[PC Problem] weird horizontal lines running through screen

Aldo

Hi H/A, I hope you can help me with this one.

My screen looks like this:

I have uninstalled the nVidia driver, so my screen looks all small and wonky, but that hasn't solved the weird lines running through the screen. I also have these in the BIOS menu and other screens I see before Windows starts. All I can find is that this probably means there's something bad going on with my Motherboard, but no specific things I can try to fix this.

What I'm asking of you is:

1. What steps could I take to fix this?
2. Is this tough to do and should I bring it to a professional?
3. Is this a problem that can only be fixed by replacing parts?

Relevant info:

Windows Vista 32bit
nVidia 8800GTS 512
Intel DP35DP Motherboard.
There's no magnets near the PC.

Unless you guys come up with an answer within 10 hours I'll just bring it a repair shop, but I'd feel silly if this was something I could fix myself (with your help ofc)

Thanatos

First things to check:

1) Re-seat the video card.
2) Test it with a different monitor cable (hopefully you have one lying around to test it with).
3) Test it with a different monitor.

TychoCelchuuu

Graphics card's dying.

Thanatos

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

Graphics card's dying.

Probably.

Try the above, though. You might be lucky.

Aldo

Thanatos wrote:

First things to check:

1) Re-seat the video card.
2) Test it with a different monitor cable (hopefully you have one lying around to test it with).
3) Test it with a different monitor.

1) no results
2) nothing
3) niente

Thanatos wrote:

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

Graphics card's dying.

Probably.

Try the above, though. You might be lucky.

oh balls.

Aldo

So that puts me straight in the category 3 - having to replace parts department, right?

I suppose this means I'll have to move my plans to buy a new PC forward by half a year.

Foomy

8800's are notorious for dying in this exact way, mine did the same thing. and you can probably find 20 threads easily of people asking "Is my 8880 dead?" with that same sort of picture.

when looking for a new gfx card try and buy one with a lifetime warranty i know eVGA offers them on some cards.

Aldo

Foomy wrote:

8800's are notorious for dying in this exact way, mine did the same thing. and you can probably find 20 threads easily of people asking "Is my 8880 dead?" with that same sort of picture.

when looking for a new gfx card try and buy one with a lifetime warranty i know eVGA offers them on some cards.

Well dang, it was cheered on as such a decent card when I bought it. I suppose it was, because it's been serving me well and even ran Witcher 2 on Low detail and Arkham Asylum on High.

Anyway, yes. Guess I'll move forward the plan spend a lot of money. At least I can cannibalize some parts I recently bought.

OK, well thread closed then. Thanks for the quick replies. :^:

m3nace

my 8800's have died one or two times each, every time I've fixed them pretty much the same way you fix dead xbox'es. Here's a link http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606658
It's worked for me every time - it's because the solderings get tiny fractures in them, and heating up the video card will make them liquid again and when it gets cooled down the cracks are gone. Only use this if it's your last resort though (but it pretty much is I think).

Aldo

m3nace wrote:

my 8800's have died one or two times each, every time I've fixed them pretty much the same way you fix dead xbox'es. Here's a link http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606658
It's worked for me every time - it's because the solderings get tiny fractures in them, and heating up the video card will make them liquid again and when it gets cooled down the cracks are gone. Only use this if it's your last resort though (but it pretty much is I think).

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't feel comfortable doing this. It just sounds too scary.

TychoCelchuuu

It's about as scary as baking a cake. The worst that will happen is that you kill your dead graphics card a bit more.

Hahnsoo1

Using your household oven and some foil is way cheaper than buying a new card. Your card is dead... your only recourse is to buy a new one. Or you can try the easy bake oven method of fixing it, and get some more time so that you don't have to buy a new graphics card.

815165

This is really stupid but has fixed very similar problems for me in the past.

Have you blown all the dust out of your shit?

JNighthawk

Just adding another to "my 8800 died this exact same way." I replaced it with a 285 and it's still going strong after ~2 years.

chan2025

Thanatos wrote: »

First things to check:

1) Re-seat the video card.
2) Test it with a different monitor cable (hopefully you have one lying around to test it with).
3) Test it with a different monitor.