Can a dying video card cause comp to restart?

ioni

Senior member
Aug 3, 2009
619
11
81
I'm pretty sure my video card just died, but I wouldn't expect that to cause my computer to restart. Has anyone had their computer restart due to a failed video card? I'm hoping multiple things haven't gone wrong.
 

chimaxi83

Diamond Member
May 18, 2003
5,649
61
101
Yes, it's possible. I remember back when my 9800GTX died, the machine restarted, and refused to power on again. The only way it would do anything was with the card removed, even if i changed slots or made onboard video the primary.
 

ioni

Senior member
Aug 3, 2009
619
11
81
That looks like a psu issue to me

I was thinking that might be a possibility as well. Unfortunately, there isn't really any way for me to tell. I have an MSI X58M, so no on board video. But the video card is definitely dead. Last time I got anything to show up on screen, it was just a mess of random colors. One more reboot and the screen just stayed blank after the BIOS.

edit: I'm thinking of replacing the dead 8800GT with a 7850 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127688). I'm hoping there won't be any driver issues going from Nvidia to AMD.
 
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2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
Yes it's possible. I had a bad 7600GT a few years back that did just that... Wasn't expecting it so it took me a looking time to trouble shoot replacing nearly every other component first.
 

john3850

Golden Member
Oct 19, 2002
1,436
21
81
Did anyone other then them myself ever have a video card that would stop your pc from posting.

Bought a diamond 5970 over 6 months or so from the egg for $300.
The mb bios code stated that the card cant send the needed info to some part on the MB causing the pc to stop.
Diamond did a fair rma on my month old card and sent clean used card.
Over 8x I did a month old rma with EVGA I always got a new card or mb back.
 

ioni

Senior member
Aug 3, 2009
619
11
81
Crap. I may have wasted money on a new video card when I needed a new PSU instead. I swapped my 8800GT with an old 6200 and it's been running fine until tonight. I walked away for 2 minutes, came back and the screen was blank. Tried to reboot a few times but now it won't even POST :( No idea what the problem is now, but considering how old the PSU is, that's the only thing that makes sense now.

edit: still not really sure what the problem is. After reseating my GPU twice, it posted again.

final edit: It was the PSU. Got a new one and everything runs fine. Now to try to sell the 8800 since it is still running fine.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
I always hesitate to read threads like this.

I just got two "NVidia display driver has stopped responding" errors, right in a row, after closing this thread.

My GTX460 1GB WindForce OC card has one failing fan, however, the GPU was idle, temp is 34C, PSU is Antec 650W EarthWatts.

I'm running Win7 64-bit HP, with 280.26 (I think) drivers, which have been rock-solid thus far. This is the first time I've ever gotten that error.

I do have an Agility 2 90GB SSD that I installed, maybe a month ago.

Edit: After posting this post, every window went blocky and polygonal.

Edit: Rebooted, seems ok thus far. Found out one of the fans was blocked by a wire. Guess the GPU temp reported by Precision was misleading.
 
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Sherman Bay

Junior Member
Sep 1, 2012
23
0
0
In my experience, ANY dying card can cause ANY amount of grief. Just because it's a video card doesn't mean it will only provide video-type errors. Every card on the bus is connected to every other card and has the potential to wreck havoc with the system.

It doesn't help to narrow things down if you're having a problem, sorry; but 35 years of experience is talking here.