Weird corruption every time I boot - even in BIOS - please help

[footwo]

Hi there

I recently bought the following parts from OC and built my machine on Thursday night:

mobo Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Intel P55 :
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-203-GI

CPU Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz :
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-301-IN

RAM G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 :
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-037-GS

PSU Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK):
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS

Case Thermaltake VL10001W2Z Element G Gaming Case:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-TR

Optical drive :
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-038-OT

I am using the HDD's and GFX card from my older system. The GFX card is a BFG Nvidia GTS 8800 PCIe and the hardrives are samsung spinpoints.

Now onto the problem. I built my machine Thursday night but didn't get to play with it much, just turned it on and installed the OS etc.

On friday everything seemed fine, I have not overclocked the CPU or the RAM then randomly as I was streaming a movie to my Xbox the computer shut down and restarted. When it fired back up, there were lines of graphical corruption on any bitmap type image (BIOS splash screen) and within the BIOS itself, random characters corrupt the display. Here is what it looks like:

Bios Splash screen

In the BIOS

BIOS Q flash utility

Pre-windows logo booting message

Win7 loading screen

At this point the screen will either remain blank after the windows logo fades, or it will BSOD and reboot. The BSOD itself is virtually impossible to read due to more lines of corruption.

Note: Before this happened I had used Gigabyte's @BIOS utility included with the mobo disc to update the BIOS from the net. My board shipped with version F3 and it said there was an update F4 available so I let the utility do its work. I noticed that after I had rebooted it was still saying F3 in the POST message so I figured the BIOS flash had screwed up somehow and not applied. However there did not seem to be any adverse effects from this as the corruption issue did not crop up until later on after I had rebooted several times anyway to install drivers etc.

What the hell is this? Is my mobo/CPU screwed or is it more likely the GFX card?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Zenduri]

Smells of graphics card death I had the same artifcating happen before and it was my gfx. Have you got a card you can borrow from a friend or a spare old graphics card?

 

[RJC]

That seems like a faulty gpu, can you check all connections or try another slot on the motherboard, or even test in another machine.

 

[toxicredcat]

Thats exactly what my old GPU did before it died, started seeing random lettering in the BIOS.

 

[footwo]

quick update, i just successfully updated the BIOS to F5i from gigabyte's website using the onboard QFlash utility in the BIOS.

The problem is still there

 

[footwo]

Thats exactly what my old GPU did before it died, started seeing random lettering in the BIOS.

so is it likely to be a knackered gfx card?

If that's the case I can live with it tbh, it needed an upgrade anyway but it was working just fine til last night.

 

[J.B]

Deffernatly the graphics. It will probably carry on like that and one day just die completly.

 

[Tythus]

I agree with hybrid Reeks of graphic card death

 

[footwo]

managed to get a shot of the BSOD before it reset - it does mention about the display driver:

I'm going to try reseating the GFX card now, should I try different slots or will it only work in the PCIe 16x slot?

 

[RJC]

It will work in any of the PCI-E slots.

 

[footwo]

OK just put the gfx card in my old machine and.....

so that's pretty conclusive I guess

At least it's not my mobo or CPU which is what I was worried about.

Thanks for the helpful advice guys, time to buy me a new GPU

 

[Shakeel]

go for gts 250 i think its £80 is in ocuk. good deal imo