troubleshoot with me! :(

[Rich]

Alright, so my video card was making some weird noises the other day so I tried to take it out and set the fan because the fan was what was making the noises. I put the vid card back in, start up the computer, and suddenly all the visual is fucked up, like a double vision kind of thing with black lines going through everything everywhere.

It gets worse... the computer freezes after the Windows loading screen, anc when I go into the BIOS, all the "L"s are replaced with "p"s, the "t"s with "x"s the "g"s with "s" and "n"s with "r"s...and thats just what I noticed. There's also an odd box pattern along the bottom of the BIOS screen... this shit makes me think it's a MOBO problem instead of a video problem.

Also, after about 25-30 seconds, the computer dies.

Any suggestions?

[Mykozo]

Have you tried just pulling the plug out of it for 30 secs or so, plugging back in and rebooting? My vid card does funny shit too any time I pull something out or put something in. This usually does the trick.

If not...

Pull all of your cards out . Reset the BIOS (jumper on mobo). You will have to redo any custom BIOS settings after this. Boot with just the video card in. Shut down, put one of your cards back in, reboot. Repeat ad nauseum until you are back up and running.

[Rich]

Reset the BIOS (jumper on mobo).

Wha? Where?

[Mykozo]

Do you have your mobo user manual? It's gonna be a jumper that sits on 2 of 3 pins, that are all inline. So it will look like -

OJJ (the O being an unoccupied pin and the J's being the two pins that the jumper sit on, at least this is what they are usually like.)

Now move the jumper so it's like

JJO

Leave for 30 secs or so, then move back. Fucking shazam, reset bios.

[Diff-chan]

might be a ram issue too.

[Rich]

Do you have your mobo user manual? It's gonna be a jumper that sits on 2 of 3 pins, that are all inline. So it will look like -

OJJ (the O being an unoccupied pin and the J's being the two pins that the jumper sit on, at least this is what they are usually like.)

Now move the jumper so it's like

JJO

Leave for 30 secs or so, then move back. Fucking shazam, reset bios.

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Support/Moth...Name=GA-K8NF-9

[andyrose]

Basically, you'll see a watch battery, or a medical CR2032 batter in there. You'll see a tiny piece of plastic/metal perched on top of 2 pins, with an empty pin to the other side of the tiny piece of plastic/metal(jumper). Move the jumper over one pin for about 3-5 seconds, then move it back to where it was. This will reset all of your motherboard settings and may possibly fix the problem.

The only problem is, it sounds like your videocard is fucked. I'm sorry, I know it sucks, I've had it happen once or twice myself. Do you have an ATI card? Usual causes for this include static electricity damage(happens pretty often if you're not careful), or the processor on the videocard overheated/got damaged somehow.

If you were in Arkansas, I'd say bring it by my store so I can see if it's the vid card or not, but since I doubt that's where you're at, try resetting the motherboard bios first. If problem still persists, replace videocard with a spare/friend's/replacement. I bet that will end up fixing it.

[Rich]

Basically, you'll see a watch battery, or a medical CR2032 batter in there. You'll see a tiny piece of plastic/metal perched on top of 2 pins, with an empty pin to the other side of the tiny piece of plastic/metal(jumper). Move the jumper over one pin for about 3-5 seconds, then move it back to where it was. This will reset all of your motherboard settings and may possibly fix the problem.

The only problem is, it sounds like your videocard is fucked. I'm sorry, I know it sucks, I've had it happen once or twice myself. Do you have an ATI card? Usual causes for this include static electricity damage(happens pretty often if you're not careful), or the processor on the videocard overheated/got damaged somehow.

If you were in Arkansas, I'd say bring it by my store so I can see if it's the vid card or not, but since I doubt that's where you're at, try resetting the motherboard bios first. If problem still persists, replace videocard with a spare/friend's/replacement. I bet that will end up fixing it.

Would the video card being damaged replaced all the letters, thoguh?

[Rich]

Basically, you'll see a watch battery, or a medical CR2032 batter in there. You'll see a tiny piece of plastic/metal perched on top of 2 pins, with an empty pin to the other side of the tiny piece of plastic/metal(jumper). Move the jumper over one pin for about 3-5 seconds, then move it back to where it was. This will reset all of your motherboard settings and may possibly fix the problem.

The only problem is, it sounds like your videocard is fucked. I'm sorry, I know it sucks, I've had it happen once or twice myself. Do you have an ATI card? Usual causes for this include static electricity damage(happens pretty often if you're not careful), or the processor on the videocard overheated/got damaged somehow.

If you were in Arkansas, I'd say bring it by my store so I can see if it's the vid card or not, but since I doubt that's where you're at, try resetting the motherboard bios first. If problem still persists, replace videocard with a spare/friend's/replacement. I bet that will end up fixing it.

Would the video card being damaged replaced all the letters, thoguh?

[andyrose]

Yes, definitely. Damaged videocards can do some weird shit with letters. Do you have an ATI card?

You just have to eliminate causes one at a time. If resetting the mobo/bios doesn't fix anything, try a different videocard. If another videocard causes the same thing, then you'll know that it's a motherboard or a RAM issue. Easiest thing then would be to test the RAM(if you have 2 sticks, try one at a time, or if you have one stick, borrow one from someone and try it). If the RAM still does not fix it, then yes, it is possible that your motherboard has bit the big one.

However, in my experience, most motherboard fuckups result in the motherboard not working at all. If you're trying to get a video signal, that's a pretty good sign that it's your videocard.