Where's the problem

[VishS]

Hi all ! .. new on here . I've generally built and fixed my own PC's for years(pretty smooth up to now , must be lucky lol ) -
Cant seem to figure this one out though ..sorry its a long story ..
This is my own system build which worked perfectly for about 18 months .
The 1st sign of problems was that my LCD (Samsung 305T ) suddenly got blurry on left one third of screen - I switched it on and off a few times -seemed to improve then problem came back....
Restarted PC a couple times .. on the 3rd reboot .. NOTHING ! . hard drive failed completly - BIOS did not see it . I took drive out and put it in an ext. Enclosure - it is not recgonized in any system on any PC ( WIn,Mac, Ubuntu )
All data on 2nd drive ( non RAID ) was fine .(both drive are Seagate 500GB 7200.11)

Anyway bought a new drive (WD 640 GB Black ) ,installed fine , everything up and running and I used it for about 3-4 hours ...
..then Screen gets blurry again .. ... I shut down and here i am ..


Thanks for any help in advance

 

[idejason]

Sounds like a graphics card failure.
Take your graphics card out of your machine, Run off on board graphics ( I know it will suck) and see if the problem persists.

 

[capt_taco]

I would've guessed a graphics card failure too, except for the hard drive problem randomly thrown in.

So either you've got a graphics card and a hard drive that both happened to coincidentally fail at the same time ... or something else is causing both to malfunction. Either the motherboard or the power supply could cause both to go awry.

Since the original hard drive doesn't work in any other systems, my best guess is that the power supply is going bad and fried it, and now it's causing problems with the graphics card and the new hard drive.

I would try a different power supply, and if that doesn't solve the problem, test all your remaining components in a different system one by one, saving the motherboard for last because it's a pain in the ass.

 

[geofelt]

If the screen is blurry, I suspect the 305T. Is it still under warranty? The 305T needs a dual dvi cable. Could the cable be loose or damaged?
Do you have a second monitor that you can run with? If not, consider buying one, even a small one which can be incredibly useful.

Next possibility is the vga card or driver. Has the vga driver been updated to currency? Is there possibly a beta or test version of the driver that might address the issue? Sometimes strange graphics issued come from heat. Is the vga card fan still working? Is it possibly clogged up with dust?
How is your case cooling? You could try taking off the side cover and directing a house fan at the innards.

Do you have any overclocking in place? If so, revert to normal.

Other possible causes are more sinister. Is your psu possibly a poor quality unit that might be deteriorating?


You could run some diagnostic programs.
WD has some diagnostic programs called "data lifeguard" You might downhload and test your hard drives.
Run memtest86+ on the off chance that your ram is a problem.
Run prime95 to check the cpu and heat.

 

[VishS]

thanks so far guys ..
Some info on my hardware - all brand new 18 months ago - and worked perfect up to now

LCD Monitor - Samsung 305T - still under warranty.
MOBO - MSI P35 Neo2
GRaphics - eVGA Nvidia 9800 GTX 512 MD - updated drivers . fan works
Case ANtec 900 - all fans working
Enermax PSU

ANyway tried things again last night ....desktop did not see my monitor ie - blank screen

decided to attach my Macbook to the monitor - worked fine ... stayed on for about 3-4 hours then blurry screen again .. gave it a break for 15 min and tried again ...screen looked fine again .... but it was late so i shut everything off.... in retrospect I am still using the same dual DVI cable ( so will try another one today )

The monitor only seems to do this when i;ve been on non stop for 3-4 hours..

My WD drives seems to be ok for now ..its only the original seagate that was fried ..

I will get another monitor from work tomorrow and try it out .. ..then check out the PSU / graphics card ..

it does seem weird that if the monitor/cable is the issue ... why would it affect my PC parts in such a way .. ( or is that common?)

on a lighter note it is TORTURE !! ,going from a 30 inch screen to anything smaller .. lol ..
Thanks again .. will post back progress

 

[geofelt]

If your monitor gets blurry with another complete PC in the same way, it is defective. Have it replaced while still under warranty.

A bad monitor should have no effect on your other parts. That is a mystery.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Eh coincidence is possible. I'd say go ahead and try a different cable. Then send the monitor back if it still does it on multiple comps. Then if all seems fine on a different monitor then probably everything else is fine. Run a bunch of stress tests to make sure.

 

[VishS]

update :
Monitor did same with different cable , different PC . Spoke to Samsung - sending it out tomorrow.

tried a different monitor on PC .. and at that point nothing showed up on screen , tried another graphic card .. nothing ! ...


gave up ( no time )-- sent in to PC shop .. 1st time in 13 years !!!

will post the outcome on here .... hopefully may help someone else !


I'm thinking it was a coincidence that monitor and PC parts went bad at same time .. weird !! .. wonder if anyone can explain that ?


thanks for help and advice guys...

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

The only thing that could actually cause that is some kind of power issues.

 

[capt_taco]

That sounds completely out of the blue unless there was a power surge or someone banged into your computer with a giant magnet like they use to pick up cars in the wrecking yard.