Is my Graphics card Dead?

While was transferring video files from my camera (my HP Pavilion), I plugged in the phone and started transferring photos, when all of a sudden the screen went black (no signal). I waited for a while... nothing. Coincidence? I never plugged in the phone and the camera together before. I figured it crashed, so I hold the power button and reboot. This is what I see: boot screen and the next screen then the Windows scroll bar (normal) then and it goes black and eventually restarts.

My guess is the Graphics card has given up, but I would like a second opinion before I buy (I'm broke). Of course the slot [PCI Express] is different from the two spear cards I have [AGP] to swap.

I unplugged everything but the strict necessary, same thing won't boot, but it will in safe mode. So the card is only half dead? Tried rolling back the display driver, same thing. I uninstalled the driver and reboot, this time it starts normally but it looks like safe mode. Check the display driver, it says it needs to restart to finish installing, I do, so now it only boots in safe mode.

Found an ATI Radeon X550 for sale ($40) or ATI Radeon X800 ($45) How do these compare to my Nvidia?

Any tips please?

JC

 

It looks as if there some memory corruption judging by the screen shots...

As Steve suggested check if it's better when cooled... if so add some extra fans in your case if possible.

Also it's worth trying to remove the card clean the contacts and reinsert. I don't think drivers are the issue as your POST screenshots are showing symptoms.

 

@ Steve: 1- No. 2- Yes

@ Wildlife 1- didn't think of that been the cause, will try removing some. 2- as above (1). 3- Did that.

Update: removed all the memory and tried one card at a time: same result.

With the display driver disabled, it runs fine at low resolution, fine meaning it looks like Win 95 and I can't use Media Center, but I can access my files through network, I'm using my P4 with Win 7, and it does not have Sata (almost everything is on those 2 Sata drives) and MCE is really slow.

 

I was talking about graphics memory (on the card) not system memory, looks like a new card is in order

 

Got it, will the Ati cards I found do or are those too old?

 

Thanks, that was a little overwhelming, but complete.

Let me rephrase, what would be the Ati equivalent for my Nvidia 7500LE? That can handle MCE and gaming (I play Half Life 2 sometimes, but don't have to) (money is an issue for now).

I found another one, this sounds better, EVGA e-Force 8800 GTS, but I'm not familiar with this brand, is it reliable?

 

I'm running this brand / version (320MB) on my main computer. Just hit it's 2 year old birthday and has been rock solid. Run at default settings, pushing a 19" panel with good case cooling. Not a gamer so cant' help you out in that choice ... in it's day it was considered a medium level card.

 

Thanks Dennis, this card is the only one that the seller has contacted me, but he says it needs an extra power cable plugged into it... do you know what he means, and if it will work in my computer? (HP Pavilion a1777c)

 

It's a small cable that plugs into the card then into the motherboard. I had that kind of card andit came with instructions on where to plug it on the card and the motherboard. do not know if the newer cards come with instructions.

 

Is this cable easily available, and how do I know this connector is on my MoBo (Asus P5LP-LE)?

 

Yes, the card does need extra power.
It draws powers from the mobo slot it is plugged into.
Additional, a second power source is required. A power cable from PSU with a 2 x 3 PCIe connector attaches to the 8800 GTS card. You would have to check with Dell if your PSU has this type of cabling/connection for graphic cards. I'm running a Corsair VX550.

 

Thanks Dennis, It's an HP (should have mentioned the HP MoBo name, Leonite-GL8E), anyway I looked around and there are no such cable coming from the PSU only 2 extra connectors with 4 holes in them (maybe reminiscent of floppy?)... and no connectors on the MoBo either. So I'll have to keep looking for a more compatible card...

Thanks again to everyone for the great help!

 

You can get an adapter from a molex to the PCI Express card plug. Make certain the psu is up to running the card though.