Help - Video Card Failure - Mabye Not

Hello I do hope some one can lead me to a good conclusion.

I have a Gateway GT5056 with an AMD Athloon 64 2 3800+
1.5 Mb of Ram and run XP Pro SP3
and it has an onboard GeForce 6100

when I got this 3-4? years ago the graphics were not enough to run a game like NWN so I added a GeForce 7600GS that was recommended and it has served me well. Until Monday morning.

I turned on the computer and went to get coffee, upon my return I find the box is humming, HD doing its thing and a black screen... infact the blue light in the Samsung was blinking its usually steady when in operation.

I shut it down tried again, the monitor never got any video from the box, the blue light just blinked, the box beeped at the right time, and played the Windows theme when it opened the desktop but never got any video to the monitor.

I then shut it down and moved the monitor to the onboard Video output (which is still active, I have never figured out how to inactivate it) and the box boots just fine and the video comes on at the right time no problem, unless I try to game.. the onboard is not adequate.

at this time I think ok its a vid card, no problem, $100 usd later I pop in a new PNY GeForce GT220 with 1024 mb and guess what.... black screen no video....

About the only thing I can think of is the mb or buss has failed. I have no idea how to trouble shoot this now and I am hoping someone can help me.... thanks in advance.

 

The only thing you can do is try the card/s in another machine.

I would think it is the card, and the new one is DOA, but i suppose it could be the Slot. not sure how to troubeshoot that.

EDIT: Do you have any other PCI-E equipment? Try them in the slot.

 

Thanks for the word... I do have another machine but it has no PCI-E slot its even older than my primary.

 

I just discovered one thing that might help.. not me but someone... looking at the Device manager shows the on board Display Adapter GeForce 6100 but does not show the Vid Card It seems that would indicate the card or buss is bad Might have to make a trip to the computer store and ask them to check the card on the bench machine.... so I dont spend my life chasing two bad cards

 

Yep. looks like a dead MB, just one last thing, check that the PCI-e isn't deactivated or something in the BIOS.

 

oook... more fuel for the fire... since last I have noticed that the computer just hangs.. with no warnings or BSOD etc just stops doing anything... also if a vid is running the vid will stop along with anything else.. I am assuming this would indicate the MB is hurting

 

I think you need to assess what is humming before you make any decisions.

It would be good to remove the side panel, turn the PC on and try and isolate (roughly) where the humm is coming from. Maybe the Video Card has "popped out" of it's slot, or the fan on it is dying. These are readily fixable.

 

Agree with Eagle, check everything is seated correctly.
If your Video card has 2 outputs (maybe 2x DVI or 1 DVI and 1 VGA) then try them all.
Also if your card has a fan, is the fan spinning?

Other than that I have to agree with Burrell, sounds like PCI-E slot and/or something else on mobo is toast.

If you have a friend or relative that has a machine with a PCI-E slot then throw your card in there, don't install the drivers but just test the card and see if there's any response. If it works then it's most likely your mobo, if it doesn't respond then it's your card.

 

Sorry guys I said humming.. I ment running or I think I did. I have had the cover off and reseated all boards and ram all fans run, there isnt one on the vid card, but by all visual and touch it seems to be powered (no sparks and its warm) but it is not picked up by the device manager or a utility that is supposed to show them. unfortunatly I dont have another box to slip the card into, I really need more friends I guess. There is a second output on the card but I dont have an adapter for it, still looking. I did check the cost of a mb and if its available is about the 1/3 the cost of a stock computer. ohwell thanks again for the ideas

 

I'd still try to figuer out a way to test the card in another machine, even if you took it to your local PC repair place and just asked them to tell you if it works or not. They may charge you (personally I'd do that free) but I can't see them charging you more than $5 - $10.
Might be worth it just to know it's not the card.... or definitely worth it if it turns out that it IS the card.

If you do decide to go with new hardware, post your budget and what you will be looking to do.
We all love spending other peoples money lol and we can usually between us find you some good deals and get you the most bang for your buck

 

I want to thank you all for the help, guess I am too lazy or stoopid but I decided to go the quick way. I bought an HP 6310, not the best but a good buy I think. AMD 64x4, 6 Gb DDR3 and a 1T hard drive. I will still work on it from time to time and try everything I / we can think of but guess this is old business now. thanks again