Extremely big problem with new PC

Lode · 2007-04-23T01:43:11

Today I built my new PC. Put everything correctly in the case, connected everything correctly to the motherboard, etc... This afternoon when it was done, I could perfectly boot up the PC and I installed Windows and Linux on it. All worked perfectly. It has worked fine the whole afternoon. Later I let it do some updates in Linux, in the console. I left it alone during this. When I came back, it was in screensaver mode (in the console), meaning the screen is just black. I pressed a key and the image was back. But, it was weird: in front of each console letter character, was a white black square. And it flickered. And if I switched to other virtual consoles: the same flicker! But the letters were still readable and the text in the console screen was normal (percentages of how much % of each package it had downloaded). I typed "reboot" to reboot the system in the hope that the image would be normal again. But instead, there was no display at all anymore! The screen was just black! I have rebooted a lot of times now, and there is just nothing! No BIOS screen or startup image or anythign at all!!! It's just black!!! The lights of the HD flicker, the numlock key of the keyboard works, and it seems to be doing things when I boot it up, but just the screen is black!! I've tried removing and reinsirting the videocard, but it didn't help. I tried waiting a long time until everything was cooled and restarting, but it didn't help. Now I'm out of options - maybe the video card is broken? But I can't test it, because it's the only PCI-express card in the house here, and the motherboard supports only PCI-express cards (no AGP connectors on it). What can I do??? What could have happened? How can I even know what is broken and thus what I have to send back for warranty? I don't want to wait another week!! I've already waited 3 weeks until all the parts finally arrived!!! Any ideas what there can be and what I can do? Thanks!

Hardware Discussion Technical

Started by Lode April 21, 2007 03:59 PM

15 comments, last by daviangel 17 years ago

Lode

1,003

Author

April 22, 2007 04:44 PM

I now put the videocard in someone else's PC and it showed the same problem there. I also put his videocard in mine, and it worked! So it really almost positively sure is the videocard.

Furthermore, I've taken some photos of it to show what's going on...

Linux login screen:

Linux startup:

Windows:

Boot logo screen:

BIOS menu:

Homepage | LodePNG

Luckless

3,283

April 22, 2007 06:51 PM

Don't forget, like anything that is made, there are failures now and then. Most of the time with computer stuff it gets weeded out before shipping, but sometimes they slip through.

It is like winning the lotto,... only more kick in the nuttish.

Cool effects however. Wouldn't mind having a card like that that I can swap out with people's stuff at LAN parties,... does that make me evil?

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dpadam450

2,403

April 22, 2007 07:10 PM

Just a note, I would try to deal with the manufacturer, not the store. You will most likely get something worked out faster.

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DrEvil

1,151

April 22, 2007 07:17 PM

Just last week I got my replacement card from newegg due to a previous XFX 7600 video card that I recieved bad. I put it in, booted up, and about 20 minutes later or so there was big screen corruption very similar to what you are experiencing. Even in the bios screen all the text was jacked up and bands of trash. Reseated it multiple times, ended up getting it replaced by newegg. Replacement has been running great. It sounds almost certainly like a bad card.

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hplus0603

11,917

April 22, 2007 07:35 PM

Quote:some of the letter characters get weird shapes and flickering white blocks

Sounds like bad RAM on the graphics card. You need to send it back.

enum Bool { True, False, FileNotFound };

nemesisgeek

139

April 22, 2007 07:49 PM

The primary cause of wierd display glitches is bad drivers. However, if it happens in a dual-boot system and also messes up the POST display, that's not possible.

The only thing that I can imagine is a bad video card. Given the "blurring" of the text in your BIOS screenshot, I'd guess that it's bad framebuffer memory - data stored in one pixel is "leaking" over into neighboring ones, causing blurring.

[Edited by - nemesisgeek on April 22, 2007 8:49:43 PM]

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daviangel

604

April 23, 2007 01:43 AM

Yup! Bad card!
Video corruption showing in bios and during POST is almost always signs of a bad videocard. It's one thing that'll automatically get you an RMA from ATI. I had the same funky bios/post corruption thing happen to an ATI vidcard a while back.

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