Curse you , Jim

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metacide
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Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:08 pm

So I was getting ready to hop on TF2 because Jim convinced me I should. I havent played in a while. So I'm joining and stupidly join the wrong team, no big deal, I hit the button to switch teams and BAM! Things go wrong. My screens turn a slightly pink color and lines appear going down both of them.

My first thought is of course "....f#$%."

Not to fret tho, I just hit the reset button, because the computer is completely locked up and wont accept any commands. The system reboots and is loading Windows 7 again, and all is fine with the world. Once it finishes loading Win7 tho, instead of seeing my login screen, my primary monitor is a vibrant purple color even the Ville would be proud of, and my secondary is totally blank. At this point, I'm feeling nervous and I try rebooting again. I'm happy to report that the second time I didnt get a vibrant purple screen where my login screen should be, this time it was a vibrant green.

Rebooting to safe mode with networking enabled everything seems pretty fine. I can even post here on the Ville! Hurray!

I plan to look for a new video card driver (nVidia GTX 280) but I thought maybe the salty old computer geeks here might have an idea or two for me. System log just shows that "the previous shutdown was unexpected". (No kidding, thank you for that wonderful insight).

I believe this to be a problem with either the video card (my primary suspect), the motherboard, or the processor.
Can I get a link to a reliable video card tester?
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by stujitsu » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:18 pm

Nvidia has not been real good about getting the "dual monitor" portion of their drivers right in early versions of thier drivers. You will probably have to play with driver versions to find the most stable one for you. I have found that even using the latest driver will screw up my stability on certian multi monitor configurations.

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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:20 pm

i have used the nVidia drivers for the last ... 2 years? With no issues or complaints until this very moment.

PS. Updating my video driver let me see my log in screen, upon logging in the background was loading then stopped mid load, I could just barely make out what it was suppose to be. The general effect was of a laser light show. I lack the vocabulary to describe it any better than that.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:36 pm

So after completely uninstalling the driver for the video card I can get into Windows normally again, huzzah! Course now Windows is telling me that it wants to reboot so it can finish installing the new hardware it just found. I know a trick when I see one.

However, if the driver has never given me any issue, and there has been no real hardware changes, the only real cause of this issue would be hardware failure, right?
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by stujitsu » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:38 pm

That can also be a symptom of a dying card. I've killed plenty in my time.

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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 8:50 pm

On the bright side this really makes the decision of whether to stay home in anticipation of Portal 2 or go to work tomorrow an easy, easy choice.

So do I order from NewEgg or go to Fry's? Hmm.. NewEgg is cheaper but the card wont be here until Monday at the earliest I think. That'd be a whole weekend without games.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Clay Pigeon » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:09 pm

Driver probably got corrupted. Clean it out and reinstall it.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:55 pm

I have completely uninstalled the driver, and installed the newest version. This takes me back to the laser light show after logging into the desktop.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Clay Pigeon » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:07 pm

doesn't safe mode run 8 bit color at a very low resolution? Perhaps your card is just dying.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by metacide » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:11 pm

That's what I've decided as well. I'm shopping on NewEgg for a GTX 480 at the moment.
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Boss Llama » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:21 pm

It is a little odd that it's fine in safe mode, or with driver uninstalled, but not in normal mode. That suggests NOT being a hardware issue. Hardware is like the honey badger, it doesn't give e sh*t - if it's borked, it's borked. Have you tried running a different, older version of the driver? I'm assuming you continued running your monitor through your GPU, even with the drivers off and in safe mode (as opposed to switching to an onboard video port).

Last time I had a "laser light-show" on my monitor, my card AND the AGP port it was in (this was a bit back) were both shot. One shorted and blew out the other, though I don't know which went first. Thing is though, they looked like this no matter what I did. There wasn't any mode or change that would make it work. I would play around with the drivers a lot more before dumping bucks on a new GPU, unless you were planning to anyway and this is merely a convenient excuse... not that I've ever done that before... honest!
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Cpt._Keyes » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:26 pm

Alizée Fan wrote:unless you were planning to anyway and this is merely a convenient excuse... not that I've ever done that before... honest!
I use hardrive failures as an excuse to the wife to just get a whole new comp...it works
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Boss Llama » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:32 pm

Cpt._Keyes wrote:
Alizée Fan wrote:unless you were planning to anyway and this is merely a convenient excuse... not that I've ever done that before... honest!
I use hardrive failures as an excuse to the wife to just get a whole new comp...it works
Haha, nice. I approve!

It would seem I use any excuse at all to buy a whole new computer. This latest one for me makes 4 new systems in the last 14 months (though 2 of them, my netbook and my new one, were inexpensive non-gaming rigs)
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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by stujitsu » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:35 pm

url]
Alizée Fan wrote:It is a little odd that it's fine in safe mode, or with driver uninstalled, but not in normal mode. That suggests NOT being a hardware issue. Hardware is like the honey badger, it doesn't give e sh*t - if it's borked, it's borked. Have you tried running a different, older version of the driver? I'm assuming you continued running your monitor through your GPU, even with the drivers off and in safe mode (as opposed to switching to an onboard video port).

Last time I had a "laser light-show" on my monitor, my card AND the AGP port it was in (this was a bit back) were both shot. One shorted and blew out the other, though I don't know which went first. Thing is though, they looked like this no matter what I did. There wasn't any mode or change that would make it work. I would play around with the drivers a lot more before dumping bucks on a new GPU, unless you were planning to anyway and this is merely a convenient excuse... not that I've ever done that before... honest!
It could be a hardware issue. There are potions of the GPU that do not get power unless the driver gives it power. If the card has had poor air flow or uneven voltage it can weaken the circuts and cause stability issues. Most video cards do die out right, but having played with overclocking and voltages in my early days, I have seen cards die slow ulgy deaths.

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Re: Curse you , Jim

Post by Boss Llama » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:37 pm

stujitsu wrote:url]
It could be a hardware issue. There are potions of the GPU that do not get power unless the driver gives it power. If the card has had poor air flow or uneven voltage it can weaken the circuts and cause stability issues. Most video cards do die out right, but having played with overclocking and voltages in my early days, I have seen cards die slow ulgy deaths.
They don't even get power without the driver? This I did not know - thanks for the tip.
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