Screen disctortion and hard lock-up: Bye bye GPU?

Hi all,

So: The one thing we all dread and secretly hope never happens to us, seems to have befallen me.. *drumroll*

I think my GPU is starting to give up the ghost... There I said it. :D I still need some help nailing down the exact problem, so I will briefly walk through the sequence of events and the symptoms. If you need additional info, please ask. System specs are in my signature. There is a quick summary at the end of the post if you want to skip the long version.

The problem started after a two-hour session of Star Wars: Empire at War. It's a few years old by now so the GPU was never under serious strain. I experienced a sudden and total system freeze, accompanied by some jagged distortion on the screen.

After a reboot, Windows came up in the default 800x600 resolution, and could not detect the GPU. I rebooted again, and everything seemed fine. Tried the game again, and after about two minutes, the freeze happened again, once again with a distorted image.

I suspected some kind of driver issue, so I uninstalled the driver, rebooted into safe mode, cleaned it out with Driver Sweeper, and installed the latest Nvidia drivers. After a reboot the system came up fine, but any form of load on the GPU seems to trigger the crash again.

Last night I pulled the GPU, cleaned it, inspected the mobo and card for visual signs of damage, and found none. During this time, I ran the system from the on-board display, did a virus scan to load up the CPU a bit, and it seemed perfectly stable. I replaced the card, fired up StarCraft 2, and after about two minutes in the main menu, it froze again. Same visual distortion as before.

So, quick recap:
1) Putting the GPU under load causes a hard lock-up with screen distortion. 2D desktop mode appears stable.
2) System is stable with onboard GPU, and putting the CPU under load does not trigger the crash.
3) No evidence of sudden overheating or voltage drops, although its difficult to confirm since the system locks up.

Other suspects could of course be PSU going faulty or the mobo itself. Next thing I want to try is borrow a working GPU from somewhere and see if this fixes the problem, or maybe try my GPU in another system.

In the meantime, any opinions or advice would be welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
Update: Problem is getting worse, the system now sporadically locks up just after booting into Windows, or during normal use. I've removed the GPU and the system runs stable using onboard graphics, but this hasn't helped me narrow down the source of the problem. Could still be GPU, power supply, or PCI-e interface. I need some advice urgently.
 
Trust me on this one Herr Koos
before you give up
clean edge connector of GPU with a strong Isopropyl solution (91%)
and pour just a little in the PCIe slot
I went through changing a mobo to figure this out
just helped somebody on another thread and it worked
wont hurt to try and usually Iso alcohol is cheap ($3 USD in any pharmacy)
might have some laying around from doing CPU swaps

just try it
make sure it is dry afterwards
doesnt take long to dry
Iso evaporates quickly

edit - reason why is that gold edge connectors will develop a clear iron oxide film (beginning of rust) especially if
they have been sitting the slot for long periods of time
happens due to salt air,humid climates, and metal to metal contact
also using a pencil eraser to clean edge connector contacts will work but Iso is better
first learned about it during my Atari 2600 gaming days with the gold edge cartridges
then later as a RadioShack manager
 
Thanks king... Was beginning to think no-one was interested in my plight. :)
I appreciate the suggestion, I would never have though of that.

Would it be sufficient to clean all the contact points with a cotton earbud? I'm not sure I'm comfortable actually pouring liquid onto my mobo...
 



well of course make sure no power plug is attached LOL

if you have a paper coffee filter (no lint or debris with a coffee filter)
just dip an edge of coffee filter into the iso alcohol and the use the edge to clean out socket
also use the coffee filter with iso to wipe down the edge of card
I would worry that cotton swab would leave debris

just so you know I am not crazy (many think I am LOL)
take a look at this thread I was on
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=333375&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

the OP just PMd me today saying everything is still working fine


I am not saying it is definitley your problem
but sure cant hurt to try
 
Agreed, it's worth a try. I'll give it a shot, although in your other thread the OP just mentions artefacts appearing. I went from 100% perfect operation to total system crash in no time flat. No warning signs at all.
 



check capacitors on GPU for leaking or bulging
bad caps number one reason for GPU failure
 


Trying to source one. I could also test the card in another PC.
 


I kept an eye using HWMonitor; I'm not sure how accurate it is though. 12V normally varies between 11.4 and 11.6. BIOS says 11.9. I didn't notice any major fluctuations.
 

VGKitov

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2010
206
0
18,690
If I were you I would ask a friend for a favour and borrow his/her GPU.

I have such a problem (Not nearly as bad) and I planning on doing that. Problem is who will lend me a GPU :D
 


Nope, I'm still hunting for a volunteer. But the GPU seems more and more likely to be the culprit. I opened and inspected the PSU and it seems in 100% working order.
 
OK, managed to source an 8600GT from a friend. Not an ideal comparison to the 9800GTX, but it runs perfectly and came through a 3DMark test just fine. This is sufficient evidence to me that at least the PCIe slot still works fine.

I think I'll be pulling the trigger on a new GPU then. This brings me to the question of running new GPU's in older motherboards, but I'll make a new post for that.
 
Final confirmation: I tested the 9800 in another PC, and can now categorically state that it is busted. I also tried out a borrowed 6850 and it worked just fine, although the performance was not what I expected.

Thanks a million to everyone for your input.