Help me save my video card :(

[iamaelephant]

Hey people, I have major problems.

First my system specs-
Albatron KX600pro motherboard
ATI Radeon 9600xt
512mb RAM
Athlon XP 2500+

I recently bought V8 Supercars Race Driver 2 (ToCA RD2 in the US) and it seems to have destroyed my computer
I have had nothing but problems with this game since I bought it. It has an annoying crash to desktop bug that I cant seem to get rid of. I have tried new and old drivers for my video card, sound (onboard AC'97) and chipset drivers. Nothing seems to help.

Unfortunately, it got a whole lot worse tonight.
I was playing with the game settings trying to get it to work properly, and it locked up in one of the menus. The game doesnt normally lock up, just crashes to desktop, so it was quite unusual. I had to give my computer a cold restart because nothing was responding.

Unfortunately, when I reset my computer... nothing happened. It made all the right sounds, but nothing showed up on my screen. It seems to be booting up, but the video card is not responding, I just get a message on my moniter that says the moniter is responding, please check your PC and signal cable.

Anyone know whats up? Please guys, I'm really depserate here
I dont care about a fix for Race Driver 2 (would be nice tho ) I just want to be able to use my computer again.

I just formatted the computer today, so there's no dodgy software on it, and I dont overclock. Is my video card fried? What can I do?

 

[Gunner]

Well you formatted your pc, you logged on windows right? did you remove the card before reinstalling windows? If yes you have to try the card again.

 

[iamaelephant]

No I didnt touch any of my hardware when I formatted. Thanks for your help anyway. The computer worked fine after the format. I tried playing Race Driver 2 (which I had already played a few times after the format) and it locked up in one of the menus. When I restarted my computer, the problems started. Seems very strange to me.

 

[SidewinderX]

well, see if the card is secruley seated in the AGP slot. Take it out and reseat it.

 

[blahblahblah]

The chances of your video card frying is next to nothing. So your video card should be fine.

What game settings where you playing with when the computer locked up?

 

[iamaelephant]

My card is seated correctly, thanks Sidewinder.
Blahblahblah - normal game settings that I've always played on. This seems most peculiar...

 

[theGreenBunny]

Does it fully complete the normal boot phase, just without any video output? If not, you could try checking the diagnostic LEDs on your mobo to see where in the boot it fails (your mobo manual should have a section dealing with the leds).

If you have another vidcard lying around you could try booting with that.

Both these things won't solve it, but it may help to determine if the problem is really the vidcard.

 

[iamaelephant]

Thanks for your help guys. After reading through literally over 100 tech support pages and forum threads, I have determined that my problem lies either in my RAM, Motherboard or CPU. When I try to boot, I get all my case lights, Mobo and graphics card fans and keyboard lights, but no Power On Self Test (POST) beeps at all.

Tomorrow I will swap my RAM with my brother's to see if it makes a difference. Failing that, is there any way of telling which part is fried, between the CPU and motherboard? I can't swap my brother's CPU onto my computer because he has a Pentium CPU and my motherboard only supports AMD.

The one thing I dont understand is how one of these parts could have failed. My computer was working perfectly (except for that one game) and then suddenly it just locks up and wont boot anymore. My entire computer is less than 5 months old so I really dont understand what happened.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

The one thing I dont understand is how one of these parts could have failed. My computer was working perfectly (except for that one game) and then suddenly it just locks up and wont boot anymore. My entire computer is less than 5 months old so I really dont understand what happened.

Oh I had that happen last week when reinstalling windows 2000 pro. Trust me I checked what it could be and everything, then I went into bios and forgot I had the cpu clock speed at 177 still, and not 166 like normal, changed it, restarted. Come back to installing, goes through with no problems, and the computer is working now, perfectly. Sucks for you though, check everything on the computer, check bios too. Make sure nothing is dramatically changed because that might be what the problem is, never know. :cheers:

 

[SidewinderX]

hmm... If it doesn't POST....that spounds like a mobo poblem to me..

 

[iamaelephant]

Thanks for the help Disturbed, but I can't actually get to the Bios, I get absolutely nothing when I switch my computer on. I have reset the CMOS using the jumpers on my motherboard, but it didnt help.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

You try f12, delete keys at all, before windows boots??

 

[iamaelephant]

There is no point, Disturbed. Nothing shows up on my moniter at all. All I see is a message that says something along the lines of "Moniter working. Check signal cable and PC." Windows never boots. My computer doesnt even beep when I turn it on, which means it is definately an issue with RAM, CPU or Motherboard (I think graphics card might be a possibility, but I hope not because I love my 9600xt and I can't afford another one)

 

[blahblahblah]

Try these things (if you haven't done them already)

- Reseat your video card, RAM and IDE cables
- Unplug all of your power connectors and then plug them in
- Try booting the computer with another graphics card
- Turn on your computer and make sure your graphics card fan and CPU fan is running (however, do not touch anything in your computer when it is running)

Also, do you have this computer on a surge protector? Do you regularly have power surges? You may want to try another power supply (can't hurt to try everything).

 

[iamaelephant]

UPDATE...

My brother and I tested all the components on my computer and found the motherboard is at fault. A new mobo is on it's way on warranty, courtesy of http://www.ascent.co.nz (absolutely awesome people with amazing customer support. If you live in New Zealand, this is where you need to buy your parts). I'll let you guys know what happens, the new motherboard should arrive in 2 days.

Thanks for all your help guys.

 

[Subatomic]

Hey, no problem.

Oh yea I didnt help you or do anything...
if any of you guys think you can help me, please read the "big microphone/soundcard problem" thread, my soundcard seems to be messed up =/

 

[iamaelephant]

UPDATE #2

The new motherboard arrived today so I plugged it in and everything is fine now

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Glad to hear m8!

 

[blahblahblah]

UPDATE #2

The new motherboard arrived today so I plugged it in and everything is fine now

So the motherboard just went kappput on you? Glad you got everything taking care of.

 

[iamaelephant]

Thats right blahblahblah, pretty strange eh? Ah well, it was replaced for free under warrantee. It's an Albatron KX600 pro, as far as I know it's not a notoriously unreliable board or anything like that.