Diagnosing a Video-related Failure

[ArtShapiro]

Art....pls remember to share the results when the card arrives and you install it.

Will do. Still in the USPS system.

I decided not to deal with Intel until I have the card for experimentation. I haven't powered it down for three days and have been remote desktoping without incident.

 

[Virgorising]

Will do. Still in the USPS system.

I decided not to deal with Intel until I have the card for experimentation. I haven't powered it down for three days and have been remote desktoping without incident.

K.....I get the card is not there yet.

But Art, what I am not understanding is why do you feel you have to keep the system on?

 

[ArtShapiro]

Quick update: Today I had to reboot the machine as per instructions of a malware removal tool. The last couple of weeks it's been repetitively hit by a couple "update your drivers" attacks, and the big 3 - SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes, and AdwCleaner - aren't taking it out.

Once again I couldn't get it to boot. It would boot a DVD but failed consistently on disk, and of course I couldn't see what was going on.

But the video card arrived this morning. The only problem is that its HDMI connection is different than my cable's plug. I don't know the terminology, but the card has one side square, whereas my cable has both sides flaring outward into a trapezoid. So I'm down to one monitor. But it instantly booted - no beeps, no problems, completely stable.

I was gone all day, and still have to catch up on a bunch of stuff before I can experiment with the setup. Clearing CMOS on this Intel board requires removing the battery for some number of minutes - there's surprisingly no jumper.

We'll give it a try later or perhaps tomorrow. But right now the machine is perfectly fine with the constraint of one monitor.

 

[Ketchup]

Glad it's working. At this point, I wouldn't worry about the clear CMOS since you have it working.

Definitely an odd issue with the CPU.

Can you send us a link to the video card?

Hopefully we can help you with that connector.

 

[Virgorising]

So I'm down to one monitor. But it instantly booted - no beeps, no problems, completely stable.

Well now....THAT IS AMAZING NEWS!!!!!! I still do not know if some part of the integrated graphics in yr 2550 got messed up, or something board related.....but, I would like to know.

The only problem is that its HDMI connection is different than my cable's plug. I don't know the terminology, but the card has one side square, whereas my cable has both sides flaring outward into a trapezoid.

Do U mean display port???

Clearing CMOS on this Intel board requires removing the battery for some number of minutes - there's surprisingly no jumper.

But that's the majority! Yes, just pull the little round CMOS batt, wait a few and put it back.

Quick update: Today I had to reboot the machine as per instructions of a malware removal tool. The last couple of weeks it's been repetitively hit by a couple "update your drivers" attacks, and the big 3 - SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes, and AdwCleaner - aren't taking it out.

If U R saying you are infected...and you are running a decent anti virus, not simply the antimals you list, you might have to try ComboFix.
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Edit: Just caught ketchup79's post......excellent as usual. Yes, forget the CMOS batt, and YES, either put up a link to the card to take a pic of the port side and put that up.

And, now that you can SEE....please monitor yr temps! Plain old Speed Fan will do it for free, both yr CPU and yr new card.

 

[ArtShapiro]

So this points to the CPU and not the MB - right? I don't have any spares, although I built a similar 2100T-based machine as a gift to a friend, and could probably mooch the CPU for a few minutes. These Antec cases are so tiny that getting to the guts takes a bit of disassmbly - well worth it IMHO.

This difficulty in rebooting was the reason I kept it on as much as possible.

The card is eBay item #291154100257, a AMD Radeon HD6450 described as "ATI-102-C26405 Low Profile/Half-Height". I used to know the difference between those two relatively-similar connectors, but it has faded from memory.

 

[Ketchup]

Are we talking about the DisplayPort?

And are you using HDMI on your screen?

If so, then this is what you need:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/13214970?w...599990&veh=sem

 

[ArtShapiro]

I'll try Combo Fix. The machine runs corporate Symantec Endpoint Protection, and I've never had an attack that I couldn't zap with a little bit of effort. It's pretty-well hidden, but is only a nuisance at this point. It's showing as various unwanted popups or web pages. Even remote desktopping to it this week would often bring up such a page.

And it looks like, after a quick look at connectors on Wikipedia, that the card is a display port and my cable is an HDMI (to DVI). I can deal with this by getting a new cable as time permits.

I'll look at a temp-monitoring app, but am really skeptical as this was happening to a stone-cold machine that is reasonably ventilated and not OC'ed.

 

[Virgorising]

Plus, U may wanna get and use this!

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19791

 

[Virgorising]

that the card is a display port and my cable is an HDMI (to DVI). I can deal with this by getting a new cable as time permits.

Yes, as I surmised above....but, no biggie, U R right, you just need a little adapter.

Re temps monitoring, it's always the right thing to do!!!!! Cause you can sense, but you never know for sure if yr temps are normal at either idle or under load.....and many things can create heat, esp in that elegant little box U have.:biggrin:

It seems you are determined to miniaturize things, Art.:whiste:

 

[ArtShapiro]

Plus, U may wanna get and use this!https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19791

Thanks; I had posted earlier in this lengthy thread that I had run those processor diagnostics and they detected no video, and thus didn't attempt to run those sections of the numerous tests.

 

[Virgorising]

Thanks; I had posted earlier in this lengthy thread that I had run those processor diagnostics and they detected no video, and thus didn't attempt to run those sections of the numerous tests.

O! I missed that!
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Edit: Art, are we certain your drivers are updated to current?

I just went to get a link....and it was down;
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/graphics

 

[ArtShapiro]

Edit: Art, are we certain your drivers are updated to current?

We are not certain - I'll look later after a long day, but wouldn't those affect the behavior within Windows and be irrelevant to the BIOS and the boot process?

 

[Virgorising]

We are not certain - I'll look later after a long day, but wouldn't those affect the behavior within Windows and be irrelevant to the BIOS and the boot process?

They could be relevant. U should also check if bios updates are available.

 

[ArtShapiro]

Looks like ComboFix isn't 8.1-compatible; it erroneously complains about not being able to be run in compatibility mode.

Art

 

[Virgorising]

Looks like ComboFix isn't 8.1-compatible; it erroneously complains about not being able to be run in compatibility mode.

Art

I had no clue re W8.....Try this:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html

Try this:
http://www.kaspersky.com/virus-scanner

And/or this:
http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

Start with this one I think:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

PS: Just for the hell of it, I am running the trendmicro housecall....have not used that in years....boy with a fast system it goes fast! Not sure re now, but it used to be very good and thorough.
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While as expected, it found nothing, I liked running it. I suggest you start with that one....some need IE, this one does not.

 

[Virgorising]

Art....go here to yr board on intel:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Desktop+Boards&ProductLine=Intel%c2%ae+6+Series+Chipset+Boards&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Desktop+Board+DH67CF

Key in yr basics...find out if yr drivers/ are up to date, and yr BIOS. Might sound crazy, but just maybe this could have been (well, still is, actually) a drivers or bios issue. Cept I don see W8 listed.

So maybe go here:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx?lang=eng

Download their interactive utility, let it read the system and see wut it says.

And do please follow up on any possible strange infection producing those pop ups.

 

[ArtShapiro]

Trend found nothing, whereupon running Chrome came up with a "updates recommended" dialog from something called 7REZZ.PLAYNOW.DOLLFIELD.EU.

Eset, that I hadn't used in a number of years, is running and has found seven threats so far, several of 'em variants of "montiera". This is promising. Haven't run the others yet.

I periodically run that Intel update searcher, and will do it soon, but perhaps tomorrow. It's another all-day Sunday, like today, but after I catch up with some of my web-update responsibilities I'll try and tackle it by late evening. The last time I tried to update the BIOS, it failed and I was lucky to get my system back; it had not given me problems in a couple previous updates.

 

[Matt1970]

Sure sounds like a bad CPU. Defective video or defective anything for that matter can cause a PC to not boot or only boot from different devices.

 

[Virgorising]

Sure sounds like a bad CPU. Defective video or defective anything for that matter can cause a PC to not boot or only boot from different devices.

Dying to understand....can one function in a given chip go and the rest remain normal?

If so, how does that happen? Would that owe to some Mfg flaw or something like heat? And, if so, would that mean the rest of the chip is vulnerable and should be replaced/RMAed???

 

[Matt1970]

Dying to understand....can one function in a given chip go and the rest remain normal?

If so, how does that happen? Would that owe to some Mfg flaw or something like heat? And, if so, would that mean the rest of the chip is vulnerable and should be replaced/RMAed???

Oh absolutely one function in a chip can go and the rest remain normal. I would get asked all the time what would cause something to fail like that. In this particular case I would think it was a manufacturing flaw but with other components it's often hard to give a clear-cut answer unless you can see a burned out part, bulged caps or something like that. We just have to accept the fact that electronics wear out just like anything else in life.

Should the chip be replaced in this case? If under warranty, absolutely. If not under warranty probably not. I have seen the onboard video on countless motherboards go bad and you just slap in a video card and the computer can lead a happy and normal life. I don't see a processor with built-in video being much different.

 

[Virgorising]

Oh absolutely one function in a chip can go and the rest remain normal. I would get asked all the time what would cause something to fail like that. In this particular case I would think it was a manufacturing flaw but with other components it's often hard to give a clear-cut answer unless you can see a burned out part, bulged caps or something like that. We just have to accept the fact that electronics wear out just like anything else in life.

Should the chip be replaced in this case? If under warranty, absolutely. If not under warranty probably not. I have seen the onboard video on countless motherboards go bad and you just slap in a video card and the computer can lead a happy and normal life. I don't see a processor with built-in video being much different.

Ahah!!!! Thank you....very important info! Now.....I hope he has the option to RMA it!!!!