Motherboard / Graphics card hardware fault, advice needed
polycounter lvl 7
Hey guys!
Hardware question for all you techy fellas.
I am making a new work station as my current one is getting too unstable to work on. However due to cash flow problems I am going to have to use the graphics card and hard drives from this machine in my new rig.
The problem is that for the past year I have been experiencing crashes. The computer will restart itself, go to blue screen and sometimes the entire screen will just sheer almost looking like a badly tuned TV station.
Through various new additions and replacements I think I have narrowed the culprits of this error down to either the motherboard Asus P5KC, or the graphics card ATI Radeon 4870 1gb as these are really the only parts I havent changed.
Can anyone think of a way I can test the computer to see if the problem I am having is due to the card or the motherboard?
(My computer doesnt have any moniter ports on the motherboard btw otherwise this would be simple lol)
Hardware question for all you techy fellas.
I am making a new work station as my current one is getting too unstable to work on. However due to cash flow problems I am going to have to use the graphics card and hard drives from this machine in my new rig.
The problem is that for the past year I have been experiencing crashes. The computer will restart itself, go to blue screen and sometimes the entire screen will just sheer almost looking like a badly tuned TV station.
Through various new additions and replacements I think I have narrowed the culprits of this error down to either the motherboard Asus P5KC, or the graphics card ATI Radeon 4870 1gb as these are really the only parts I havent changed.
Can anyone think of a way I can test the computer to see if the problem I am having is due to the card or the motherboard?
(My computer doesnt have any moniter ports on the motherboard btw otherwise this would be simple lol)
Replies
I am now a happy owner of an Nvidia.
Have you googled any errors that have been shown??
random restarts/shutdowns etc. are often caused by a worn out PSU or one that's running above it's ideal capacity.
Poopipe - (your name made me chuckle) - I ended up replacing my PSU a while back as my old one died on me. I now have a 750w OCZ psu which should be ok as its not like my machine is massive or anything. I am going to use this power supply in the new machine too as it works fine.
I am leaning more towards the motherboard just being old as this was a budget machine when I got it so it wasnt excactly top spec back then and I have kind of rode it into the ground with the use its had. Whats got me puzzled is its not just a blue screen or just a random restart, its all of the above and freezes and sheered screens and all sorts.
The bug check codes I have chased arent too helpful to be honest as you need an IT degree to understand it and all the forums I have posted on give me more questions than answers. I think once I buy my new rig and get it running I will save this system as backup and try and get it running just to see out of curiosity what exactly is the problem lol.
Sometimes a good cleaning of a card and it's fan will make a huge difference.