Dead GPU?

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I was playing CO (really enjoying it) and my game crashed, the screen got covered with artifacts then it went black and the screen went to standby. Theres no problem with the monitor, ive tried another VGA/DVI cable and have put the GPU (8800GTX) into the other PCI-e slot and still no response. The GPU starts up as I can see the fan spin but no response. I have ordered a new Graphics card (BFG GTX 285 OCX 1gb) so I am hoping the GPU is the problem. Anyone else agree with me, give me any advice or know what else it could be? Thanks in advsnce :)

PS. Missing CO already :(

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Hate to bump but any ideas?

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Check the power connection to the card. Check to make sure the heat sink didn't pop off. Try re-seating the card, perhaps something else when haywire. It's rare that a GPU would just die like that, but not unheard of.

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Ive tried reseating it and all the connections are fine. I was thinknig maybe CPU or PSU but there was artifacting which can only be caused my a problem with the GPU. I have no display at all from the second I start the PC up so I can't access the BIOS. All the fans seem to start up fine but I cant tell if it gets to the desktop or not as I obviously can't see anything. My motherboard has no built in video card so I can't get it to display through that :(. I think it is between the PSU and GPU personally. Guess ill find out when I get my new GPU ina few days.

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Crap, I went and grabbed a 8800GTX and you can't get the heat sink to check it. That'd be my first guess about what went wrong. The fans are controlled by a secondard controller on the PCB, the GPU itself doesn't operate them. If it's dead, the fan will still spin. I'm sorry for your loss, if you get it working again let us know. :(

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There were coloured lines across my screen and it would only run in safe mode, i tried new drivers and restared and it totally died. It must be the GPU as I cant see anything else giving coloured lines across the screen. It is really weird because I was looking at new GPUs literally before I went onto CO, guess the 8800 GTX got jealous and decided to self destruct. :) Got this thread bookmarked so will rreport back when I get the new GPU.

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Colored lines huh..? Have you look to make sure you didn't just knock the DVI/VGA connector lose from the back of your monitor? If the system POSTs then the CPU thinks the GPU is alive.

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Checked the monitor connection, the VGA and DVI slots. What do you mean by POSTs?

Is POST when it makes a beep? Mine doesn't beep but I can't remember if it did before or not. I would of tried another GFX card but my mobo doesn't have an AGP slot. So annoying I can't play CO :S

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I have a 8800 gt and I was getting severe heat problems before. My GPU would shut down after like an hour and when I checked the temperature, it was running at about 105 degrees. It seems the issue was that I was playing in full desktop window mode (forget what the actual name is, something like that though). In the Video section of Options check to make sure you're playing on Fullscreen mode and not full desktop window mode. Again I forget if this is the actual name as I'm not on my gaming computer so I can't log in and check. But there are 3 options, one is windowed, one is like full windowed mode, and one is fullscreen. When I was in full windowed mode, my gpu was running at 100+ degrees when in game. In fullscreen mode it runs tops out at 80 degrees.

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I'd recommend you not rule out the monitor until you either hook it up to a different system, or try out your graphics card hooked up to a different monitor.

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Ok ill try another monitor now and see what happens.

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Ive plugged in my old monitor and my PC has booted but it looks the same as before with coloured lines on the screen. It must be the GPU, gonna remove all the drivers, try some new ones. My guess is something has damaged the GPU or theres been a fault with the drivers and is making it unable to do the res of my other monitor.

Now I can finally get onto this PC I opened up everest to see if it noticed anything, when I go onto GPU or Display it shows me no details at all about my graphics card but it tells me everything about my PSU, CPU, RAM, Mobo.. I also checked the BIOS at startup and the PSU seems to be putting out the correct power.

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Colored lines = "artifacting", which if it persists in all games is a sign of a dead/dying GPU. :(

If it only happens during some, or one game, it may be artifacts are happening due to overheating. That might be solved by checking airflow, but more often it's an early sign that the cooler isn't doing it's job. (Which means unless you want to replace that yourself, or re-seal the one it has, then you'll need to RMA the card.)

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The artifacts are there all the time, on the boot screen and even on the BIOS, they don't go away. Hopefully my GTX 285 will be here tomorrow so will report back.
This isn't from my PC but is exactly what it looks like http://www.2tl.net/c/c1.jpg

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Dude if your getting artifacting during windows startup and or in normal windows your card is...well you did the right thing. I know it's a tough decision because you had spiend all that damn money. Same thing happened to me a few weeks back...LUV the new card though.



Intel 9450
8 Gig RAM
Windows 7
Evga GTX 295

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I jsut hope it is the GPU, i can't see what else it could be and I have read about people with the same problem so im 95% sure its the GPU. It's kinda funny because I was asking about the GTX 285 on another forum a couple hours before it died. Quite excited about trying some of my older games like Crysis again.

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I know it's a tough decision because you had spiend all that damn money.

Hardly any money if you get it from the right manufacturer. Evga, BFG, and XFX all have lifetime coverage in the U.S. (sometimes outside the U.S.) and at the least several years coverage. They are the only manufacturer I recommend for that reason. (Though there are other good GPU manufacturers, such as Gigabyte, Asus, etc. they often have much more limited poliecies and/or support.) Evga and BFG even go beyond that with a 90 or 100 day (respectively) trade in policy. XFX goes beyond with 'double lifetime' coverage, covering the second owner, making them one of the most attractive card manufacturers on the secondary market.

people with the same problem so im 95% sure its the GPU.

If you've ruled out the monitor, and it's doing it on the bios screen, Windows, and all games, it's a 100% chance it's a dead card. If you live somewhere that's like over 100F all the time, then maybe there is a 2-3% chance it's an overheating card and replacing the cooler could fix it, but it's unlikely with that much frequency.

some of my older games like Crysis

Crysis is an "older game" now? Where has the time gone. :o

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Card should definatly be here today, my new card is a BFG so as soon as I get it ill register it on the site and see what coverage I get. I live in the UK so I don't think it has ever been over 100F, its the summer here and we have heavy rains and gale force winds lol.

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No card today, so annoyed!

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Sorry to triple post, New card jsut came, uninstalled the old one in the device manager, reinstalled the new one and now im back to a black screen like before, So i'm guessing its not the GPU. I'm fuming!!!!!! I can get a signal through the 8800GTX with the artifacts all over the screen but when I swap it for the GTX 285 I get no signal on the monitor. Should I try swapping some power cables and see what happens?

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That's odd. I would have sworn it was your GPU. Maybe the power supply is going bad? Try using a different power connector like you said.

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Ive been chatting on a tech support forum and they reckon its the PSU too.

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No card today, so annoyed!

Could be worse, you could be homeless due to lack of income. :(

Ive been chatting on a tech support forum and they reckon its the PSU too.

I highly doubt it. PSUs would cause the card to shut down, or the system to refuse to run the game. I don't know of any conditions that it would cause artifacting.

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Ive now ruled out PSU as the reading in the BIOS are spot on. I'm gonna get it looked at by a professional and see what they say.

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I was playing CO (really enjoying it) and my game crashed, the screen got covered with artifacts then it went black and the screen went to standby. Theres no problem with the monitor, ive tried another VGA/DVI cable and have put the GPU (8800GTX) into the other PCI-e slot and still no response. The GPU starts up as I can see the fan spin but no response. I have ordered a new Graphics card (BFG GTX 285 OCX 1gb) so I am hoping the GPU is the problem. Anyone else agree with me, give me any advice or know what else it could be? Thanks in advsnce :)

PS. Missing CO already :(

Heya what mainbored are you useing ? also what PSU model/watts ? :eek:

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Look also for burnt our componints, the computer normally beebs if there is something wrong with the video card.

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motherboard is an ASUS P5N-SLI and the PSU is an Enermax 720w. The PSU is fine as ive checked the voltages in Everest and the BIOS. I reckon it is the motherboard playing up but it doesnt make sense why it will recognise the 8800GTX but not the GTX 285.

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If it's an old enough board it is possible it's got a PCIe x16 limitation. A few boards can't recognize the PCIe x16 v2 types, which the GTX 285.

You may want to research if the motherboard needs a bios update to see the 2.0 card.

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The GTX 285 is compatible with my board, ive seen other people with the set up and PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCI-e 1.0. ive got a new PSU but i' not sure if I want to install it incase I can't return it.

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The GTX 285 is compatible with my board

I'd expect it would be. It's old, but I don't think old enough.

PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCI-e 1.0.

It should be. There have been references (overall, not specifically here) to people having problems (where the GPU does not work) when they are on a flat 1.0, but don't have issues if their board is 1.1. It is, unfortunately, extremely difficult to know if your board is 1.0 or 1.1.

The wiki on PCIe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express) references a 2004 date for 1.0 and 1.1 change so you should be fine. If I recall I got my board in 2005 when it was pretty new and it's the same one.

That all being said, outside of a bios / motherboard compatibility issue I can't think of any reason why the GTX 285 would not work if it has enough power. (Besides the obvious DOA.) Evga's site references a 550w PSU with 40 amps for one of the GTX 285 models, and if I recall that's pretty close to what the early gen 8800 GTX took. (Before I was homeless I was running mine on I belive something around a 500w with 36 amps.)

Besides, if it were a power issue you'd either get a bios beep warning by the system, or, and this is the more likely case, you would boot into windows and it would say that the graphics card is underpowered and simply not give it enough to run at full speed. Getting no image at all doesn't sound right. (You should at least be able to boot into bios before the system freaks out if you have nearly enough power.)

Sadly I would guess at this point that you are looking at a bunk motherboard PCIe slot. You are sure that you installed the GTX 285 into the correct slot, yes? (You'd kind of have to since you previously had one in there. Tough to put it into the wrong slot when you are changing it out, heh. With a single GPU though there is only one slot you can put it in. Putting it into a different one won't work.)

It's that or the monitor. You have taken the monitor to a different system to be sure the monitor is still working correctly, yes?

Though extremely unlikley, have you tried using the system on a different plug? On extremely rare occassion problems can be caused but the outlet itself. (Though I doubt very much that's the case here.)

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but i' not sure if I want to install it incase I can't return it.

Never buy hardware* from somewhere you can't return it. That's just asking for trouble. :(


* or anywhere really

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I got it from Amazon who have a 30 day return if it is still sealed so it will be fine. I put it in the correct slot so thats not the problem. I have 2 LCD monitors, when I use the large one I get no response from either Graphics card but if I use the small one I get a response with the 8800GTX but not with the GTX285. My guess is that there is something wrong thats preventing the display to run at a higher res. Hopefully monday the guy I emailed will get back to me and I can organise a time for him to come and check out/repair my PC.

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I got it from Amazon who have a 30 day return if it is still sealed so it will be fine. I put it in the correct slot so thats not the problem. I have 2 LCD monitors, when I use the large one I get no response from either Graphics card but if I use the small one I get a response with the 8800GTX but not with the GTX285. My guess is that there is something wrong thats preventing the display to run at a higher res. Hopefully monday the guy I emailed will get back to me and I can organise a time for him to come and check out/repair my PC.

heya agin you might want to try a "power suply " Tester they run ruoghly around 20$ on new egg if the psu is fine i wuold assume something is up with the mb.:eek:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899705002

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As I mentioned, you should be getting a bios screen before Windows starts to boot regardless.

When you say you have 2 monitors and you've tested them both do you mean...

- You have shut down the system, changed the plug the DVI is in, then restarted the system?

If you move a plug while the system is active it can mess things up. (Windows likes to deactivate DVI ports when a plug is moved to prevent anything bad from happening, then refuses to use it if the cord is moved back until it is restarted with it empty to clear it's protective deactivation. Had this problem once.)

If you haven't already... turn everything off, unplug everything, move the cord to one monitor (and one only) to one gpu (whichever you want to test which is in the system at the time), plug things back in, turn on the monitor, turn on the system, see what happens. - Repeat with second monitor, repeat x2 for second GPU.

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Have you tried updating your BIOS?

Stupid question: the 285 has 2 power connectors, right? Did you plug them both in?

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Updated BIOS and plugged both power cords in. I'm pretty sure I triied the monitors the way rabb1t said but ill try again later anyway.

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Find another machine to test the new card in. If you don't have one maybe a friend can help. If not I'd get in touch with BFG tech support, see if they can provide any help. If all else fails return it for a replacement. You might have gotten a bum card.

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If that was the case it would make my life alot easier but I don't have any friends who are into PCs or PCs that can probably run my GPU. I'm hoping the guy I have contacted can test the GPU for me.

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Here's a quick test you can try. Put both cards in your machine and boot into Windows. Does the 285 show up in the device manager (it might be an unrecognized device)?

If you put in only the 285 and boot the machine, even though you get no video does the machine eventually boot into Windows? And I assume you've tried using both DVI ports? Do you have a case speaker attached? When you boot the 285 do you get any beeps?

You might want to also clear your CMOS. It might help. Stranger things have happened. Also make sure you're not overclocking anything.

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Ill try that with both of them in, good idea.

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Well I was about to put the card in when I realsied I don't have enough power cables, lol.

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Same thing happened to me with my GTX 280, playing CO is causing it to overheat and then the game locks up (after the video goes choppy and black).

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Do you get artifacts in the BIOS and Post screen?

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Do you get artifacts in the BIOS and Post screen?

nope. i'm thinking it has to do with the latest nvidia drivers.

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i had the same thing happen to my 8800gts after playing champions (problem started on the 2nd). replaced with 4890 and it works fine now. Granted i abused my poor 8800 by having it in the bottom slot of my MoBo with terrible airflow, but still i'd think it should have lasted more than 2 yrs.

this was after having upgraded to the newest drivers (end of august offical ones). started getting groups of lines (vertical groups of 6 or so lines) even in bios. when loading champions (or any program that utilizes the GPU beyond the standard windows load) i would either blue screen or freeze completely. lead me to believe it was heat damage, i only cleaned the card of dust once during its life so it was coated pretty good (most likely underneath the cooler's enclosure as well).

no problems w/ the new card, booted first time and scared the crap out of me with its 2-3 seconds of full speed fan in POST.

depending on the powersupply make sure you aren't overloading individual 12v rails, Wattage is not all that is important when determining if your PSU is adequate, and is often just a marketing gimmick. Amps on the 12v line(s) are important to know, and as others have said, you can't go by the motherboard's measurement of volts, you need a volt meter/multimeter to be sure.

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Ive registered my new and contacted BFG about my new card. hopefully they will RMA it so I can rule out the possibility of it being a dodgy dodgy card.

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Hi all,

I've read threads as far back as the beta about overheating and have found absolutely no solutions, thus far.

There's a lot of speculation/agreement/disagreement/etc, and it's not a small minority of people suffering from it.

I bought the game on Saturday (5th September), installed and patched (about 300mb). It complained that my system wasn't able to run the game and suggested new drivers.

I updated to the latest GeForce 9500GT (1gb) drivers and it loaded up perfect.

I managed to create a character and load up the training mission, then the computer switched itself off.

I booted back up, played about 20 mins and it did it again.

Unfortunately, the most I have manged to play is around an hour before the computer switches off (completely). I booted into the BIOS screen and the CPU (yes, CPU, not GPU) was in the process of dropping from around 76 degrees C.

The graphics card seems absolutely fine.

In response to all other posts, here's what I have already tried:

1) the machine isn't dusty
2) the heatsink is correctly attached
3) the fan is working (I have added 2 more case fans - tried blowing in and out of the case),
4) nothing is overclocked (never do it)
5) i've tried the AMD dual core optimiser
6) I've tried the AMD processor drivers
7) I play/have played ****, CoH, LotRO, Warhammer without any issues for months (sometimes non-stop for 10+ hours) - **** still works fine
8) I've recently upgrade XP to XP x64 and will try that today
9) It does appear to work fine on my older (non-64 bit) AMD machine with an AGP card (6600GT), although it's obviously underpowered for this game (frame rate is quite bad).
10) my specs:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000+ (socket AM2 940)
2x4gb DDR2 800 (PC2-6400)
NVIDIA nForce 5 motherboard (NF-MCP61)
NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT (1gb)
1280x1024 (windowed)

Game installed on: secondary 400gb IDE drive (page file stored on a different drive)

i'm going to login with my new XP x64 installation now and see how it runs.

Just in case I have the same issue, I tried uploading the DxDiag info, but received a 500 Internal Server Error message.

Nice.

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Tried the second PSU today, still nothing. Must be the mother board.

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Hi all,

I've read threads as far back as the beta about overheating and have found absolutely no solutions, thus far.

There's a lot of speculation/agreement/disagreement/etc, and it's not a small minority of people suffering from it.

I bought the game on Saturday (5th September), installed and patched (about 300mb). It complained that my system wasn't able to run the game and suggested new drivers.

I updated to the latest GeForce 9500GT (1gb) drivers and it loaded up perfect.

I managed to create a character and load up the training mission, then the computer switched itself off.

I booted back up, played about 20 mins and it did it again.

Unfortunately, the most I have manged to play is around an hour before the computer switches off (completely). I booted into the BIOS screen and the CPU (yes, CPU, not GPU) was in the process of dropping from around 76 degrees C.

The graphics card seems absolutely fine.

In response to all other posts, here's what I have already tried:

1) the machine isn't dusty
2) the heatsink is correctly attached
3) the fan is working (I have added 2 more case fans - tried blowing in and out of the case),
4) nothing is overclocked (never do it)
5) i've tried the AMD dual core optimiser
6) I've tried the AMD processor drivers
7) I play/have played ****, CoH, LotRO, Warhammer without any issues for months (sometimes non-stop for 10+ hours) - **** still works fine
8) I've recently upgrade XP to XP x64 and will try that today
9) It does appear to work fine on my older (non-64 bit) AMD machine with an AGP card (6600GT), although it's obviously underpowered for this game (frame rate is quite bad).
10) my specs:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000+ (socket AM2 940)
2x4gb DDR2 800 (PC2-6400)
NVIDIA nForce 5 motherboard (NF-MCP61)
NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT (1gb)
1280x1024 (windowed)

Game installed on: secondary 400gb IDE drive (page file stored on a different drive)

i'm going to login with my new XP x64 installation now and see how it runs.

Just in case I have the same issue, I tried uploading the DxDiag info, but received a 500 Internal Server Error message.

Nice.

Download and run Prime95 for a few hours, see what happens. You might also want to try Memtest86 to check your RAM.

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Tried the second PSU today, still nothing. Must be the mother board.

Ouch. :(

Though it would probably be more than you want to spend, I suppose the "good news" is that rumors are that the Intel socket 1156 and Core i5 is set to launch on, I believe, Wednesday. :o

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Tried the second PSU today, still nothing. Must be the mother board.

Did you somehow get the card to work in another machine? How do you know it's the motherboard and not the card?

You could also get in touch with Asus to see if this is something they know about.

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Because iive tried 2 cards and 2 PSUs, tried removing RAM etc. Ive contacted BFG they they keep replying saying "update your BIOS and chipset drivers" even though I told them ive done that. I'm not going to buy anymore parts untill someone has had a look at it. Atleast my CO disc isnt here yet.