radeon video card failure?

Hi there!

I have this:
DELL Optiplex 740 RAM 1Gb
AMD 64 Athlon X2 dual processor 4600+ (985 MHz)
video card ATI Radeon X1300/X1550 256Mb RAM

And this is the problem:
A few months ago the PC wouldn't start after some lightning storm. After changing the power unit all seemed well but shortly after that (well not really sure if it had started just before or just after) we started getting some display trouble when playing WOW. I attach a picture of the screen. Typically it happens about 1h after starting playing. We tried to shift the CPU to a well ventilated place in case the card was heating too much but that has not helped. When this happens, minimizing the WOW window then maximizing it normally helps at the beginning but it comes back after a while then it happens more frequently and minimizing the window doesnt do anything anymore so we need to turn the PC off.

Any idea? I don't know much about computers but it seems to be a video card problem. Is there anything I could check or any freeware I could download to test the graphic card?

Thanks for your help!!!

Teho

 

Does anyone have any idea about this problem?

Thanks!

 

video card failure?

Hi again!

We have now reinstalled the driver of our graphic card from the original CD but it didnt help
We still get these strange patterns on the screen, even when we are not playing but simply on the desktop.
Has anyone had this problem before?

Thanks!

 

sounds like card is running too hot. open the side and turn pc on and make sure fan is spinning on video card(if it has one) you may try blowing a regular household box fan at the open side and trying WOW to see if it goes away.also make sure all heatsinks are dust free.

 

Hi ibbonkers

Thanks for your suggestion! Actually we have already done that. I opened the side and turned a fan on and the problem came back after a while. But I havent tried cleaning the heatsinks. I can imagine what they are for but I have no clue what they look like and how many I should expect. Could you tell me what I should be looking for? There was quite a lot of dust inside the chassis. I only vacuumed the bottom of it.

Thanks for your help!!

teho

 

I'm having a simlar problem except with an X800 XT it starting acting weird then i would get graphics errors, and when i booted up the BIOS would be in color and not in black and white. Not sure what the problem is, i think mine just dieing, there is some dust in mine but its pretty clean, any ideas?

 

Your processor should be running at 2.4 GHz but is only at 985 MHz. Even with Cool 'n Quiet enabled it shouldn't dip that low. So that kinda strikes me as odd.

 

Cool 'n Quiet? sounds like something I should enable... How do you do that?
so does anyone knows how I can clean the heatsinks? Is it next to the fan or something like that?

Tack! (as one says in Sweden!)

Teho

 

You have Cool 'n Quiet already enabled, it lowers your computers CPU clock speeds to save power when you arent using it, as for cooling off headsinks you should get air in a can, compressed air which ever you want to call it, it can be found at staples, it is like it sound, compressed air in a can and you attach the straw that comes with it to direct the flor and blow it at the heatsink to remove the dust. (Dont flip the can over though it will spray out some liquid that REALLY cold!!). You can normally find canned air at staples or other stores that sell computer components.

If you have already tried blowing a large desktop fan at the graphics card then it may be failing, im not really sure if video cards can fail, i know it has happened to me once and looks like to me that its happening again. But i would recommend a through cleaning of the case and its heatsinks, if that doesnt solve anything your VGA card may be failing. Also does your graphics card have a heatsink / fan on it? If a full cleaning of the case doesnt help then i would recommend removing the heatsink fan on your X1300 cleaning off the thermal paste with Isoproponal alocohol and getting some thermal paste (like artic silver) and apply it back onto the heatsinka dn re attach it, but thats a fair amount of work and i would recommend using it only as a last resort.