[Ozzie82]

Hi all, another pickle here

I have had some problems with gfx cards this past few weeks.

I bought a 4670 and that was overheating. i sent it back and now have a 9500GT 1GB version.

When i first boot my computer after it has been off all night ,then very first boot from cold, well, soon as it boots , i get these strange coloured lines filling the entire screen , it is impossible to see what is happening on the screen when this happens.

2nd boot, then, it isnt so bad, they are black and white lines and i can just make out the o/s loading bar etc .

only then on the 3rd boot up, does it become normal again and theres no traces of lines anywhere on the screen. After the 3rd boot , if i reboot any amount of times after that. it never happens again then on any reboot. it only happens on two 1st boot and 2nd boot from cold start after computer has been off all night.

I dont understand what is doing this cause it runs just fine then all night and in heavy 3d games where card is maxed out, i dont get any defects of any kind

surely i could not have purchased two bad graphic cards from same comapany that company is play.com by the way, and if anyone here uses them ,have they ever had such bad dealings?

regards

[philthomas]

Give us a bit more info about your system specs
Also do you know what PSU is in the box ?
Did you uninstall previous graphics drivers before installing new card and new drivers ?

[Ozzie82]

Hi Phil, yes sorry specs are

MSI MS-7366
Intel Q6000
Micron Technology 3GB DDR2 1GB & 2GB Sticks
Seagate Barracuda 320GB Sata Hdd
Nvidia 9500GT
OCZ Stealth 500w Psu
AOC 20'' Wide screen tft running at 1680 * 1050 res 32bit

I will know for sure in a bit when i go to shut down the computer for the night , before i do am going to stick in my old ati2400pro card and then wait til morning and boot it up to see if i still get the same effect with those lines ,then al know it is another faulty card :( But if it is not the card is at fault and am still seeing these lines ,maybe the motherboard?

I have been running this mobo now with 2 post beeps this last few months anyways, it seems to be usb related the beeps, cos if i have no usb devices connected then it posts with normal 1x beep, then if i add usb devices, i get the extra post beeps, so i have 3 usbs devices , i get 3 beeps hehe, strange eh. But i dont think that has a direct connection with these coloured lines that am getting now.

Everything was ok on the 2400Pro apart from those post beeps, but since i have added the new card, then this is whats happening now :(

I used an anti static strap always when installing stuff, so wouldnt have killed the card that way i dont think, it did come in the post and the box was very much dented in in one side of it, and the card was moving about inside the box. thats bound to have cause some kinda damage maybe.

regards

[philthomas]

Hmmmm ... 2 x short beeps would indicate a RAM error. Although from your description, it sounds like a PSU problem. I just checked the specs of your PSU and the dual 12v rails deliver 36amps, so that should be more than adequate for your set up.

Let us know how you get on with the 2400pro card. If no better, try removing 1 x stick of RAM and/or swap them around keeping to just one at a time.

[Carbon]

The OCZ units are pretty dodgy, but not dodgy enough that they would cause this problem, I suspect.

[Ozzie82]

Hi guys, yeah i think we hand a talk about the psu problem before and you recommended corsair 450w :) sadly the shop i go with didnt have one in stock and had to end up going with the OCZ brand, does the job i think with just single card setup.

It is the card here now it seems yet again :( put in 2400Pro and started it and 1st boot, not one single defect anywhere, running as it should be . Cant believe i bought two bad cards.

Will have to send this one back yet again and go with something else, will be an o/c 9600 or standard 9800 this time, them cards are well sturdy , they have the case wrapped around the pcb and enclosed fan compared to the 9500GT.

I did already try that out with the ram , but the beeps remain the same , beeps only happen when more than 1 usb device is connected.

Lesson learnt i think, dont buy cheap parts :)

Regards