GPU gives no video from time to time

[Josh_slo]

Hello,
I have a big problem with my pc... it's been working great for a while, but about a month ago, i turned it off one evening, and the next morning there was no video from GPU. I pluged the video cable in to onboard graphics and it works. My PCI GPU is not even detected, pci-x slot appears empty. Now it works from time to time, sometimes i get the video from GPU, sometimes it's just blank. It's not the drivers, as i can't even see the boot page. Video cable is ok, in bios primary video is set to PCI-express, I have reseated the GPU and nothing works. My system is: AMD Athlon 5000+, ATI HD 5670, 3gb ram, 2x HDD. I'm not shore about the motherboard model, will post it later. PSU is a crappy 420w, but as it's not even a year old, and the system isn't wery power hungry, it should be ok... on the other hand, i've found a few people with simmilar problems, PSU is usualy on the list of possible problem makers... So, any suggestions, what should i do?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for my bad english :S
Cheers,
Josh

 

[rolli59]

If it was the PSU it should not work intermittently, more likely the card or slot on the motherboard.

 

[Josh_slo]

Thanks Any way to test this? other than plugging GPU in a different system and testing it? Because unfortunately i don't have another pc...
The idea behind PSU problems was that rubbish PSUs loos power as they heat up, and they start shutting off different components...

 

[rolli59]

If it is consistently that the card works after boot and shuts down after running it for a while then I can agree with that assumption but the card can have the same behavior and shut down when hot.
I suspect the card or slot more since most modern motherboards disable onboard graphics when a discrete card is detected in the system.

 

[Josh_slo]

No, the card never shuts down while pc is on. About 1 in 5 times, when i turn it on, i get video from PCI card. In those cases, onboard graphics is disabled. But the other 4 times, when i turn it on, i get nothing from PCI card, not even the boot screen, but i do get video from onboard gpu. After that, if i go under hardware management, PCI card is not listed. It never changes its mind when the pc is on. Not after heavy use, not during gaming, when temp is the highest, never. And i don't understand that, how can it run for days, even a week, without any problems, but than after a reboot it just doesn't work... oh, one more thing, the fan on the GPU is on all the time, even when the GPU is not detected...

The only reason why i mentioned the psu was that i read another thread (can't find it ) from a guy with very simmilar symptoms, and a lot of answers suggested psu problems...

 

[rolli59]

It is easy to blame the PSU HD5670 runs on modern 300watt PSU's. The fan running says that the card is getting power from the slot the motherboard BIOS is just not picking up that the card is there which is through the data connections.

 

[Josh_slo]

Could it be a BIOS problem? There's a way to flash the bios, no? I can't check the motherboard info, as i use my old pc... (realy old, so i cant test anything, btw...) I know it's an Asus motherboard, but i think it was only used in some HP pcs, so i can't find the bios driver on Asus support page.
The only other option as i see it is to try and find someone to test my card, and if it works in another PC it must be the PCI slot, right? I can rule PSU problems out? Once again, my crappy 420w PSU might not even be 300w in reality...

 

[rolli59]

Which crappy 420watt? Make and model.

 

[Josh_slo]

If memory serves me right it's an lc-power LC420H.

 

[rolli59]

It should be able to power your rig but it is always a good idea to have a quality PSU in your rig because a bad one can kill all the other components.