Nvidia 8800 GTS Problem

[wayne3280]

Hi, I'm having a problem with my PC. There there are groups of vertical red lines showing on my screen when I try to restart and it won't boot properly.

I've managed to boot in safe mode and Google tells me it could be a graphics card problem.

I'm willing to try another card, so any ideas what cards would work with my motherboard? I don't really understand the limiting factors that determine which card I can buy, so here's what I have currently...

ASUS P5N32-E SLI motherboard
Q6600 CPU
4GB RAM
1000W OCZ PSU

Do you need any further details?

Cheers.

 

[gmcizzle]

Do the red lines show up in safe mode? It might just be a driver issue. Completely uninstall the drivers and install them again.

1000w PSU is plenty for any single card out there.

Your motherboard has a PCIe 1.0 16x slot and your CPU is a quad core, which is a decent setup, but you don't want to go overboard on upgrading graphics. What are you looking to spend on a new GPU?

 

[scout_03]

if driver are all up to date then try the card in another mobo by the time try another monitor on this mobo with the 8800 gts

 

[wayne3280]

Went into safe mode with networking and the red lines were present. I clicked on 'download' to obtain the newest drivers and the lines just disappeared!

Half afraid to turn the computer off in case they come back!

For info, I don't want a particularly good card, but I'm happy to spend 75 quid on a new one.

 

[gmcizzle]

A 6770 is good for around there. The performance difference won't be massive vs. your 8800 Ultra though, maybe 50% more performance.

Ex: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540

I would spend a little more for a 6790, which should double your performance

Ex: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161377

 

[wayne3280]

Thanks for your answers all.

Those red lines now seem to be appearing and disappearing at random.

 

[wayne3280]

Drivers uninstalled and newest series 8 drivers installed. Still got the red lines.

Not got another mobo I can test this card with. I'll give one of those suggested cards a go.

Thanks all.

 

[ntnher]

Video card overheating issue. To confirm, when you boot and your system is still in bios (where the graphics card is at it's minimal usage) you don't see the red lines?.. Once you boot into windows operating system your graphics card steps up a notch and it is not working properly because it is now overheating. Then you see the red lines. As to exactly which part is overheating, good luck. It could be a bad capacitor. Could be the main GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) chip. I would bet an 8800gt has a fan on the heatsink. Physically inspect this fan and the heatsink. Make sure it is clean and air can flow thur this to cool the unit. Otherwise you'll have to replace the graphics card. 8800gt is pretty cheap, you can find a better one for $30.

 

[ntnher]

Oh forgot to add you can do a stress test on the card..this red line problem will definitely get worst as the card works harder. So after physically inspecting the card and cleaning it, run a Windows Experience Index test if you have Vista or Win7. Otherwise you could run a graphics intense game, this will definitely show more lines on your screen. I had this problem in the past with graphics card going bad on me. Mine showed all sorts of colors on the screen.

 

[wayne3280]

When I boot, at POST, instead of the usual POST sequence stuff I get some kind of loading screen. This has always happened. But now, there are white vertical lines on the right side of that screen.

Then, once it says 'starting Windows', I get red vertical all across the screen. Once I put my password in and I get my desktop, those red lines don't cover the whole screen, but appear about 5 times in sets of four.

I'm quite content to try another card. Maybe I'll try that second one gmcizzle linked to.

 

[DeadRam]

The card it probably bad. I had a similar problem with my BFG 6800 Ultra but the lines were green. I built a PC in July 2007 to play Crysis and I chose the same CPU and video card. I upgraded to an ATI 5850 in October 2009 and it made a huge difference so the Q6600 is still powerful. I'm going to upgrade again soon but I'm currently playing Skyrim with modified Ultra settings and it looks beautiful.

 

[ntnher]

Oops my bad didn't realize what an 8800gts was. No you wont find a better one for $30

 

[ntnher]

Best option is to not use this card anymore. It could cause your system to lock up, then file corruptions. You don't want to test this thing on your system and have file corruptions. Best to back up your stuff if you want to test this. I had XFX ATI 4890 do this to me. It was XFX, I had the card for 1.5 years.. with double lifetime warranty.. XFX exchange my card for a XFX 685X when I received the new card in the mail, my jaws dropped. Just wanna give a shout to XFX they really honor their warranty. Replace with same or better card.. 10 years from now they will replace your card for a better one, I'm serious, just don't void your lifetime warranty in any manner.

 

[thently]

At this point its toast this is the old bump issue the solder used on the chips starts melting due to overheating and when you see screen artifacts its to late. a 550 or 560 gtx or TI will both be a huge upgrade over that card or 6870 ATI card.

 

[ntnher]

DeadRam, I think BFG has lifetime warranties too.

 

[gmcizzle]

Best option is to not use this card anymore. It could cause your system to lock up, then file corruptions. You don't want to test this thing on your system and have file corruptions. Best to back up your stuff if you want to test this. I had XFX ATI 4890 do this to me. It was XFX, I had the card for 1.5 years.. with double lifetime warranty.. XFX exchange my card for a XFX 685X when I received the new card in the mail, my jaws dropped. Just wanna give a shout to XFX they really honor their warranty. Replace with same or better card.. 10 years from now they will replace your card for a better one, I'm serious, just don't void your lifetime warranty in any manner.

How could a video card corrupt your HDD data?

 

[ntnher]

System crash.. When I had this problem with my video card it cause the computer to freeze. I have standard mechanical disk drive, the drive will probably want to park its header before it losses power. Frozen computers are always not properly shut down. Because the only way to shut it down it hold the power button. Worst case scenario.

 

[gmcizzle]

Oh, well yes, if you have to manually turn off your computer because you can't see anything then yes I guess it could, although highly unlikely, corrupt some files. A failing video card by itself will not corrupt files though.

 

[ntnher]

Oh, well yes, if you have to manually turn off your computer because you can't see anything then yes I guess it could, although highly unlikely, corrupt some files. A failing video card by itself will not corrupt files though.

I agree.