Broken graphics card?

stanstaple

Hi

I think I might have knackered my graphics card & I hope some one might be able to advise me. I was experiencing some black screen crashes after a couple of minutes of starting to play a new game. I'd had a similar problem before and was able to solve it by cleaning out the dust from the graphics card heat sink and fan. I tried doing the same thing this time and took my new hoover to the card. When I reassembled the machine the monitor wouldn't recognise that the PC had been turned on (it stayed in powersave mode) but I could hear windows starting. I think some new beeps are made by the internal speaker shortly after powering up.
I don't have another graphics card I can try to determine if that is my problem. I'd left my computer in to a repair shop to diagnose the problem. I heard nothing from them for a couple of days; when I chased them up they told me they'd have to carry out an advanced diagnostic which would cost €40. I called to the shop again and learned they didn't even have another graphics card in the shop to diagnose the problem. Can anyone give me any guidance as to what to do?
Thanks

Hijpo

stanstaple wrote: »

Hi

I think I might have knackered my graphics card & I hope some one might be able to advise me. I was experiencing some black screen crashes after a couple of minutes of starting to play a new game. I'd had a similar problem before and was able to solve it by cleaning out the dust from the graphics card heat sink and fan. I tried doing the same thing this time and took my new hoover to the card. When I reassembled the machine the monitor wouldn't recognise that the PC had been turned on (it stayed in powersave mode) but I could hear windows starting. I think some new beeps are made by the internal speaker shortly after powering up.
I don't have another graphics card I can try to determine if that is my problem. I'd left my computer in to a repair shop to diagnose the problem. I heard nothing from them for a couple of days; when I chased them up they told me they'd have to carry out an advanced diagnostic which would cost €40. I called to the shop again and learned they didn't even have another graphics card in the shop to diagnose the problem. Can anyone give me any guidance as to what to do?
Thanks

Get it out of that shop and dont give them 40 quid for a start. Check the back of your tower to see if there is a second vga output, some motherboards have onboard graphics chips. Remove the gfx card an plug the monitor into the available port. Those extra beeps could be telling you your gfx card isnt functioning as it should, check your motherboard documentation for beep codes.

Nothingbetter2d

if you used the vacuum cleaner on the gcard and it made the fan spin really really fast you may have turned that fan into a dynamo and fried the card.... your card is likely dead.

most people fail to realise that a fan (which is basically a motor) that is spinning through external forces with the power off means its now a generator and thus generating electricity which if high enough volatage will cook your electrical components which were not designed to withstand such high voltages.

stanstaple

That's my fear/hope. I'd really love to learn at this stage that I've only broken the g card and not the whole system. Thanks for telling me what I wanted to hear )

stanstaple

& Can anyone point me in the direction of a firm that would be able to tell me for definite whether the card was the problem. I can't think of any friends or family who have a desktop these days. I've no idea how to open a laptop and I doubt that their cards fit into the same kinda slot in anycase.

Hijpo

stanstaple wrote: »

& Can anyone point me in the direction of a firm that would be able to tell me for definite whether the card was the problem. I can't think of any friends or family who have a desktop these days. I've no idea how to open a laptop and I doubt that their cards fit into the same kinda slot in anycase.

if you have windows set to bypass the user logon screen then leave it boot up for a while, it should be on your desktop if it boots properly. Press the media keys on your keyboard or stick a music cd into the drive that should play automatically. If you get audio youll hear it with headphones and your pc is ok, unless the bios stops on the gfx error. Unless you figure out those beep codes the only otherway is to try a diffrent card.

massy086

stanstaple wrote: »

& Can anyone point me in the direction of a firm that would be able to tell me for definite whether the card was the problem. I can't think of any friends or family who have a desktop these days. I've no idea how to open a laptop and I doubt that their cards fit into the same kinda slot in anycase.

if you are in dublin drop me a pm you can try my gpu