Is my GFX card dying?

[BWMerlin]

I have not been able to shut down my computer for about a month for fear that I will have to go through so much hassle to get it to start up again. When I shut my computer down for the night and go to start it the next day the bios will beep at me with the GFX card not found beep sequence. I will then take my GFX card out and reseat it generally any where from one to three times and it will then start up fine.

What I have been doing instead of shutting my computer down is putting it to sleep. So far the only problem I have had with putting it to sleep is that sometimes it doesn't come out of it properly so I just hit the restart button and it comes back fine.

System specs.
ASUS P5K Pro motherboard
MSI 9800GT OC GFX card
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 GSKILL RAM
Intel E8200 CPU
Raid 1 Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s 500-GB Hard Drive's
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

So is it likely the my GFX is dying or is something else going on? It is really frustrating me particularly as this was my first semi custom machine and I have had a ton of problems with it since day one.

 

[M3 PoWeR]

Well, having a problem with your rig is the best way to feel that you have a rig.

Have you tried to install the card on other system ?

 

[alhanelem]

it could be your 9800 gt is way oc'd and either its causing problems or it got damaged over time, unless its a problem with old drivers or a problem with your motherboard

 

[BWMerlin]

Well, having a problem with your rig is the best way to feel that you have a rig.

Have you tried to install the card on other system ?

Everyone else in the family has moved to laptops so there is no chance of trying it in another computer (the old desktops that are still laying around ready to be dumped are only AGP or PCI).

it could be your 9800 gt is way oc'd and either its causing problems or it got damaged over time, unless its a problem with old drivers or a problem with your motherboard

It is factory over clocked not something I have done but I guess that could be possible. As for drivers because it happens during the bios post that rules that out (but what about firmware?). It could be a bad motherboard slot, I think my board has another size 16 PCI-e slot (8 speed would be my guess) I could try and see what it does in that if you think that would help eliminate the motherboard (or at least that particular slot) from the equation.

 

[M3 PoWeR]

dude, ive a gaming rig and a laptop, you must have a rig if you are a gamer !

 

[nforce4max]

OK what are your typical temps during normal use and idle? Also do you have a older card you can test the board with to rule out the 9800gt as the only issue? What is your PSU, brand, model, and rating? I personally own a BFG 9800gt oc and a PNY 9800gt both are 1gb editions with one being second generation.

 

[BWMerlin]

I have a coolmaster RP 550 PCAR 550 watt PSU, I do not have a spare GFX card but I may be able to borrow one from a neighbour to test it out. I don't know what temps I get during use and idle (can you recommend a program/utility/etc to check) but I don't know if temp problems would cause the GFX card to stop the computer from POST'ing (I have no problems when the system is running only when trying to start it up from a cold start after turning it off at night and trying to turn it on the next day).