[Soul Forge]

heya everybody, i just wanna confirm my suspicions. My computer crashes after about a minute of playing any game and I get a jumble of colours/static on my monitor. If i restart it right away, the messed up graphics appear on my startup screens. If i let it "cool off" and start, everything works fine

Video card's fried right?

it's an Nvidia Geforce 7800 gt

-fans are working
-i dusted the cpu
-movies work
-zBrush seems to work (played around for only 5 minutes)

it only appears on games after a few seconds of playing (game menues and movies all work fine)
This did not happen after an install of DirectX or anything. It just crashed one day as i was playing Borderlands (which worked fine for the previous month. Now it happens with all games.

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Video card's fried right?

Maybe.

If the computer works fine when not being stressed by serious gaming, then that suggests to me the card may be fine. Serious gaming is about the most demanding task you can ask of the whole computer, not just the graphics card. Are all fans spinning properly? Do you have good front to back air flow through the case? Is the CPU overheating? Is the PSU adequate? RAM okay?

It does appear to be the video card but you need to start by ensureing it is being properly cooled before declaring it fried. Many graphics cards come with utilities to monitor temps - check your maker's website. Make sure the card's fan is spinning at full speed. Consider blasting a desk fan in there to see if it holds.

[Digerati]

Video card's fried right?

Maybe.

If the computer works fine when not being stressed by serious gaming, then that suggests to me the card may be fine. Serious gaming is about the most demanding task you can ask of the whole computer, not just the graphics card. Are all fans spinning properly? Do you have good front to back air flow through the case? Is the CPU overheating? Is the PSU adequate? RAM okay?

It does appear to be the video card but you need to start by ensureing it is being properly cooled before declaring it fried. Many graphics cards come with utilities to monitor temps - check your maker's website. Make sure the card's fan is spinning at full speed. Consider blasting a desk fan in there to see if it holds.

[rshaffer61]

Maybe a couple of sensor readings might help?

Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply

[Soul Forge]

hmm i may have spoken too soon from my panic. After opening the cpu, dusting everything and checking the fans, my games worked fine (nothing happened for 2 hours). Hopefully this issue is resolved, but i will keep you posted if the problem appears again.

[Digerati]

After opening the cpu, dusting everything and checking the fans, my games worked fine (nothing happened for 2 hours.Hopefully this issue is resolved

That's good news, BUT - for future reference and to avoid confusion, use of the proper terminology is important. You did not open the central processing unit (CPU) for that is a single integrated circuit (IC or "chip") mounted on the motherboard, located inside your computer case. So you opened the case, not the CPU.

[Soul Forge]

Well bad news again folks. Same problem 8 days later. Is that normal for a supposedly "fried" video card? (working for over a week) I have also attached a SpeedFan screen as per rshaffer's suggestion.

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[Digerati]

I like SpeedFan, but like most monitoring programs, it does not always correctly put sensor to label. Your CPU is not running at 0°C, for example.

If that Core value is of the CPU, as I suspect it is, that may be your problem. 69°C is high. If it did reach a little higher, it could have crossed the threshold and shutdown to self-protect. I would try another hardware monitor. Here's my canned text on that:

I would keep an eye on your temperatures, particularly, the CPU temps. Your motherboard utilities disk should have a monitoring program (or check for a more recent version on your motherboard or PC maker's website). If none, I recommend CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs. SpeedFan is a great and popular alternative, or you can try Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, I have found that these programs often have problems properly identifying and labeling the sensor they are reading. The temperatures shown are as accurate as the inexpensive, low-tech sensors will allow, but it may say System Fan instead of CPU Fan. Fortunately, the programs do allow you to edit the labels, so I use Everest to verify the temperatures (as it is able to put sensor to label correctly), then edit the label in the monitoring program. In Everest, look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Unfortunately, Everest does not minimize to the system tray to show real-time temperatures, otherwise, you could use Everest instead of the others.

[rshaffer61]

I agree with Digerati also as I use Speedfan for a base reading but will normally ask for a Everest report right after to compare the readings.

Edited by rshaffer61, 08 January 2010 - 11:25 AM.

[Soul Forge]

Ok i really need help now. Things were fine for the past month but the crashes started again. Basically my computer freeze-crashes after like 1 minute of playing any game (no jumbled graphic mess this time). I think you guys are right. This is an overheating issue. Look at these screenshots i took of Speedfan at various times.

the first one is after booting up computer in the morning. The second one is after rebooting after a crash and the third one is alt-tabbing out of the game after a few seconds of play. Note that the fan speed went up automatically.

With the help of Everest, i know that "gpu" is gpu (is that the video card?), "remote" is cpu, "ambient" is the motherboard, and "hd0" or "temp1" is the "wdc wd32.." i dunno what this is and i don't know that the other ones in speedfan are. i guess "core" is the same as "gpu"

"fan1" is my cpu fan and "fan2" is my chassis fan

well in any case it looks like the temperature goes over 70C judging by the third screenshot. Not good.

somebody help me! Is it safe or helpful to increase fan speeds to 100%? what do i do?

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[rshaffer61]

Download and install Free Everest Home Edition
Open it.
1: In left pane expand Computer folder.
2: Click once on Summary
3: In upper menu, go Report
4: And then to Quick Report-Summary
5: Save it in text file, and paste it in your next post.
Click the + by computer, click on Sensor. Get a screenshot and post it so I can check your temps and voltages...

DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING UNDER THE LINE THAT SAYS "DEBUG- PCI"

[Soul Forge]

ok thnx for helping out rshaffer

btw, is it safe to crank the fans to 100% from speedfan?

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Attached Files

•  Report.txt   8.29KB   344 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Yep no problem at all but you also might check your bios to see if there is a fan setting there also. This usually is better to set if you can since it is part of the system originally.
Your GPU is high for a idle temp for sure.
Is your video card built onboard or a add on card?
It looks like your issue as you stated a overheating GPU and if a add on then you should probably start looking for a replacement.
I see you cleaned the system out abut a month ago and have you checked to make sure the video card fan is turning correctly or does it seem sluggish?

Edited by rshaffer61, 29 January 2010 - 06:21 AM.

[Soul Forge]

1. apparently raising % does nothing. they just go back down.
2. how do i check my bios?
3. built on board? umm... it didn't come with the computer originally, i think there's a newer one installed
4. the fan seems fine. i wouldn't know what a sluggish fan looks like

[bleep], do i have to buy a new video card...

[rshaffer61]

If a add on card then I doubt the bios will help out at all.
With the temps you are showing i would say your card is really having some issues.

[Soul Forge]

sigh... does that mean i need to buy a new one... dang. Oh yea btw, i also noticed the video card fan on the underside, but it seems to work fine.