BleepingComputer.com: Gfx Card Help!

Hi guys

Today is a very sad day. I got a Ram stick from my friend put it in and ran mem test and got a bunch of errors cause of timings of my ram. I changed my ram timings and it still didnt work so i reset the cmos and i sill didnt work. I was feeling sick at the time so i lay down and slept while my friend played games.

When i woke up i asked my friend why he wasnt playing games nd he said because i keep getting a bunch of artifacts and can only play for five minutes until the screen switches off.. He was playing perfectly for an hour priar to the screen becoming corrputed. Now i can just get into windows and play around for afew minutes until the screen switches off. Now the screen is corrupted all the time though even through boot up i have strange artifacts appearingand i can barely see the screen.

So i assumed it was the ram stick so i took it out but the problems still continued, i tried re-installing drivers but still to no avail. Now i started troubleshooting. I took out a spare graphics card i have and put it in and had no such problem.

My conclusion is it had something to do with the RAM stick i put in as i have been playing games for 2-3 weeks with no problems.

ANY suggestions, links, fixes or tips are welcome.

You reinstalled the video drivers?

Maybe try a different slot (if its a PCI card.)

When you say "Play for only 5 min" do you mean graphics intesive games or just windows itself? If you can run windows try running 3dmark and benchmark the card. If the card fails to benchmark you may have damaged it by static discharge. Since the computer works good with a different card.

To check the memory download and burn Memtest86 to a CD then reboot the computer with the Memtest86 disk in and follow the prompts to run the test. That will tell you if the new stick of RAM is good or not. http://www.memtest86.com/

Also if Your running certain types of RAM you have to install it in pairs. You cant place a 512 stick in the same pairing as a 256 stick. I'm not that good at explaining it.

Thanx for all the help guys.

@sneakcyber now i cant get into windows without the screen going black but it comes back within 5 - 10 seconds. Also if i did damage it with static charge could i send it in or fix it it myself?

@ Blackspyder the thing is i took the stick out but i still have the Graphics problem..

If the card is under warranty I would send it in. If its not under warranty theres not much you can do unfortunatly. There is a slim possibility of reparing it yourself if your an electronics repair tech and can test the components of the card. I am not sure exactly what could have been damaged on the card.

Yeah i guess im gonna have to RMA th card but how do i do that?
I sent a message to GeCube and the response hasnt come back yet. If i took it to a shop would they be able to fix it.

and last bu not least. I fitted a Zalman cooler onto it but i put the original cooler back on but lost one of the screws. Does that count as a warranty void?

You'll have to check the warranty card. Usually any and all modifications done to the component voids the warranty. Send it back and see if they notice. RMA stands for Return Merchandise Authorization and some stores will give you a new card and send the old one back for you. Online retailers mostly rely on you sending the card to the manufacture.

This post has been edited by Sneakycyber: 28 June 2007 - 05:00 PM