Dead graphics card?

[regsmyth]

I have an Advent PC from PC world, it's a couple of years old.
Last night when I turned it on, the screen remained black, although I could hear it firing up and all the usual Windows noises.
It then went immediately into power saving mode.

I swapped the monitor with another one, that one also remained black.
I put the Advent monitor onto another pc, it worked fine.
When I turn off and on the monitor, it shows the Advent logo briefly, then goes into power saving mode.

I'm guessing the graphics card is dead, and since it's not sending a signal to the monitor, the monitor goes into power saving.

Is there any way of verifying this, or of checking what else could be the problem?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

 

[mattylad]

If the PC has been moved at any point, the video card may have come unseated.
(thats if its a separate card & not an onboard one).

If it is separate (you can tell because the video connector is in one of the slots rather than with all the other connectors.

open the case (power off) and push the card down into its connector.

Then power up & try again.

graphics cards are not expensive for basic use.

 

[regsmyth]

Thanks, I just tried that, still no joy.
There is also a monitor connection on the motherboard. Is it worth getting the right lead and seeing if that works, or is it likely to be redundant?

 

[JohnD]

yes, try it, but take the suspect graphics card out first. I would expect the monitor's plug to fit the same type of socket on the motherboard as on teh graphics card, it will be poking out of the back of the case. So you shouldn't need to buy another lead.

Disconnect from power and ancillaries before opening the case. You are supposed to earth yourself to the case before touching any internals. I am not very careful about this and just hold the case with one hand, and take my shoes off to avoid static. You can buy a wrist strap if you want.

Mine has on-board graphics plus a card, if the card is in, the PC uses that, if not, it uses the on-board

It will probably not be as fast for gaming as the separate card but will be OK for text and web.

BTW if you are mean like me, you can often pick up a used last-years graphics card on the web cheap. Gamers are constantly upgrading to faster and more powerful graphics and scrapping the old one. Make sure you buy something compatible.

 

[regsmyth]

Thanks,
The connection on the motherboard has pins, the connection on the graphics card has pin holes, so I need a different lead to try it out.

BTW it's not being mean, it's being thrifty, not wasting stuff, making things last etc etc.

 

[JohnD]

? are you sure the connector you're looking at is for a display?

my motherboard has two blue connectors of the same size, one socket and one pins, one's a display and one's for something else.

 

[regsmyth]

Oh you clever man, you're right, wrong socket.
The right one was the one with the sticker on it saying "use other video port for monitor". Doh.

So we now have graphics. Very very basic graphics. Will look for new card.

Thanks for all help.

 

[JohnD]

what sort of card have you got? I may have one to spare you can have for the cost of postage

 

[regsmyth]

It's a foxconn 7300LE 128MB.

 

[JohnD]

do you know if it take PCI, AGP or what?

(its the socket type that matters first)

edit I think it is this one which seems to be PCI Express
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produ...?list=en-us0000012&series=GeForce+7300+Series


Mine is an AGP

 

[dave.m]

This shows the different slots and contact fittings for graphic cards:

 

[regsmyth]

Yes it's the PCI express type.

So I would just be looking for a PCI Express graphics card, 128MB, and the make or model will be largely irrelevant?

 

[JohnD]

you may be able to get one with more mem and/or faster for a reasonable price on fleabay or somewhere

I got a 128 for £10 incl P&P a few weeks ago, but mine is an older GeForce FX5200, AGP 8x

 

[dave.m]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-8400GS-nVidia-Express-Graphics/dp/B000SAIQWQ

256MB ofown memory so better than the one that you have removed.

dave

 

[regsmyth]

Thanks, so what sort of difference would I expect to see using the 250 instead of 125 during everyday normal computer use?