen goes black... Now it just flickers from green dots COVERING the screen for about 1-5 seconds, followed by a black screen for 2-3 seconds, then back to green and repeat.

Now what REALLY leaves me clueless is the fact that my buddy has an extra of his card (GTX 260 Standard) so I decide to try his. It just comes up black for about 10 seconds, flashed green for a second, then showed nothing after that. I have now switched back to my old card and Black screen is constant.

I was SO sure it was the g-card until I switched to my buddy's card too. Although he doesn't know the condition of the card that he had extra (he actually said it might be broken too) I am unsure of the reliability of that card and do not base any troubleshooting I have done so far on it.

So my question is, Is there anything else I can test before I resort to calling EVGA? I do not know of what else It could be except that I installed new drivers for the card about 3 days ago,directly from EVGA but have had no problems up until today. I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 yesterday up until 10:00pm last night with no problems either.

 

[impaledmango]

Sounds like a monitor issue to me. Try using a different monitor

 

[SrgtButthole]

I was honestly hoping it would be something that simple, but after trying a different monitor and not even a signal after 2 restarts and a long wait, I am feeling pretty certain that it is indeed the gpu. I will continue to hold on to all hope, as the warranty has expired on my video card and I am flat broke.