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Is my video card dying? (1 Viewer)

RudyN

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I have a Gateway system that is about 3 years old. During the last 2 months, every now and then, my screen will go black and then refresh. And within the past week, twice the screen has gone black and the only way to get it back is to reboot. Could it be the card or the monitor? Everything seems to be connected tight, and the card isn't loose inside the pc. Any ideas? Thanks.

Rudy
 

Glenn Overholt

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(from Short Circuit) Need more input!
If you just let it sit, and not do anything, does it still do that?

If it isn't on 24/7 (assuming you boot up in the morning) does it do it in the afternoon only, or at night? (Like after it has been on for several hours).

Can you swap monitors to make sure that it isn't the monitor?

Glenn
 

RudyN

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If it is just sitting, it does it also. It does it at all times of the day, sometimes within minutes of being on. I don't leave it on 24/7, only when I need it. Don't have any other monitor to try.
 

Glenn Overholt

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Ok, forget the monitor. If you have to reboot, the monitor would have to send a signal back to your video card - and that's about a 1,000,000,000 to one chance.

Yuck, that sucks. I'm going to go all over the map with this one.

If you have a PCI video card, can you try another slot? Windows will have to reset itself and this way you'd know that it isn't any software. Maybe there are new video drivers available - (because they got complaints about the screen blanking out)?

You might want to check on your memory too. If your case accidentally got bumped, maybe one is working its way loose. Also, have you vacuumed out the inside of your case lately? Are all of the fans working?

Can you make it go blank? If you had it running too many progrms at once it might be the memory instead. You could always give your case a good whack the next it goes out - .

Ok, sorry for the joke. It is just that I think the video card would just stop working, and if you've been seeing this for a few months it doesn't sound right.

Glenn
 

Mike_J_Potter

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I have seen similar symptoms before on a gateway also, only it did it more often, and putting in a new card fixed it right up. Though I would double check the connection and maybe even wiggle both ends of the cable to see if something is loose. Typically mointors are usually an all or nothing failure. For example of the 30+ monitors I have replaced at my job, it was always the monitor wouldn't turn on at all, or would stay on for a split second.
 

RudyN

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Was finally able to open it up tonight and check everything out. Everything was in snug, cleaned everything out. No empty slot to try it out in, but took it out and put it back in. Powered it back on and within 10 min, it blacked out again. I'm in the market for a new pc anyways, so maybe I'll just put up with it until I buy the new pc. Or buy a cheap card until then. Thanks for all the help guys. I appreciate it.
 

Stephen-R

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Could be a heat problem too. You card could just be too darn hot. I have a 9800pro in a Dell 4600 and I leave the PCI slot next to the AGP slot opened for air.

Also might be your PSU. Make sure that is vacumed out as well. They fail more often then you think.
 

Mike Fassler

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check to make sure that the fan on the video card is working properly, they are easy and inexpensive to replace.
 

RudyN

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Well, since I was in the market for a new PC and since there was a %20 coupon posted on the front page, I bought a new Dell PC. Should be delivered by the end of the month. 3.2GH/800 FSB, 1GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon X800SE, 250GB HD, 16x DVD+RW/+R /w dbl layer write, SB Audigy 2. Thanks for all the help with the video card, guys.
 

RudyN

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Looks like it was the card. Got the new Dell yesterday and hooked up the new LCD to the old PC and within 30 min, it starting blinking out again.
 

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