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Graphical error.

Swi1ch

Swi1ch

Swi1ch

Associate
Joined
19 Nov 2008
Posts
1,579
Hey guys, I have an aging system now and periodically i'm getting a crash. My screens lock into a multicoloured vertical/horizontal stripe pattern and sometimes the sound starts looping. More importantly, when this happens and I shut off the power, powering back on does not cause the system to boot. The fans etc work and I can hear the HDD spin up but no boot. Letting the system idle whilst powered down for an hour or so is necessary to get it to boot again.

I'm assuming this is my graphics card as the cause, and I thought it was primarily due to overheating. After giving the machine a thorough blast out with some compressed air this is still occasionally happening.

Any suggestions? I don't have a spare graphics card (or any components, for that matter) to test in the machine. I can deal with the crashes for the most part, but the delay between crash and reboot is concerning me.

Edit.

I should point out that I only crash when playing games (and from what I can tell, only certain games too). I'm running Civ 5 right now and monitoring my temps. My CPU is barely hitting 50 and my GPU is floating around the 80 mark. Without load, my GPU is idling around 60.
 
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My GPU is idling at 36C at the moment and gaming only pushes it to the low 60's so it's still running pretty warm. Maybe the thermal compound has dried out and crumbled?
 
rids57 said:
My GPU is idling at 36C at the moment and gaming only pushes it to the low 60's so it's still running pretty warm. Maybe the thermal compound has dried out and crumbled?
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Any way I can check for that? I'm guessing this involves opening the card up?
 
You didn't say what your graphics card was, so if it was a GTX 480 for example, it might be expected to run at higher temperatures normally.
 
Shiari said:
Yeah, you'd need to basically disassemble it. How about dust, is it somewhat clean? Is the fan running okay?
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I blasted out my case, so I think it's decently free from dust, although the inside of the card could be less so. I'm planning on having another clean out tomorrow.

It's a 5870. I don't think it's powerful enough to warrant that idle temp.

Anyone have any theories why my machine won't turn back on again for a while? Just the card needs to sufficiently cool down or something perhaps?
 
While 60 is a bit on the high side, I don't think it's abnormal for a 5870 ... looking back at a screenshot from not long ago my Asus 5870 was also idling at 61-63c. The reported behaviour suggests its on its way out though ... maybe it can be salvaged still by "baking" it, though it's the first time I've heard of that approach myself.
 
Shiari said:
While 60 is a bit on the high side, I don't think it's abnormal for a 5870 ... looking back at a screenshot from not long ago my Asus 5870 was also idling at 61-63c. The reported behaviour suggests its on its way out though ... maybe it can be salvaged still by "baking" it, though it's the first time I've heard of that approach myself.
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I'm not in a position to replace it should it die, so a high risk/reward strategy like that way not be the best right now :D
 
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