Video card doing really strange things...

[ElectroBlaster]

Ok I dont understand what the hells going on but my htpc is acting weird. The video card just wont kick in from a cold boot and needs at least 3 hard reboots to get it stable. I will always get garbled screens, patterns, green colours and more often than not, just plain blackness... until its been reset 3 or more times and then it works 100%... im well stumped lol

its an old agp radeon 9600, an all in wonder version. hasnt been overclocked ever and just always hooked up to a 32" rgb tv set.

Nothings changed with how he pc is setup, havent overclocked and there isnt exactly bags of hardware taxing the psu:

160gig seagate sata
18x liteon dvd writer
audigy1
ocz 2 x 512mb pc3200
antec aria mini case
300watt antec psu

could the video card be retiring? its done a good job over 4 years solid recording so tbh its paid for itself over and over.

 

[Darkwave]

As good as that card was back in its day, I think those symptoms are purely age showing TBH. Assuming the heatsink/fan on it is not clogged with dust, there's really nothing you can do to help it now. Artifacts and funny colours are a dead give-away.

I don't think it's going to last much longer.

 

[ElectroBlaster]

I thought as much

Its passive cooled btw, its only ever done one job and thats record video... tbh I cant even remember taxing it with any games since it was new... It was in an shuttle sn45g which was also new at the time but just under 4years things went pear shaped and the shuttle decided it didnt like it. So I built the new pc using an antec case, new hard drive, ram etc and that radeon and just plonked it back in the tv stand.

Its been under 6months and now this pc doesnt like the card. its the only common thing between both machines. When I did the change over I visually checked the card for popped capacitors and any dust clogging but everything was ok. The machine is on as I type and its fine until I shut down for the night. Tomorrow evening it will be the same story again, reboot - garbled mess, reset - reboot, black screen... flipping thing

 

[Darkwave]

Yeah that does just sound like it's dying of old age to me.

I imagine that pretty soon the artifacts will start appearing even when you reset.

 

[J.D]

Have you considered the PSU?. It doesn't sound like it but then again the PSU can show some erratic symptoms.

 

[ElectroBlaster]

Have you considered the PSU?. It doesn't sound like it but then again the PSU can show some erratic symptoms.

That one has crossed my mind, Its like this morning... The pc boots up and the device manager has yellow warnings on the ati audio and video crossbar drivers, one reset later and its completely fine. But with antec psu's dont the +5volt rails drop like a stone or is it only certain antec models?

Well anyway I did another software and bios check and all the voltage lines seem reasonable the only thing I havent done is take a multimeter to the power lines.

 

[J.D]

That one has crossed my mind, Its like this morning... The pc boots up and the device manager has yellow warnings on the ati audio and video crossbar drivers, one reset later and its completely fine. But with antec psu's dont the +5volt rails drop like a stone or is it only certain antec models?

Well anyway I did another software and bios check and all the voltage lines seem reasonable the only thing I havent done is take a multimeter to the power lines.

If only you had another PSU to test that theory out. Process of elimination is the best way to sort things out but then again you need a replacement of every component in your machine to do so .

I hope it doesn't end up costing you too much and that you are back up and running soon.