Think my graphics card is on it's way out..?

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qwerty7

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#109207 14-Sep-2012 17:53

I think my graphics card is on its way out (it is actually built into the motherboard) but what do you think .. i guess i will try re-installing the driver...

Screen turns black sometimes when browsing web..
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ndu97m&s=6

I move my mouse around and it uncovers bits..
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2nsamc3&s=6

And just recently whole screen turned to this, had to push reset button..
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2zs44ms&s=6

gzt

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#686279 15-Sep-2012 01:27

What is your board exactly?

I suggest monitoring temps with a utility and see if anything looks bad there.

Is your vga fan running?

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#686542 15-Sep-2012 21:26

ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS

I have a temp sesnor on the desktop for cpu and motherboard, nothing looks alarming. Currently at 35c for cpu and 27 c for the mother board.

Vga fan ? The graphics is built into the board. Just have cpu fan, power supply fan and case fan.

I have not noticed the issue outside of using a web browser (chrome) although web browsing is what I mostly do

gzt

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#686606 16-Sep-2012 09:30

The VGA is probably under the orange heatsink in this picture:

Is there a fan on top of that heatsink?

Motherboard temperature is usually the vga with onboard but this varies and the exact position of the sensor makes a difference.

gzt

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#686609 16-Sep-2012 09:32

qwerty7: I have not noticed the issue outside of using a web browser (chrome) although web browsing is what I mostly do

Ignoring the horizontal hold issue for the moment...

Does the blocky issue go away if you close the browser?

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#686880 16-Sep-2012 23:13

gzt:
qwerty7: I have not noticed the issue outside of using a web browser (chrome) although web browsing is what I mostly do

Ignoring the horizontal hold issue for the moment...

Does the blocky issue go away if you close the browser?

just tried it and yes it does, is still cleared when i re-open the browser too ??

gzt

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#686910 17-Sep-2012 06:13

Leaving aside the hsync, this is not unusual behavior for windows.

Whatever the underlying problem it has a relationship to browser resource use.

Next time it starts to happen have a look at Chrome's own task manager

Spanner > tools > task manager

You may notice one or more of the groups/pages there consuming silly amounts of cpu or memory. End that particular task.

Which operating system and how much memory do you have installed?

qwerty7

434 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#687082 17-Sep-2012 12:52

Windows 7 and 2gb ram. Currently using 61% ram while writing this post (just chrome open with 7 tabs). It only started happening about a month ago, used the computer for well over a year before that with no problems. Uses 29% ram at idle with nothing open (apart from all the usual things I have running at idle on the desktop).

Will check chromes task manager next time it happens.

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gzt

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#687102 17-Sep-2012 13:26

Adding the hsync issue and it does look like hardware problems of some kind.

For interest you could try memtest. I am not sure if this will detect and test the shared part of memory but it will be interesting anyway. A couple of hours is usually required.

But looking at it without the hsync issue - this is not unusual behavior for Windows in low resource conditions. Could be something running in the background.

If you are inclined towards it anyway just throw more memory at it and see what happens. 2GB is a bit on the low side for Vista/7.

Another option to investigate is using the drivers supplied by the manufacturer rather than the windows update or nvidia supplied drivers. There can be subtle differences which cause problems.

I experienced an onboard failure a few months ago. An asus board but far earlier than yours. The machine is sitting in a corner awaiting investigation but cause was almost certainly undercooled onboard graphics. I did not get the 'blocky' symptom that you have but it did lose hsync in it's very last moments.