Is my graphics card dead?

[andysd1]

here you go ste,
http://www.digitalpromo.co.uk/advanced_ ... phics+card

just at the back of your works

[huggy]

as your motherboard has nvidia chipset i would go for a nvidia card,if your not planning on running games then a cheap and cheerfull will do the job,try overclockers,i get all my stuff from there and delivery is very fast and customer support is bob on, heres a link to a cheap and cheerfull card http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1010

[Alchamist]

I'll have a look through my collection of bits .. I might have one

[Drift]

Thank you

[audiman]

sorry drift but I am without internet at home just moved house and only there for about 3/4 months having extension built then moving again so i am hijacking friends and family internet when there using works internet

i agree with other comments if its an nvidia chipset then try and get a nvidia card if you want to go really cheap then you could just get a pci card and not a pci express card (the 3 white slots you can see in your picture) in theory vista should see it when you boot up after its has been plugged into the system and install a generic driver then you would be able to go to nvidia and download the latest detonator drivers which would then update the card drivers

cheers

Lee

[huggy]

if you are planning on running a game or two i have a bfg 7600gt oc that ive kept as a backup incase my own gpu packs in,i bought it new about 2 years ago but its only been used about 6 months as i upgraded to a faster card,its not the best gaming card but it will run cod4 on low settings,if you want it its yours for £20
this is the card http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr76256gtoce.aspx

[adyclemo]

Definately PCIExpress, a cheap NVidia card should do the trick PCWorld stock the N\Vidia 8400GS for £30 more than good enough unless you play games, any card greater will require a bigger power supply unit as i beleive these machines only came with a 250/300watt psu.

Do you get any beeps from the machine? Beeps are a sign the mainboard is ok.
Does CPU fan seem to run flat out? Possibly fault with mainboard if it does.
Try taking out the 4 sticks of memory and power on the machine. Does it beep? if not mainboard could be dead, if it does try a new GFX card.
Stil no joy? Check USB ports for damage, if these are damaged then it could be shorting the mainboard if the contacts are touching each other. Other possible fault could be PSU dropped its voltage on one of the rails, unplug both HDD and optical drive. If it works then switch of and connect the optical drive and power on, if it still works then power down connact another device and power back on. Do this till either all devices are connected back up or untill it dont work.

Hope you get it sorted PCs do my head in. Kinda wish i didnt work with the bloody things.

[Drift]

took out the memory sticks out and powered up, no beeps, the fan is spinning an now you mention it is spinning louder than normal, thought I was just paranoid,seems its bust then?

You kind of lost me with the other bits, not that hot with electrics.

[huggy]

its sounding like power supply or motherboard is dead,same thing just happend to my mates and it turned out to be power supply,my mate has all the gear to diagnose hardware problems including a power supply tester and whats called a probe that plugs into a pci slot and it tells you what the problems are,i have software that runs lots tests to diagnose faults but as your pc wont post thats no good to you,if you could get the pc to me i can borrow the tools to sort it,if you lucky its just your power supply,you can get a cheap 600w to 700w psu on ebay for around £35 with bags of room for any upgrades you might want to do in the future,if its the motherboard then your looking around £70 for a new one,here is an ok board for £61 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASUS-SKT-AM2-M4A7 ... 19badb3715 and some here for under £50 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productli ... 483&mfrid=
if you do have to replace the motherboard then chances are you will also have to rienstall windows.if there is stuff you need backing up from the hard drive then that wont be a problem

[adyclemo]

Unplug this little lot. If still not working then you could have a dead mainbord or a power issue but less likely.

If it works plug them back in one by one and switching it on inbetween connecting each cable, dosent matter what you start with.

Unfortunately i dont think you live near me otherwise i would take a look for you.

[Drift]

Cheers guys, I tried the above, the machine fires up fine but the cooling fan on the processor is now going hell for leather all the time and still nothing on the monitor.

totally fed up, might pinch her credit card and get this I wish

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers ... livery/13/

[adyclemo]

Sorry to say it sounds dead. Believe it would probably have been its 6th anniversery this year.

Shop around for a new rig, that's not a bad spec but think you could probably get a bit better deal.

[Drift]

thought as much, so, who knows what 500 credit card notes will get me quickly? with windows 7 on

[furball]

Seems to me this is all getting a bit over-complicated. If the CPU fan spins up then it isn't going to be a power supply problem. That said if you take all the memory out and it doesn't beep like mad then the MB is definitely dead.

Used to be that MB manufacturers used a standardised system of beeps so you could tell what was broken by how many beeps it made.

If you're going for a new box, there are these guys who are over in Sale and seem to have nice toys...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIBOX-GA-FAST-AMD ... 2eaa45211b

[huggy]

Seems to me this is all getting a bit over-complicated. If the CPU fan spins up then it isn't going to be a power supply problem.

my mates was doing the same thing and it had one rail down in power supply i wouldnt spend £500 for a new one,i would just get a better psu and a good am2/am3 motherboard so you can use the same cpu and memory,then when the time comes that you need more speed you only need to upgrade your ram and cpu.

[adyclemo]

Due to the age of the machine the cpu wouldnt fit the new socket mainboards and memory may be pushing it thus resulting in a complete rebuild. You may be able source a second hand part not knowing the working condition of it, a new part you would be lucky.

Just please what ever you do think twice about any recon units from PCWorld we see a 50% returns rate as the numptys pay a third party company to do the refurbs who dont actually test them they just plug them into a network and re-image them, then take the assumption that because its re-imaged ok its not faulty. When they work they are generally a solid rig.

[Drift]

After much searching and your advice I am getting one of these

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-b ... 1-pdt.html

A guy in works wife works for the parent company and he can get me 10% off.

one reason Im going with them is most online companies need you to send the pc off when/if it breaks, pc world is only opposite my works and I can take it in if needed.

many many thanks for all your input guys, I for one are a bit wiser to the guts of a pc now

thanks again FOG

[huggy]

Due to the age of the machine the cpu wouldnt fit the new socket mainboards and memory may be pushing it thus resulting in a complete rebuild

the newer am3 socket is backward compatible with a am2 cpu,ddr2 is getting old but still plenty fast enough for 4ghz+ cpu's,ive got 1066 ddr2 but it only runs at 800mhz,to run it faster i would have to overclock my cpu to over 4 ghz,i would never buy a new machine though as my kids all have a pc so when i upgrade i recycle the other parts into the kids machines

drift this machine your looking at http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-b ... 1-pdt.html is an ok machine but its on its limits meaning no chance of upgrading in the future,the cpu is an old socket(lga775) and its running ddr2 memory,if its an intel machine your looking for then get one one with lga1156 socket or even better get the lga1366,and also with ddr3 memory,that way you will still be able to upgrade in a few years

[Drift]

I got this, the next one up from the one above, I got it for just under £510

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-b ... 4-pdt.html

I have no idea what a lga1366 socket is

Its more reliability and able to keep up with most standard programs Im after as opposed to gaming power or the like, just the best I could find for the money really.

Oh it has a cool tray and ports on the top for cameras and phones to be charged or sync'd (now thats my level )


And thank god for Xmarks http://www.xmarks.com/ Ive got all my book marks back

Now about those wedding photo's on the old HD (I havent told her yet )

[Road Hog]

Now about those wedding photo's on the old HD (I havent told her yet )

Just get a caddy put the old HDD in it plug into new machine & call it an external back-up all will be