Video card problem

[DarkKnight]

I recently purchased a 32 mb Radeon 7200 PCI for my old compaq computer. I works fine but sometimes I get a big problem. What happens is that the card make the screen go black and the led light on my monitor turns yellow. Its happened only two times now. I don't know whats causing the problem. I've heard that Ati has bad drivers, but i don't think drivers could cause this problem. The card could be bad, but its works fine most of the time so I don't think the cards bad. The computer does get very hot, so could that be the problem? I have no clue why I'm having this problem. Can anyone help me?

 

[Mavrick007]

I would monitor your temps in the box and you might want to put a probe onto the vid card cause it sounds like it's overheating.
Maybe get a better hsf for the processor on the vid card. Does it have a fan on it now cause I don't know if the 7200 pci had one?

 

[AnAndAustin]

It is pretty odd. Do check out heat probs, esp if your Radeon lacks a fan. If its an old mobo isn't it important to use the best PCI slot (Bus Mastering?) which is usually the top one. Other than that I'd just be sure to have all of the latest official drivers for ALL of your hw (esp mobo BIOS), be sure to check both manu and chipset webpages. Another thing you could try is your PSU, these big manus like Compaq liked to skimp right out on PSUs.

 

[DarkKnight]

My radeon pci does have a fan and it is on the top PCI slot.. I don't think i can replace the PSU because i thought that companies like compaq make their cases incompatible w/ other PSUs? If anyone know of a place where i can get a PSU for a compaq case, please msg me. Where can i get a probe for the video card and how much does it cost?