Graphics card FUBAR?

Nerdtendo

So, I was sitting here, playing a game of Starsiege: Tribes, when my screen suddenly went black.

I thought the game crashed, but the sound was still going, and the screen came back after a second. Then it went black again. It continued flashing, on for a second, off for a second, on for two, off. I was worried my monitor was waving goodbye.

I decided to quit out of the game. Now this is where things got interesting.... When the esc screen came up, the flashing stopped completely. I waited a minute, and nothing. When I went back into the game, the flashing started up again immediately.

I turned my PC off, unplugged everything popped the case, cleaned out all the dust, put it all back together, and restarted it. Everything was fine for a good hour or so, I thought maybe the dust was causing heat issues.

But the screen just started flashing again in my game, no where else. Not even as I type this up, and the game runs fine in software mode.

So, video card?

edit:

Duh... Never had any problems running the game before.

Running windows xp
Geforce 4 Ti 4600 (IIRC, GF4 is correct though), drivers up to date
1.3 ghz
256 RAM

Yes, my PC is as old as sin.

Topia

It could be overheating. It's honestly, very very hard to say, especially when it's a delayed-response after you shut down your PC, clean it, and start it up again.

Most of the time, when I was at futureshop, we would tell people over-heating, probably, in situations like this, because it can be hard to tell. My brothers monitor did this, so it may actually be your monitor, actually. Try plugging it into a different monitor, too.

Nerdtendo

I guess I could try that. I'll wait til my room mate shows up, he'd be happy to lend me a hand with the monitor. Heck, he works at a mac store. He might even have an idea of what the issue is.

At worst, it will give me a great excuse to finally buy a new computer.

Topia

Haha, new computers are always nice. And, a mac-ceritfied friend? Thats gotta be useful to have. Mac certifications are tight.

falsedef

Man, I thought my machine was outdated. I guess there was no reason to upgrade if you only play tribes (which ironically is still way ahead of its time). It's likely heating issues at the moment, but even improved cooling wouldn't stop the card's inevitable death.

What server/mod do you play?

AtomBomb

I've actually had a couple ti4600's. I would check to make sure the fan is still working. I got a lot of use out of both of them, but over the years both had their fans fail once. Look carefully too, sometimes they won't stop completely, but instead just spin much slower than they should. If they still make it you can get this really cool arctic cooler that covers the whole card for about $30.

Nerdtendo

I play TRGP, the PCRPG server. Wouldn't join right now though, looks like there may be a server clear coming up in the next few months.

I'll look into cooling. Thanks for the help.

Nerdtendo

Well, my graphics card is actually fine. The fan is running strong.

Turns out, it's my CPU fan that's died. There's a hint of a scent of burnt electronics in there too, but the computer will still run. Hopefully, the smell isn't anything serious, maybe just the smell of a burnt out fan motor.

My room mate might be able to snag me a fan for free from the store he works at. They've got old computer parts, and his boss probably won't care about a cooling fan. We'll just have to see if we can find one that fits.

Shogun

Nerdtendo wrote: »

Well, my graphics card is actually fine. The fan is running strong.

Turns out, it's my CPU fan that's died. There's a hint of a scent of burnt electronics in there too, but the computer will still run. Hopefully, the smell isn't anything serious, maybe just the smell of a burnt out fan motor.

My room mate might be able to snag me a fan for free from the store he works at. They've got old computer parts, and his boss probably won't care about a cooling fan. We'll just have to see if we can find one that fits.

Even so dude a new fan should cost you no more than $10 tax included.

Nerdtendo

Yeah, I know. The fans are cheap as dirt, but so am I. If I can save 10 bucks, you better bet that I'm going to.

Resource management in RTS's and RPG's as well as being a dad making about ten an hour has taught me well.