Severe monitor or graphics issue...please help! :(

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
Hi everyone. So here's the story. Last night I was finishing up in World of Warcraft and I shut down the game. Usually what happens is when you are in a "resting" area and you click "Exit Game," the screen sort of locks up for a few seconds as it shuts down and then it just goes away and brings me back to the desktop.

Well, this time I clicked "Exit Game," the screen froze as usual, but instead of closing down the game, the game remained frozen on the screen and a bunch of horizontal (somewhat jagged) red lines appeared all across the screen. They seemed to be flashing somewhat (in a very quick, tight way, as if they were moving around within a very small space).

I tried Ctrl+Alt+Del, Alt+F4, Esc, Alt+Tab, but nothing had any effect, so eventually I just reset the computer. But the problem persisted even after the reboot. During the boot up screens (the DOS-like screens) there were still jagged lines across the screen (not red this time, but visible in that they were interfering with all the text on the screen).

I got a notice saying Windows didn't shut down properly, so I chose to boot into Safe Mode and see what happened. It booted up but the graphical issue remained on the screen.

So I reset again and booted normally. This time I got as far as the progress bar showing that Windows was loading, but then the entire screen was taken up by waving lines (yellowish, maybe some color, but I don't remember for sure) and I couldn't see anything else on the screen. The screen appeared black except for the lines, but there were so many lines this time (and moving much more noticeable, like wavelengths).

I wasn't sure if Windows had booted up and I just couldn't see it, or if there was actually a problem with the boot itself. I tried the key combos listed above again but nothing happened, so I held down the Power button until the PC shut off.

Right now it stands at that. It's shut off and I can't deal with it until tonight. I'm planning to open it up and blow out the dust, check if all the components are seated properly (especially the GPU), but other than that I don't know what to do and I'm panicking. I've never had a problem with this PC in the two years that I built it, and this particular issue has never happened before in any form.

Given all of this, does anyone have any idea what the issue might be? It seemed very odd to me that it happened *right* at the moment I was shutting down WoW, so I don't know if that had something to do with it, and if so how a single program could affect my screen like that.

I'm also not sure (and really hoping not) that it's the monitor itself that's the problem. During the brief period where the screen goes into an off or power down mode, there is a blue box that appears that says something like "Digital Power Save Mode" and this appeared very clear without any interference, so either the monitor itself is okay, or this particular screen is displayed differently than the other screens with the problem?

Anyway, please, please help me. This is killing me because right now my PC is completely unusable. :(

Thanks.
 
You should start eliminating variables. Try a different monitor, or check your monitor on another system. If the problem is on the computer itself, the next most likely thing is your graphics card.
 
Well, I did what I said and I also switched the monitor plug from one GPU port to another and I turned the PC back on. This time it was all clear and everything seemed fine, but when I went back into World of Warcraft, the same thing happened with the screen freeze and the red jagged lines (this time I didn't exit the game, I was just standing there).

I reset like last night but fortunately the problem went away with the reset. I assume something is happening with WoW that is causing it, although that seems weird since I've never experienced it in the past week (since I reactivated my account).

I'm glad I can use my computer normally (I hope!) but I hate not being able to play the game. I'm afraid to open it again and have a repeat of last night. :(
 
sniperchang said:
Have you tried playing another game, or doing something else graphics intensive, in case it isn't just wow?
Click to expand...

I was going to try that tonight but the problem appeared again at boot up. Jagged lines all over the screen and Windows basically froze on the desktop screen, so I had to reset. Resetting caused the same issue as last time, where it tried to boot into Windows and then switched to a bunch of waving lines all over the screen.

The strange thing is that I have Windows 7, so booting into Windows only shows the four-colored Window logo spiralling into view. But these last two times when I've had this problem, the loading screen showed a progress bar going across. I'm not sure why it shows that, because my normal boot up process doesn't have a progress bar.
 
Ok, I'm really panicking now. I'm posting this in Safe Mode because I tried running WoW one more time and again the lines appeared after about 30 seconds. I had to restart but now every time Windows tries to boot up, the screen goes black like the monitor has shut off (as if it's restarting again) and I get a blue screen, but I can't read it fast enough before the PC restarts, and again after the Windows load up it turns black, blue screen, restart, etc.

The only way to stop the cycle was to choose Safe Mode, but the lines have appeared here too (although strangely enough the PC doesn't freeze in safe mode even when the lines are here).

So now I really am worried. I can't even boot into Windows now. I tried GPU-Z which showed 30% fan usage and 0 GPU load while I was doing normal browsing stuff, and I had the logging option turned on when I loaded WoW, but even still up until the moment of the crash the numbers did not go any higher than about 1 degree (unless it stopped logging before the real problem happened).

But what is going on? I have no idea how to determine the problem. Is it the graphics card? Could it be the motherboard itself? What can I do to help me figure this out? :(
 
Most likely your graphics card is going bad. Try replacing with a different graphics card, see what happens, if you have another one available.
 
sniperchang said:
Most likely your graphics card is going bad. Try replacing with a different graphics card, see what happens, if you have another one available.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm inclined to think, but given the severity of the problem as described above (I.e. Windows won't even boot properly) could that still be the gpu or does that indicate something worse?

Unfortunately I don't have spare parts, but I may buy a cheap card at best buy or frys just to test, then return it (or keep it as a spare after I buy a better one)
 
Yes, the GPU can cause that. It's either the GPU going bad, or the PSU going bad and not supplying enough power to it.
 
Drenlin said:
Yes, the GPU can cause that. It's either the GPU going bad, or the PSU going bad and not supplying enough power to it.
Click to expand...

Well I guess that's good if it still may just be the gpu. I just got a really old card to try but I don't know if it can even run games to test it.

One other thing that happened is during boot up the screen flashed solid blue, then black, then green, and back and forth
 
Ok, I got an old GPU from someone but I'm a little concerned about compatibility with my system. Is there anything I should know before sticking it in? I'm worried that this older card may cause problems with my mobo, is that possible?

I saw on the back of the card PCI 1, so does that mean it needs a different slot than my current card? It also had a different type of port for the monitor, so I don't even know if I have that kind of older plug.

Is there any way I can get more information about this card before I use it? I have just the card itself with whatever information is printed on it. What do I need to look up this particular card model?

Edit: Another thought...this old card doesn't have a port for supplementary power from the PSU, which means that even if I try the card and everything works fine, that doesn't rule out that the PSU is the problem. Related to that is the fact this card is too old to probably even run a game like WoW, so I don't know if I can even test it with a game anyway.
 
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JohnJSal said:
Ok, I got an old GPU from someone but I'm a little concerned about compatibility with my system. Is there anything I should know before sticking it in? I'm worried that this older card may cause problems with my mobo, is that possible?

I saw on the back of the card PCI 1, so does that mean it needs a different slot than my current card? It also had a different type of port for the monitor, so I don't even know if I have that kind of older plug.

Is there any way I can get more information about this card before I use it? I have just the card itself with whatever information is printed on it. What do I need to look up this particular card model?

Edit: Another thought...this old card doesn't have a port for supplementary power from the PSU, which means that even if I try the card and everything works fine, that doesn't rule out that the PSU is the problem. Related to that is the fact this card is too old to probably even run a game like WoW, so I don't know if I can even test it with a game anyway.
Click to expand...

If it's a PCI, stick it in a PCI slot. Looks like this.
If it's a PCIe, stick it in a PCIeX16 slot. Like this (second one down)

The slots on the motherboard provide some power. For more powerfull cards, they require extra power, that's why there's that plug. However, for older or low profile cards like the one you got, the power that the motherboard supplies is sufficient.
 
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sniperchang said:
If it's a PCI, stick it in a PCI slot. Looks like this.
If it's a PCIe, stick it in a PCIeX16 slot. Like this (second one down)

The slots on the motherboard provide some power. For more powerfull cards, they require extra power, that's why there's that plug. However, for older or low profile cards like the one you got, the power that the motherboard supplies is sufficient.
Click to expand...

Well, the problem about the auxilary power from the PSU is that possibly the PSU may be the problem and not the graphics card (although I doubt it). But with this old card I won't be able to test that because it won't plug int the PSU, so even if the old card works, that won't rule out the PSU as a problem. I also can't really test games on this old card, so I may not even try it. I may just go get one at Best Buy for $50 and try that

Is there a program (or something) I can use to test if my PSU is working properly?
 
JohnJSal said:
Well, the problem about the auxilary power from the PSU is that possibly the PSU may be the problem and not the graphics card (although I doubt it). But with this old card I won't be able to test that because it won't plug int the PSU, so even if the old card works, that won't rule out the PSU as a problem. I also can't really test games on this old card, so I may not even try it. I may just go get one at Best Buy for $50 and try that

Is there a program (or something) I can use to test if my PSU is working properly?
Click to expand...
You should try the old card anyway, couldn't hurt. If it works, then it's most likely your GPU or possibly your PSU (I doubt it too). If it doesn't work then the problem may be elsewhere.

You could get a program that will display the voltages that your PSU is outputing. Something like SpeedFan. Ideally, the voltage output should be just above the rated voltage. Although, testing with a voltmeter would be more accurate, but that's only recommended for people who know what they're doing (Meaning comfortable with a voltmeter, and know electricity well).
 
sniperchang said:
You should try the old card anyway, couldn't hurt. If it works, then it's most likely your GPU or possibly your PSU (I doubt it too). If it doesn't work then the problem may be elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Agreed, try the old card and just see if the computer boots up with it and runs windows normally. If it's an older card (try to figure out which one it is and post) then it may not even be able to run WoW, but if it boots up ok and windows runs ok with it, then it is more than likely your GPU that has gone bad. Based on what you're seeing on the screen (jagged lines, discoloration, etc...) leads me to believe that the PSU is ok and you probably just need a new GPU. Good luck!
 
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