Broken video card?

[dastott]

Hi. I have a relatively new PC (bought in May 2004) with XP home and a GeForce 5200 video card. Now I cannot get any signal from the video card, that is, all I get is a black screen. The actual PC does turn on, however.

I have scanned the hard drive on another machine and it looks fine so what is the problem? is the video card broken? Shortly before the PC stopped working it was making loud noises from inside the case and I saw this message a couple of times: "BIOS ROM checksum error detecting floppy A drive media".

Thanks for any help.

[Soopafresh]

I think it is either your motherboard, or power supply. Probably your power supply.

[ROF]

Most people know the sounds their computer(s) make as they boot up. If you are hearing all those whirring, chirpings, and clickings of hard drive activity and also hearing the sounds windows makes as it comes to life via your sound card then I'd say without a doubt your video card has bit the bullet. Fortunately, a replacement FX5200 is only around $30.

[b1tchm4gn3t]

Fortunately, a replacement FX5200 is only around $30.

Damn...I gave like $125 a year ago for the FX 5200 Im running

and about the problem...on the search I just did, it says you should flash your bios because of somethng to do with a bad 'block'?

[ROF]

it would be rather difficult to use a BIOS flash utility if your monitor doesn't display anything.

[ranchhand]

A BIOS flash is the last thing that you should try; 95% of the time that is not the problem.

>Plug your monitor into another computer and make sure it is not dead.

>Unplug the monitor cable, and check that there are no bent/broken pins on the male plug.

>Reset your BIOS back to factory default settings and try to boot. There is usually a jumper on the mobo for instant reset usually located near the BIOS chip, or just pull the battery for 20" and snap it back in.

>Remove your Vid.card and try it in another computer. You don't have to install the drivers, just verify that it makes the connection to the monitor.
If it doesn't, you have a bad vid. card. If it DOES make connection, then:

>Totally delete and reinstall the video card drivers; they do sometimes become corrupted and cause crashes. Besides removing them off the harddrive, enter the Device Manager/Display Adapter: Right click your video card in Display Adapter/ Uninstall. Be sure to check for updated drivers.

>If all the above yields no joy, beg/borrow any vid. card you can get your hands on and swap it for your present one. You should boot and get monitor display. If you do not, your problem is most likely the mainboard. Now try the BIOS flash with a clean boot disk. If nothing, your mainboard is bad.

[b1tchm4gn3t]

sorry for being wrong, I just read that in a few other forums

[dastott]

Thanks guys. Fixed it. It was very simple actually. I pulled the battery out of the mobo and waited two minutes before sticking it back in. This cleared CMOS. then, I got "CMOS checksum error -defaults loaded. Warning! CPU has been changed or CPU Ratio changed fail. Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!". Then, I pressed F1 and got into the PC as normal. Thanks a lot.

[redwudz]

You might want to check: Control Panel>System>General and see if your CPU speed is correct. Some MBs reset to a slower default speed when you reset BIOS.

[dastott]

Hi. The CPU speed was correct but only half of my ram (512 instead of 1024) was showing up. Anyway, the PC is not working properly again.

Everytime I take out the battery and put it back in the PC starts fine but I get "CMOS checksum error -defaults loaded. Warning! CPU has been changed or CPU Ratio changed fail. Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!" I press F1 and it works fine again.

However, each time after rebooting the screen stays black. I have re-installed the drivers but this didn't fix it. I have tried to load optimized settings in BIOS also. The ONLY thing that seems to work is taking the battery out before restarting. It works everytime...

Heard about this kind of problem before?

[redwudz]

I'm suspecting a problem with your RAM memory. Try pulling the modules and using just one each time to reboot. Or better is to try some known good RAM modules. If you get nowhere that way, it could be a bigger problem. The 'CPU checksum error' is pretty much normal when you pull the battery.

From there, if no joy, unplug all cards and drives except boot and the VGA card and try again. Then all that's left is the HD (Unlikely), the CPU, RAM or the motherboard. And check your VGA card by substituting if at all possible.