Video Card/Monitor Issue?

[Corydon]

Originally posted by: mechBgon (Thanks for the template!)
Troubleshooting starter

1. Overview of the problem
   Happened last night...the screen suddenly went dead while I was in the middle of playing Morrowind (I like my classic RPGs ).
   
   Immediately tried a restart, computer will POST, but when it gets to the login screen, the screen goes dead.
   
2. Full description of the problem and symptoms
   From reboot:
   
   Monitor turns on and displays BIOS information as normal.
   
   The black Microsoft loading screen appears.
   
   The problem occurs when the computer attempts to display the login screen. The music plays, but the monitor reports no signal and goes into its power saving mode.
   
   The computer will boot with no problems whatsoever in Safe Mode.
   
3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?
   Was working fine until last night, when the monitor shut down in the middle of playing Morrowind (which should not have been taxing the video card much at all).
   
4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
   Happens all the time since the problem first occurred last night.
   
5. I already tried these steps:
   As noted above, the computer will start in Safe Mode. I have tried rebooting (several times), with exactly the same behavior occurring each time.
   
   I let it sit overnight, so it had plenty of time to cool off, so I don't think this is a heat related problem.
   
   I have reinstalled the video display drivers (v 169.32 downloaded from the XFX support site).
   
   I have checked to ensure that the card is seated properly, everything is connected correctly, tried connecting the cable to the other DVI port on the card.
   
6. My software:
   • Windows Vista Home Premium w/ SP1 installed
   • NVidia video drivers v 169.32
7. My hardware
   • Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel
   • CPU model: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E4500
   • Video card: XFX PVT88PYDQ4 GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
   • RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
   • Power supply: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W
   • Monitor: CHIMEI CMV 221D Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
   
   I haven't overclocked either the CPU or the video card beyond how they came in the box (although this particular model is slightly oc'd running at 625 MHz core vs. 600 MHz reference)
   
8. Other information that might be relevant
   I'm leaning towards suspecting a hardware problem, but would like to make sure I'm covering all the bases before I start going through the rma process. Fortunately, everything's from Newegg, so if I need to exchange anything there shouldn't be an issue.
   
   Also, is it possible that there's a problem with the DVI cable? It's pretty much stretched as far as it can reach, although, like I said, everything works fine when I initially boot the computer or run it in safe mode....
   
   Thanks for any suggestions and help!
   

 

[jaqie]

That's a windows issue. POST is the text before the windows loading screen, anything after the text is called bootstrap or booting or starting.

Sounds to me like you need to do these steps in order:
1) boot into safe mode, run the nvidia software uninstaller. !!THIS IS IMPORTANT!!
2) reboot into normal mode, download and install a fresh copy of the nvidia drivers from nvidia.com
3) if this does not work, then it is either a windows problem (windows is fubar) or a hardware problem (which is pretty unlikely)... next step is to use DBAN or some other means to wipe the drive clean (destroy everything on the drive) and then do a fresh install.
4) if none of this fixes the problem, then it's time to start looking at hardware.

~edit~
I like a classic MMORPG called Asheron's Call, can't fault you for liking classic RPGs... then again I also still play FF3E (SNES original game) and chrono trigger (SNES as well) which are true classics.

 

[Corydon]

Thanks jaqie! I'll give that a try when I get home tonight and will post back with the results!

Actually, I still fire up Ultima VII in Exult from time to time, and played through Ultima III in my C-64 emulator for old time's sake about six months ago, so I'm with you there!

 

[Corydon]

OK, got home last night and completely removed the video card drivers while in safe mode. Reinstalled them using the latest drivers downloaded from XFX -> Same problem.

Tried reinstalling the OS. Went through all of that then reinstalled the latest drivers -> Same problem.

Next step is to fdisk the drive and try a completely fresh install, which I'll try over the weekend.

I'm still trying to figure out what could be the root cause of this. Is this a manifestation of the notorious Vista Content Protection and the "tilt bit" malfunctioning? I'm kind of at a loss to think of any other reason why my 8800GT works fine with the Standard SVGA driver but not at all with the actual driver that was made for it.

Regardless of the cause, it's making me look seriously at just getting rid of Vista altogether and putting XP on there. XP may have had its faults but it never did this to me.

For the record, I don't have any pirated software or "content" on my computer at all. I've grown up a bit since my C=64 days and now buy all of my games. There is a ton of music MP3s on the computer, all laboriously ripped from the original CDs, which I have since put away in storage. Maybe Vista thought that was suspicious.

 

[scenesfromamem]

Had a similar issue, just rebuilt my computer (phenom 9850, radeon HD 3650) install the drivers for my video card and never see a picture again on a reboot. Tried both XP And Vista and the result for me is that using the DVI cables theres an issue. ATI is aware and unsure what the issue is. Fix was to switch to a non DVI cable. you might try that.

 

[jackschmittusa]

A pretty good and easy check for the hardware is to download and burn a "live cd" version of a Linux distro. When you boot from the cd, it will load drivers for and run all of the hardware. If it works OK, you can usually be pretty sure that the problem is with Windows.

 

[TemjinGold]

Originally posted by: Corydon
OK, got home last night and completely removed the video card drivers while in safe mode. Reinstalled them using the latest drivers downloaded from XFX -> Same problem.

I would use the drivers from nVidia, not from the manufacturer.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: jaqie
2) reboot into normal mode, download and install a fresh copy of the nvidia drivers from nvidia.com

Yeah. use reference drivers, like I said.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: scenesfromamem
Fix was to switch to a non DVI cable.

That's not a fix, that's a jury rig around an ATi driver problem. This kind of BS is why I stopped buying ATi based video cards after my multi-year 9800pro debacle with them. ugh.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
boot from the cd, it will load drivers

though this is a good step to take, it is not a definitive test, especially since those liveCDs will either run the nVidia card with the vesa driver or the open source nv driver, both are without hardware acceleration. I actually have a problematic laptop right now with an nV440go in it which does not display problems (in win or linux) until actual nvidia drivers are installed (nvidia binaries in the case of linux)... so again, the liveCD is by no means a definitive way to rule out something with a windows install as the culprit.

 

[Corydon]

Well, I tried downloading drivers from nVidia as well as XFX. Both did the same thing. The fresh install didn't work either.

I probably should have tried it with another OS to be absolutely 100% sure that it wasn't Vista, but I'm pretty confident that if it were a problem with Windows, the reinstall would have cleared it up. I also didn't do anything to the OS immediately prior to the original failure (as I noted above, it crapped out on me in the middle of a game). I had just installed SP1 earlier in the week, but unless there's some truly bizarre bug that only manifests after several days and hours of use and also carries over to fresh installs, it's just not the OS.

So the current theory is some kind of weird hardware malfunction. In any case, the card is on its way back to Newegg right now (after a ridiculously easy RMA process). We'll see what happens after they take a look.

 

[Corydon]

OK...the new video card arrived from Newegg. Thanks, Newegg! Got it all installed, started up using the standard SVGA driver...everything works fine. Installed the nVidia driver and rebooted.

DESPAIR!

The exact same problem happened again.

So...it's not the card. I decided to check all the connections between the monitor and the card again. Everything's nice and tight, but then I saw the connector on the monitor for a VGA cable instead of the DVI cable. I put the adapter on the card and ran a VGA cable between the two...and it WORKED!

Not sure yet if the problem was with the cable or the DVI port on the monitor...I'm going to get a replacement cable and see if that fixes the problem. However, the lesson learned here is that DVI is a bit of a strange beast that can partially fail.

Once I have a replacement cable, I'll post back with whether the cable or the monitor was at fault.

 

[Corydon]

One other lesson learned...Newegg is absolutely wonderful to deal with...even though I'm not a huge spender, they treated me like royalty. I'll definitely keep sending all my business their way and will recommend the same to my friends.

 

[jaqie]

I fixed my problem too I actually bought a new video module for my laptop and started using the less fast microsoft update released nvidia drivers for the 440go, it seemed to be a combo of a bad card and the dell drivers.

Yes, a DVI cable can do that, but it's so uncommon IME that I didn't even think of it...sorry Well, from now on we both know to try HDB15 (VGA) when troubleshooting video issues