Help! Graphical corruption, now windows won't load!!!

[A554SS1N]

I was just reading a saved html file then all of a sudden, the screen went corrupted, so I thought "oh f*ck" pressed reset, and it was corrupted at the Leadtek BIOS screen, then went Ok on main BIOS screen, windows loading bar appeared alright, then just as it goes into windows it stops, with a corruped mouse curser. I restarted again, and now Leadtek BIOS screen shows Ok, but windows still hangs at this point. I tried in Windows XP Safe Mode with VGA only and that loads up fine with no corruption at all. So, is my card borked? Or has the driver file become corruped somehow, in which case what do I do to fix it?!!! Only had the machine just over two weeks.

System spec is:

AM2 3800+
MSI K9N Neo-F 550 MCP
2GB GeIL DDR2 PC5300 RAM
Leadtek 7900GS
Single Maxtor 160GB IDE Harddrive
Samsung DVD drive
All in Antec NSK 4400 case, with 380watt PSU.

Had been working fine before that, in fact, had been gaming earlier in the evening and everything was great.

Please please help!!

 

[A554SS1N]

Ok, last night, I tried it after an hour and a bit, and it booted fine into windows - tried COD:UO and the game ran great, so I just shut it down quick. NVidia control panel was reporting cool temperatures, so I'm guessing it's probably the memory got a little to hot - either because of a flaw in the fan/heatsink design (there's no gaps at all btw, it's a flush fit so everything is in contact with the heatsink), dodgy memory that can't run at the rated frequency, or, quite possibly, the fan may have stopped?

If the memory is the problem, would lowering the memory from 1320MHz effective to around 1200MHz possibly mean it'll be Ok - I planned to keep the card a couple of years, and a tiny loss in memory bandwidth wouldn't be too much of a sacrifice if it means it'll be Ok, as RMA'ing will mean loss of the computers usage for a number of weeks, and often people tend to end up with dodgy cards as replacements too.

Thanks for any suggestions please!!

 

[josh6079]

Boot up into safe mode and uninstall any Nvidia drivers. Then once you enter into your regular Windows, just reinstall all of your needed Nvidia drivers. At least that way you'll know the driver installation is good.

Did you have an ATI card before you got your 7900GS?

Also, the 79 series has been known to have memory-related issues ranging from artifacting at stock frequencies to the problem you just described. I know you don't want to RMA, but if you try the above advice and still keep having issues even after experimenting yourself, it would be better to RMA and get a good card rather than limp on a somewhat defective one for a couple years like you plan.

 

[A554SS1N]

I haven't had a another card in the system as it's a new rig, so was a fresh installtion of NV drivers (91.45's that came with the Leadtek disk) - should I try installing the 91.47's instead? Or just reinstall the 91.45's? Also, would underclocking the memory save the card? As said, it did work Ok after turning the PC off for an our or so. Thanks for replying!!!

 

[hmorphone]

Based on what people have reported with 7900GTs, underclocking the memory (if the card is indeed defective) will at best only buy you a short period of time.

 

[thilanliyan]

You shouldn't have to underclock the memory on a card that you paid for. It should at the very least work at stock frequencies. If indeed it is the card then RMA it.

 

[A554SS1N]

Well, it was working fine again for a couple of hours, and then all corrupted again, this time during a game, and not even the Safe Mode with VGA works now - keeps rebooting at a BSOD I think, while safe mode ordinary works. :/ The screen was again corrupted on the Leadtek BIOS screen, but not at the normal BIOS screen. I even had the card underclocked too (memory was down to 1200MHz from 1320Mhz).

 

[A554SS1N]

After a couple of hours, booted up, and everything fine again - someone on another forum suggested the PSU as a possible problem - could that be it? I played Quake 3 demo for a minute and it's no worse for wear with no visible sign of corruption at all - surely heat damage would be more permanent, or am I wrong on that point? I've tried increasing the card fan speed in RivaTuner, but it doesn;t seem to have made any difference to the sound level, so am I not doing it right? I assume going from 30% fan speed for 3D to 50% would add a fair bit of noise? Also, could it be that the fan is cutting out intermittently? Or possibly a dodgy PCI-E power connector? I'm now not certain which is to blame now, so can't do anything yet unless I'm certain, especially as there's a £30 fee if the card isn't found to be faulty....

 

[hmorphone]

Is there any other systems around you can try the card in? What make is the PSU?

 

[Captante]

Sounds like you have a defective card & you need to do an RMA ... just to use the PC, you could snag a super-cheapo PCI video card at a local shop or off FS/FT.

Also it is remotely possible you have bad power supply... what brand & model do you have?

 

[A554SS1N]

My PSU is an Antec 380watt with dual 12v rails at 2x16amps. It's can't be that it's underpowered though in one sense, because the first instance of graphical corruption/system lock up occurred when just in windows reading a saved html file - as task that shouldn't really load the PSU at all. Then again, the idle system power consumption of my rig while doing that task shouldn't tax the PSU anyway, but then the same situation shouldn't have been taxing the graphics card either. All in all, a mystery. I suppose I should try shutting down, cycling the PSU power switch and restarting immediately in case one of the rails is tripping at all, and it's not something like a heat problem?

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Hmm that may be the problem...That PSU is way underpowered.

 

[A554SS1N]

It's not "way underpowered" - if you've ever been to a site called SilentPCRview.com, you'll see they test low wattage PSU's in systems with far more power hungry parts with no problem at all. I'm not righting off the fact the PSU has a defect, but it should work. Just look at anandtechs total power consumption in 3D mode in their graphics review, and the 12v rails should easily be able to provide that (assuming they work that is).