Broken picture

casey · 24 Sep 2016 at 14:19

My pc suddenly went to a screen ot all short coloured lines with a vague message about s fsult. I restarted but as soon as monitor lghts up all these lines appear wiih loading info all broken up. Has my graphics card packed up.

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 14:26

It sounds like the memory on your graphics card. Can you be more specific about the message you get?

casey · 24 Sep 2016 at 15:11

It was a job to read but appeared to be sn error message and was checking counting to 100%

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 15:12

Have you checked the temps of your graphics card?

Does it need a clean? What card is it?

casey · 24 Sep 2016 at 15:23

Turned it off for couple of hours still the same.
Its an old nvidis gforce 6600

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 16:51

Temps? Use MSI Afterburner to check temps, or something like HWMonitor is also fine.

casey · 24 Sep 2016 at 17:12

Cannot see anything to run on the screen all blotted out. Trying to post this from tablet

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 17:23

Okay, it sounds like you almost certainly have a knackered card. I assume it's out of warranty? Unless someone else can think of anything I've missed, I think it's time for a new gpu. I suppose you could power down the machine, take out the card and then give it a thorough clean. Unlikely to work imo, but could be worth a try. Up to you.

Brizzles · 24 Sep 2016 at 17:26

casey said:
Cannot see anything to run on the screen all blotted out. Trying to post this from tablet

Different types of graphics artifacts can sometimes narrow it down to memory or gpu overclocking.

Booting from cold should, atleast, get you back in.

Sadly, this sounds like the trusty 6600 has decided to give up.

casey · 24 Sep 2016 at 19:16

Thanks for your help but the PC is about 10 yrs old I doubt a new card would work in it. Looks like a new PC

mickyflinn · 24 Sep 2016 at 19:20

Just get a second hand gpu for now untill you buy a new pc.

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 19:32

As above. If it worked fine with a pretty old gpu like the GTX660, then it should be okay with something second hand that has similar performance.

Edit: you do mean the GTX660, and not the really old 6600 that came out around 2004, right?

Edit 2: I imagine that you meant a 6600, which means your pc requires a card with an AGP port connection, iirc? If so, I think the fastest card that is AGP would be the ATi 3870 or 3850. PC spec would be required, though.

Cern · 24 Sep 2016 at 20:49

casey said:
Thanks for your help but the PC is about 10 yrs old I doubt a new card would work in it. Looks like a new PC

If your motherboard has a PCI Express slot for the GPU, then you can put a more recent card in without problems. You might not get its full potential, but it should work. If your motherboard has an AGP slot for the GPU, then your only option is something second hand.

If your CPU is also about 10 years old, it's likely a good time for a new PC anyway.

Quartz · 24 Sep 2016 at 20:56

arc@css said:
Edit 2: I imagine that you meant a 6600, which means your pc requires a card with an AGP port connection, iirc? If so, I think the fastest card that is AGP would be the ATi 3870 or 3850.

I believe there were HD 46xx series AGP cards.

arc@css · 24 Sep 2016 at 21:14

Quartz said:
I believe there were HD 46xx series AGP cards.

Ahh, that might be it.

casey · 25 Sep 2016 at 20:07

Have purchased a new PC. As the old one was so old and CPU fan noise was getting bad I decided it was time to say goodby to old faithful.It had served me well.
Thanks to everybody,

arc@css · 25 Sep 2016 at 20:49

Best move by far. Enjoy.