Last week while playing a game my computer froze up and the sound started looping. Some of the colors on the screen turned pink/green. I restarted and windows loaded but the desktop colors were distorted and my 2nd monitor was not displaying anything. My first thought was that my video card had just died.

I then:
- tried another monitor
- updated the drivers and restarted, same thing only more distorted video
- reseated video card

This now appears on the BIOS and windows splash:



Now the system will not get further than the Windows load screen, it blacks out just after. It appears to boot fine in Safe Mode.

Normal boot:


I then:
- tried another video card, no change
- tried another processor, no change
- reseated RAM
- updated BIOS

All fans are working and everything appears to be connected correctly. No new hardware had been recently installed. I don't have another motherboard to test. I don't have any other RAM sticks to test.

System Build:
XP Pro with latest updates
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Model BX80557E6600
OCZ OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply
G.SKILL (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express Motherboard
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3

Your help is much appreciated.

8/19/2008 6:26:34 PM

well it's not your processor, memory, or power supply.

it's pointing towards your graphics card, PCIe slot on your motherboard, montior cable, or your monitor.

also try a different video cable.

n/m, not driver issue if you're noticing it upon POST

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 6:55 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2008 6:53:06 PM

Quote :

"It appears to boot fine in Safe Mode."

Let me clarify this, windows loads fine after the strange bios/windows load screens.

[Edited on August 19, 2008 at 7:23 PM. Reason : \/ it was too late to edit my original post]

8/19/2008 7:06:15 PM

fact of the matter is, if you are facing this problem when POST-ing, it has nothing to do with Windows.

8/19/2008 7:21:24 PM

bump

8/20/2008 8:01:27 PM

Have you tried each stick of ram individually?

Seems strange, but I had some ram cause weird freezing/graphics under load.
I checked the sticks and replaced the bad one.

8/20/2008 10:09:59 PM

Quote :

"\/ it was too late to edit my original post"

When he says POST he's talking about the Power On Self Test (what you referred to as the BIOS section)

He's not commenting on your wolf web posts.

8/21/2008 3:15:06 AM

I've seen this before and it's always been the video card. The fact that you tried a different, know-to-be-working video card and still had the problem is leaving me baffled.

8/21/2008 8:19:46 AM

Assuming the video card is fine I would try replacing the cable first, and then maybe trying an old PCI video card next to make sure it isn't the pcie slot that is bad. If that doesn't fix it (and you've tried messing with the RAM too) I'd say you have something wrong on your motherboard.

8/21/2008 8:59:22 AM

I purchased a motherboard and connected the processor, 1 stick of RAM, video card and power supply and I still see lines on BIOS.

Swapped processors, nothing
Swapped RAM sticks, nothing (same brand RAM, just another stick)
Swapped video cards, nothing

What am I missing here?

8/25/2008 8:33:26 PM

so can you boot to normal desktop?

8/25/2008 8:56:30 PM

only in safe mode

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 7:23 AM. Reason : a normal boot results in the black/white checkered screen and it shuts off a few minutes after]

8/26/2008 7:23:04 AM

oh you still see line on bios just saw your post above. Hum. I baffled as well.


You tried all this on a different power supply?


[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 7:39 AM. Reason : ps]

8/26/2008 7:27:42 AM

No, only things I do not have to test with are power supply and memory.

8/26/2008 7:42:24 AM

at least try to switch the power cables if you have spare. the ones inside the computer not the ac cord.

Dont want to look it up but does the graphics card require it own power slot?

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 7:54 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 7:56 AM. Reason : ,]

8/26/2008 7:52:25 AM

I have two 4-pin connectors for the motherboard and 2 pcie connectors for the video card and I've tried both of those, no luck.

Wtf causes this is what I wonder:


What can I expect for rates if I was to pay someone to check this out? I am slowly losing patience with this machine.

8/26/2008 6:17:58 PM

That looks like the graphics card.

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 8:29 PM. Reason : GFX]

8/26/2008 8:29:10 PM