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Can a graphics card just work in windows?

TALON1973

TALON1973

TALON1973

Soldato
Joined
28 Jul 2004
Posts
5,010
Location
llanelli , south wales
Just sold my old pc that had been gathering dust in the corner.

After taking all my details off I sold it to someone that's pc savy. Now I admit I never actually tested the machine properly for gaming.

The guy has come back to me hours later saying its works fine in Windows, but won't fire up a game at all. He seems to think the graphics card is faulty. Is that possible?
 
It's possible yes. However there are a lot of other potential causes for it not working in games than him jumping straight to it's faulty.

Did you sell it as a pre built, fully assembled machine? What were the specs? Has he reinstalled an OS, presumably he would have.
 
VaderDSL said:
It's possible yes. However there are a lot of other potential causes for it not working in games than him jumping straight to it's faulty.

Did you sell it as a pre built, fully assembled machine? What were the specs? Has he reinstalled an OS, presumably he would have.
Click to expand...

This is a 2nd hand machine. Everything was installed, including the OS. Now I know he said he was going to reinstall his own OS when he took it home. Literally the only thing I didn't check was that the card gamed before I sold it to him.
 
Specs are


Intel Core i5-6500 3.20GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
CP-586-IN

Asus H110M-K Intel H110 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard
MB-684-AS

Team Group Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16D
MY-066-TG

Msi 270x 4gb graphics card
250ssd and 500gb hd
windows 10 when I gave it to him .... no idea if he’s changed it..... probably
 
It all depends on what issue he is seeing. On some of my older games they refuse to load, but it's nothing to do with the GPU, it's simply that the older games have some pre-requisite software that isn't installed anymore as a standard Windows install. For example, Distant Worlds Universe, you have to have several odd combinations enabled for it to work.
 
VaderDSL said:
It all depends on what issue he is seeing. On some of my older games they refuse to load, but it's nothing to do with the GPU, it's simply that the older games have some pre-requisite software that isn't installed anymore as a standard Windows install. For example, Distant Worlds Universe, you have to have several odd combinations enabled for it to work.
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I’ve no idea what he’s trying to play. I’ve literallyjust had him message me again to say he’s not happy with it. Now I have an issue of I think he’s put his own OS on it . I used to have my own original copies of windows on disc . Was unable to find them when I went looking.

I’m not totally happy about taking it back. But I never fully tested it before I sold it to him .
 
TALON1973 said:
I’ve no idea what he’s trying to play. I’ve literallyjust had him message me again to say he’s not happy with it. Now I have an issue of I think he’s put his own OS on it . I used to have my own original copies of windows on disc . Was unable to find them when I went looking.

I’m not totally happy about taking it back. But I never fully tested it before I sold it to him .
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I wouldn't accept it back until you have more details imo. It is possible it's faulty, but if it was transported fully assembled who's to say it wasn't damaged in transit. I think you need more info from him sadly.
 
VaderDSL said:
I wouldn't accept it back until you have more details imo. It is possible it's faulty, but if it was transported fully assembled who's to say it wasn't damaged in transit. I think you need more info from him sadly.
Click to expand...

He's come back to me saying he will pay £150 ( original sale was £200) as he will need to get a new card. Now I'm getting some alarm bells as during our chat before he bought it, he said he was going to be putting in a newer card... I'm sure he mention a radeon 5600 or 5700 or a long those lines. But he definitely mentioned an upgrade.
 
My issue now is I’ve no idea what he’s done to the machine. And I know for a fact he was going to be putting another card in.

and asking for a £50 discount on a graphics card that cost me £170 6 YEARS AGO from oculi I think is taking the biscuit.

Product

MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming Edition OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GX-242-MS
1
£169.99
£169.99

25 Jan 2014
£169.99
 
For the hassle it's worth, is £50 worth the headache of recieving a bunch of messages and having the machine back for you to test and figure out it was the GPU after all? :D I'd either tell home to get lost, sold working or give him the £50.

My old retired 970 work fine in Windows soon as a game fires up it goes blank. I believe old cards suffer from memory going faulty.
 
Sounds like he hasnt got the gpu drivers on it.
Download teamviewer, tell him to download teamviewer quicksupport, connect to the PC and see what he is doing and has or hasnt got setup. Tell him to record a video and upload it to youtube of it not playing games. Ask for proof.

reinstall his own OS
Click to expand...

This exhonerates you from all liability. He has changed the machine from a working state to an unknown state so he needs to provide proof of it not working.

Also its a 270x you cant game much on that ? Is he expecting it to run AAA titles at ultra or something ? If its got a different GPU in then how can it be your fault ?

Thats like selling a car, then they put a new engine in, it doesnt work then you get the blame for it not working !
 
varkanoid said:
Sounds like he hasnt got the gpu drivers on it.
Download teamviewer, tell him to download teamviewer quicksupport, connect to the PC and see what he is doing and has or hasnt got setup. Tell him to record a video and upload it to youtube of it not playing games. Ask for proof.



This exhonerates you from all liability. He has changed the machine from a working state to an unknown state so he needs to provide proof of it not working.

Also its a 270x you cant game much on that ? Is he expecting it to run AAA titles at ultra or something ? If its got a different GPU in then how can it be your fault ?

Thats like selling a car, then they put a new engine in, it doesnt work then you get the blame for it not working !
Click to expand...

The guy that bought it used to work in a computer shop. Which makes things abit more awkward. I’m assuming he knows his stuff. It’s just the conversation verbally BEFORE the sale concluded was he was going to be swapping out the card anyway for a newer one.
 
varkanoid said:
Sounds like he hasnt got the gpu drivers on it.
Download teamviewer, tell him to download teamviewer quicksupport, connect to the PC and see what he is doing and has or hasnt got setup. Tell him to record a video and upload it to youtube of it not playing games. Ask for proof.



This exhonerates you from all liability. He has changed the machine from a working state to an unknown state so he needs to provide proof of it not working.

Also its a 270x you cant game much on that ? Is he expecting it to run AAA titles at ultra or something ? If its got a different GPU in then how can it be your fault ?

Thats like selling a car, then they put a new engine in, it doesnt work then you get the blame for it not working !
Click to expand...

He's saying the 270x isn't working for games. Windows itself is fine. Atm I don't know if he's put his own OS on it, but he did say he was going to. And no he wasn't going for high end gaming.
 
varkanoid said:
Sounds like he hasnt got the gpu drivers on it.
Download teamviewer, tell him to download teamviewer quicksupport, connect to the PC and see what he is doing and has or hasnt got setup. Tell him to record a video and upload it to youtube of it not playing games. Ask for proof.



This exhonerates you from all liability. He has changed the machine from a working state to an unknown state so he needs to provide proof of it not working.

Also its a 270x you cant game much on that ? Is he expecting it to run AAA titles at ultra or something ? If its got a different GPU in then how can it be your fault ?

Thats like selling a car, then they put a new engine in, it doesnt work then you get the blame for it not working !
Click to expand...

Moral of the story here is the OP has specifically stated he has not tested the machine. Now the same question could be asked, if you bought a car and the engine blows up on the way home. Would you be be asking for a refund or compensation for a new engine?

I think this OP need to man up and decide what to do. Why mess about with team viewer? Just refund him. You even say it's not been tested.
 
Steven Rimmington said:
Moral of the story here is the OP has specifically stated he has not tested the machine. Now the same question could be asked, if you bought a car and the engine blows up on the way home. Would you be be asking for a refund or compensation for a new engine?

I think this OP need to man up and decide what to do. Why mess about with team viewer? Just refund him. You even say it's not been tested.
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he might be lying sounds to me like buyer is trying it on. If its not working it doesnt take much to provide proof, a screenshot, a video. Its not hard. When you take back an item to a shop do you just say this is faulty and get your money or do you show how its faulty, and quite often they test it while you wait. Basic PC return policy for companies so why can the buyer not do it.

Now I admit I never actually tested the machine properly for gaming.
Click to expand...

We would need to know what this actually means.
 
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For what it's worth, a while ago I bought a used 280x off ebay for my wife's PC. Fitted it, it booted to windows just fine and worked lovely for hours. Later on tried a game and it would just crash as soon as any kind of load was put onto it. I contacted the seller who insisted it had been in their PC for years working perfectly. So I did some investigation myself. Pulled the cooler off the card and there was some dust behind there. So blew it all out, washed the entire card with IPA and tried it again, it's been faultless ever since.

So it's entirely possible that something as simple as a bit of dust has gotten somewhere while it was being moved around.
 
varkanoid said:
he might be lying sounds to me like buyer is trying it on. If its not working it doesnt take much to provide proof, a screenshot, a video. Its not hard. When you take back an item to a shop do you just say this is faulty and get your money or do you show how its faulty, and quite often they test it while you wait. Basic PC return policy for companies so why can the buyer not do it.



We would need to know what this actually means.
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Many people do try it on, selling second hand parts is a pain. But I am going on the basis the OP even said he did not test the GPU in games. This is a red flag :D should have kept that quite LOL.
 
That cards worth about 25 quid not 50 so if decide to refund them partially tell them 25 quid
And depends how you sold it to him?
If ebay then you will lose
Did he collect it?
Have chance to see it running?
And yeah I know that's awkward currently
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
That cards worth about 25 quid not 50 so if decide to refund them partially tell them 25 quid
And depends how you sold it to him?
If ebay then you will lose
Did he collect it?
Have chance to see it running?
And yeah I know that's awkward currently
Click to expand...

It was sold on FB locally. I've settled on £30 refund via PayPal. My own fault for not game testing beforehand.
 
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