Jaggies appeared after cleaning graphics card

[Endgamelikespie]

Basically, I cleaned out my computer, took out the video card for what I believe to be the first time, cleaned out the fan and heat sink with a q-tip, blew it off, etc.

Afterwards, jaggies have shown up in EVERYTHING. Games, YouTube videos, even my my Windows mouse cursor is jaggier than it used to be.

Thinking I might have gotten dust somewhere it wasn't before, I did a more elaborate cleaning with a toothbrush, which got LOTS of dust off of it. And wiped the PIN connectors with a q-tip with rubbing alcohol. (Gave about an hour to dry, q-tip did have some greyed out spots.) However, this did not help anything.

Everything was fine beforehand.

I am wondering what it was I might have screwed up, and if I might be able to fix this.

My graphics card is a SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit. I have tried updating drivers, uninstalling drivers, etc. to no avail.

 

[homebrew2ny]

I would double check all connections, make sure it is seated properly as well.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Did you disconnect the monitor and PSU power cables from the wall outlet, and then hold down the power button on the PC for a few seconds to discharge any residual voltage, before disconnecting the VGA or DVI cable and then removing the video card? Take a magnifier and look very carefully at the connector pins on the monitor and video card for any that appear bent, corroded, or burned.

 

[denis280]

q-tip did have some greyed out spots.)

Got to be careful with q-tip.they leave some little cotton on.

 

[Torn Mind]

Could be electrostatic discharge.
Could be Q-tip cotton bits.
Rubbing alcohol might leave some residue behind if it is 70% rubbing alcohol.


This is why you try to avoid contact with the components with material that could leave behind stuff like a Q-tip or paper towel. You first you compressed air to remove the initial layer of dust. A little dust left behind is okay.

If you need to further cleaning, contact cleaners such as this is the next step you take. It is basically compressed air combined with a fast evaporating liquid like isopropyl alcohol. Use these things in areas with good ventilation, since they might have compounds like n-Hexane.

 

[piasabird]

Rubbing on a circuit board or electronic parts is always a bad idea. Sometimes the contacts corrode a bit or you disconnect a pci express power cable on the video card. Sometimes you dont get a good connection between the video card and the contacts on the X16 slot. Could be some dust in there or cotton or whatever. Maybe take the video card and pull it out and push it firmly in place a few times slowly and carefully. This kind of roughs up the contacts. Sometimes the contacts corrode a little bit like an old copper penny.

 

[Endgamelikespie]

Did you disconnect the monitor and PSU power cables from the wall outlet, and then hold down the power button on the PC for a few seconds to discharge any residual voltage, before disconnecting the VGA or DVI cable and then removing the video card?

Nope. I've been told to touch metal to avoid static electricity ruining components left and right, but I've never heard anything about risidual voltage. I guess that would be what did it. (I didn't do anything to the connectors until after this started.)

New card is on its way.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Endgamelikespie]

Scratch that. New card arrived today. Everything is the same.

Think the problem could be with the motherboard's slot?

 

[Steltek]

Scratch that. New card arrived today. Everything is the same.

Think the problem could be with the motherboard's slot?

Probably a stupid question, but have you tested the monitor on another system? I'd hate for you to keep replacing hardware when you have a defective monitor. I'd also recommend swapping out the video cable to make sure it hasn't developed a fault. If your monitor has multiple types of ports, it might even be worth switching the connection to another port (i.e. VGA, DVI, HDMI) than your normal one to see if a port on the monitor might be going bad.

Finally, does the same thing happen if you move the video card to another slot on the motherboard?

Were it me, I'd want to eliminate every possibility before I started messing around with the motherboard.

 

[Endgamelikespie]

I haven't tried the monitor on another PC, but I have tried three different cables. DVI, VGA (With a VGA to DVI adapter on the card.), and DVI to HMDI (DVI in card, HMDI in monitor.) All three using different slots on the monitor. The same problem persists with all three of them. I will try using the monitor on my ancient backup computer though, just to be sure.

I cannot use the cards in other slots because they are PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 cards, and the motherboard only has one PCIe 2.0 slot. The other two are normal PCI slots.

 

[Steltek]

I haven't tried the monitor on another PC, but I have tried three different cables. DVI, VGA (With a VGA to DVI adapter on the card.), and DVI to HMDI (DVI in card, HMDI in monitor.) All three using different slots on the monitor. The same problem persists with all three of them. I will try using the monitor on my ancient backup computer though, just to be sure.

I cannot use the cards in other slots because they are PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 cards, and the motherboard only has one PCIe 2.0 slot. The other two are normal PCI slots.

PCIe 3.0 cards should be backwards compatible with PCIe 2.0 slots, albeit at PCIe 2.0 performance levels.

Anyway, I think based upon what you have done so far that testing the monitor on another computer will likely be sufficient to answer your question. If the monitor isn't bad, I think it is safe to assume you have a motherboard issue. Is it still in warranty?

 

[Endgamelikespie]

I got the new motherboard, but the problem persisted. I tried different monitors, cables, etc., nothing.

Left with no other options, I decided to try reinstalling Windows with my old motherboard and video card, but now my computer will not boot. It will turn on, but no beeps or monitor signal.

I am not sure if it is the PSU or the CPU. I might have destroyed the CPU because the damn thing kept on getting ripped out thanks to the thermal paste sticking it to the heatsink. There were some bent pins, I tried to straighten them out the best I can. But then again, it might have been going bad. I have no real idea.

However, the last time I tried powering on, my graphics card's red light went on like it did one time where I forgot to plug it in to the PSU.

Could either the PSU or CPU going bad be a possible cause for the pixelation?