I am helping a friend with a PC problem. I am kind of stumped because I usually don't get to work on gaming machines but just business class PC's at work. At first he said that the computer powered up but no display (no BIOS screen or anything). When I powered it up it did that once or two but then suddenly kicked on and started loading Windows 7 but then blue screened. I rebooted and it almost loaded Windows then just powered off. I was going to check memory but booting a CD with MemTest and it ran about 20 seconds before it shut off so I'm ruling out hard drive/Windows errors.
I thought maybe the GPU is overheating but the fan seemed to be running ok, not clogged with dust, and it was cutting off after the machine was only on for 15-20 seconds max so I didn't think it was long enough for it to overheat. I checked and tightened the heatsink screws too, didn't help. The card is a Radeon HD 6770 and I'll be honest I don't even know if it's a top of the line card or anything fancy or not. I know it has the 6 pin power socket on it and I made sure it was plugged in. The power supply is a XION brand 700 watt.
I pulled the Radeon out of the PC and used the onboard graphics and it booted and ran fine for hours and hours with NO problems at all. I shut down, replaced the video card and booted and it shut off or blue screened immediately. I was sure it was the video card and am about to tell him to buy another one but I hate to be wrong and him order one when it may be something else. Since I'm not used to even dealing with power supplies with SLI/PCIE 6 pin power connectors I am wondered if it's possible that it's the power supply. The computer has ran fine for hours without the card plugged in so logically I think it's the card but in the back of my head I'm wondering if it's running fine w/o the card just because the additional load of the card isn't there.
Sorry for the long post but I just needed some opinions. I have spare PSU's and video cards laying around but I don't use my computer for gaming so I my PSU's are plain old 300w models and my video cards are old AGP cards . Nothing that needs a direct power source to the PSU.
I thought maybe the GPU is overheating but the fan seemed to be running ok, not clogged with dust, and it was cutting off after the machine was only on for 15-20 seconds max so I didn't think it was long enough for it to overheat. I checked and tightened the heatsink screws too, didn't help. The card is a Radeon HD 6770 and I'll be honest I don't even know if it's a top of the line card or anything fancy or not. I know it has the 6 pin power socket on it and I made sure it was plugged in. The power supply is a XION brand 700 watt.
I pulled the Radeon out of the PC and used the onboard graphics and it booted and ran fine for hours and hours with NO problems at all. I shut down, replaced the video card and booted and it shut off or blue screened immediately. I was sure it was the video card and am about to tell him to buy another one but I hate to be wrong and him order one when it may be something else. Since I'm not used to even dealing with power supplies with SLI/PCIE 6 pin power connectors I am wondered if it's possible that it's the power supply. The computer has ran fine for hours without the card plugged in so logically I think it's the card but in the back of my head I'm wondering if it's running fine w/o the card just because the additional load of the card isn't there.
Sorry for the long post but I just needed some opinions. I have spare PSU's and video cards laying around but I don't use my computer for gaming so I my PSU's are plain old 300w models and my video cards are old AGP cards . Nothing that needs a direct power source to the PSU.