Strange display issue

[Soneast]

My old computer has been acting up lately. At first I was having issues with games, they'd play fine for a couple hours then the screen would suddenly go blank and I would have to hard restart the PC and it would display fine again for another couple.

After no luck with trying different drivers, I thought maybe it was a cooling issue with my vid card so I took that out, removed and cleaned the HSF and chipsets on the vid card, added some AS5 and put it back together again. Still the same problem. I had been stuck at that point for a few weeks, when suddenly last night the problem compounded, now as soon as I hit the desktop after a restart the screen turns to a screen full of horizontal gray lines. and I must hard restart. I thought for sure it was a vid card issue, so I took out my card and replaced it with an old 5200FX I had sitting around....still the same problem (horizontal gray lines as soon as I load into desktop). Then I thought maybe it was the monitor, so I replaced my 19" with an old 17" i had laying around....still the same problem. I'm not sure what could cause display issues other than the vid card and/or monitor? I guess I'm kinda at a loss right now.

Specs:
Asus P4S800, P4 2.8 Ghz HT, 1GB (512x2) Geil DDR400 PC3200, BFG Tech Geforce 6800 GT OC (AGP 4x/8x)

 

[imported_Baloo]

It's clear to me you have established that it is not a display issue. Check the heatsink/fan on the processor Do like you did on the graphics card.

 

[robisbell]

okay, get a multimeter and manually test the voltages of the PSU with and without a load, post the results here.
also, it could be the card just outright failing from age. but could be PSU failure causing the vid card to fail.

 

[Soneast]

Well I did very recently (within 2 months) remove the processor HSF cleaned it up real good and reapplied some AS5 to it and got it running several degrees cooler than prior. As for testing the PSU with a multimeter, I'll hafta check on that, not too many options for electronic stores where I live.

Also wanted to add that it does load to the desktop and display correctly when I boot into safe mode. Not sure if that would indicate anything?

 

[robisbell]

safe mode uses basic drivers and does not put any pressure on the video card, so doesn't prove anything.

 

[Soneast]

I decided to try a new vid card since AGP cards are so cheap, so I bought a 7600GS to throw in. Unfortunately I STILL had the same problem. I tested the RAM with memtest and that checked out OK, so after some deliberation, I decided to reformat my hard drive before purchasing anymore replacement hardware. Low and behold that seems to have fixed the problem. Has been about a week now, and have not seen the screen go blank or any horizontal bars across my screen. Not really sure what the prob was, but apparently it was software related?

 

[Narse]

Originally posted by: Soneast
I decided to try a new vid card since AGP cards are so cheap, so I bought a 7600GS to throw in. Unfortunately I STILL had the same problem. I tested the RAM with memtest and that checked out OK, so after some deliberation, I decided to reformat my hard drive before purchasing anymore replacement hardware. Low and behold that seems to have fixed the problem. Has been about a week now, and have not seen the screen go blank or any horizontal bars across my screen. Not really sure what the prob was, but apparently it was software related?

Seems it was a software issue.

 

[robisbell]

without testing the items like requested, no telling if it was or not. the issue may reappear and then it may be worse than it was.

 

[Soneast]

Hmmm....well I can't really locate a multimeter....Radioshack doesn't carry them (only electronics store in my area) and I didn't see anything on Newegg when I search multimeter, so I guess I'll just hafta hope for the best. ><

 

[robisbell]

Radioshack always has Multimeter's, that's their bread and butter.

http://www.radioshack.com/sear...origkw=multimeter&sr=1

 

[jackschmittusa]

Even hardware stores and building supply stores carry them. Sears does too.

I would say cell phones and batteries are Radio Skack's "bread and butter" any more. lol They no longer cater to the hobbyist.

 

[Soneast]

oh damn...guess I'm gonna hafta go rip that kid behind the counter a new one, lol. He didn't even know what they were.