Graphics cards killed?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chris
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chris

My AMD64 desktop has been running happily for over a year. A couple of
nights ago I was checking my e-mails when the screen froze. First
reaction was it was a mouse failure, but nothing worked - keyboard did
nothing, couldn't Alt-Tab through screens. Ctrl-Alt-Del didn't work. So
power off. Power on: things start OK, but nothing on screen. Tried
booting from DVD - no joy. Hoping it was only a graphics card (and not
HD) I was happy to buy a cheap card to test theory. Machine started up, I
was able to log on, but then display froze again, and I couldn't get it
goig again. So tried again the VGA connector on the M/B (even though M/B
has no graphics built-in). Hadn't worked before, but this time I got a
display; then as I watched the progress bar (this is running Linux) the
display went off again, and the 'no video signal present' message
appeared.

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I suppose the PSU could have gone
faulty. Note that I had done absolutely nothing to the PC before this
started. It's a MSI K9AGM, originally with Club3D Radeon X1600 VGA card,
and NorthQ PSU - I wanted a quality PSU.

What's the best thing to try next? I can maybe get a colleague to test
the VGA cards, but I don't have many options for swapping components.

Chris
 
chris said:
My AMD64 desktop has been running happily for over a year. A couple of
nights ago I was checking my e-mails when the screen froze. First
reaction was it was a mouse failure, but nothing worked - keyboard did
nothing, couldn't Alt-Tab through screens. Ctrl-Alt-Del didn't work. So
power off. Power on: things start OK, but nothing on screen. Tried
booting from DVD - no joy. Hoping it was only a graphics card (and not
HD) I was happy to buy a cheap card to test theory. Machine started up, I
was able to log on, but then display froze again, and I couldn't get it
goig again. So tried again the VGA connector on the M/B (even though M/B
has no graphics built-in). Hadn't worked before, but this time I got a
display; then as I watched the progress bar (this is running Linux) the
display went off again, and the 'no video signal present' message
appeared.

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I suppose the PSU could have gone
faulty. Note that I had done absolutely nothing to the PC before this
started. It's a MSI K9AGM, originally with Club3D Radeon X1600 VGA card,
and NorthQ PSU - I wanted a quality PSU.

What's the best thing to try next? I can maybe get a colleague to test
the VGA cards, but I don't have many options for swapping components.
Click to expand...

Or the monitor is at fault. Try another monitor.
 
chris said:
My AMD64 desktop has been running happily for over a year. A couple of
nights ago I was checking my e-mails when the screen froze. First
reaction was it was a mouse failure, but nothing worked - keyboard did
nothing, couldn't Alt-Tab through screens. Ctrl-Alt-Del didn't work. So
power off. Power on: things start OK, but nothing on screen. Tried
booting from DVD - no joy. Hoping it was only a graphics card (and not
HD) I was happy to buy a cheap card to test theory. Machine started up, I
was able to log on, but then display froze again, and I couldn't get it
goig again. So tried again the VGA connector on the M/B (even though M/B
has no graphics built-in). Hadn't worked before, but this time I got a
display; then as I watched the progress bar (this is running Linux) the
display went off again, and the 'no video signal present' message
appeared.

I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I suppose the PSU could have gone
faulty. Note that I had done absolutely nothing to the PC before this
started. It's a MSI K9AGM, originally with Club3D Radeon X1600 VGA card,
and NorthQ PSU - I wanted a quality PSU.

What's the best thing to try next? I can maybe get a colleague to test
the VGA cards, but I don't have many options for swapping components.

Chris
Click to expand...

did a quick google and this is your board ?

http://www.hardware.info/en-US/productdb/bGNkapiZmJrK/viewproduct/MSI_K9AGM_K9AGM/

according to this you do have an onboard graphics chip (otherwise why would
there be VGA connector ?)
so I would enable it in bios and use that as a comparison. take out the
X1600 of course and uninstall/reinstall
the drivers as usual when swapping cards.

the most likely culprit is heat and that means firstly checking no fans have
died - graphics card, CPU, PSU, mobo chipset
- check them all.
 
It is rare for a hard drive failure to keep a system from POSTing at
all, normally system will post and stop at enumerating the drive, fail
to find a viable boot device, and/or you'd hear a clicking sound from
the drive.

However if there were any doubt you can just unplug the drive and the
system should still display video if posting and video card is working.
Click to expand...

I don't think the drive is faulty - I tried disconnecting it, ad still no
POST.
? ? How is there a vga connector on the board if the board has no built
in video? What motherboard make and model?
Click to expand...

It's the MSI K9AGM (MS-7242). The specifications in the manual make no
mention of video (only audio); but there is a VGA port on the board (and
the manual shows it, but I can find no other information).
If possible you should try the old video card in another system, I'm
suspecting you might be having a progressive PSU failure. ....

What exact model? NorthQ aren't good quality PSU, then the situation is
made worse when they lower the fan RPM which increases temp, reduces
life. This is a potential weak link in your system - but we can't be
sure yet it is the problem. You might leave it unplugged for a few
minutes, open and inspect it (unless you have a valid warranty still and
hope to exchange it), and with it closed again measure the voltage with
a multimeter though this won't find all kinds of faults.
Click to expand...

It's the NQ-4100 500 W. I deliberately chose a more powerful PSU than I
needed. I'm not a gamer, or any other sort of high-demand user, but
wanted plenty of margin in the PSU. I'm not sure what the warranty period
is.

Chris
 
did a quick google and this is your board ?

http://www.hardware.info/en-US/productdb/bGNkapiZmJrK/viewproduct/ MSI_K9AGM_K9AGM/

according to this you do have an onboard graphics chip (otherwise why
would there be VGA connector ?)
Click to expand...

I know that it gives the same name, but that specifically mentions the
VGA chip set, and there is no mention in my manual (see earlier message).
so I would enable it in bios and use that as a comparison. take out the
X1600 of course and uninstall/reinstall the drivers as usual when
swapping cards.
Click to expand...

But I never get to the stage of being able to enter the BIOS - there's
nothing on the screen.
the most likely culprit is heat and that means firstly checking no fans
have died - graphics card, CPU, PSU, mobo chipset - check them all.
Click to expand...

All fans are working. As I said earlier, I'm not stretching this board/
CPU, so there's no reason for it to overheat normally. That's not to say
that something hasn't gone faulty and is causing overheating. Looks like
I'll have to try swapping out the PSU.

Chris
 
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