Graphics card/possible MOBO problem

[Ashrym]

I have an older socket 478 Asus mobo with a 2.6ghz P4, 2 gigs OCZ Ram, 19 Viewsonic CRT, Creative Audigy 2 ZS, 19 Viewsonic CRT & a Ati X850 Pro. Recently I flashed my X850 pro with a modified bios to unlock 4 of it's pixel pipes. This seemed to work flawlessly for a while and increased performance. I used ATi Tool shortly afterward to see how far it would overclock using the 'find max overclock' option. It got up to 528 mhz & 98 degrees celsius before causing a hard reboot.

These insane temps were only sustained for a very brief period of time, so I didn't think anything of it. Unfortunately, my system started locking up very frequently shortly afterward. I flashed back to the original BIOS which didn't seem to matter. I figured that I most likely damaged the card at this point, but decided to reinstall XP to rule out any other possibility.

I decided to do an OS upgrade reinstall instead of a full reinstall. However, Windows was having a problem copying over multiples files in the middle of it, so I was forced to attempt a full reinstall. Before I even had the chance, the graphics card started causing extreme artifacting on the BIOS startup screen after I rebooted, so I shutdown.

When I booted it back up, it took a while before a picture would even appear on screen. It looked normal for a few seconds and then begun artifcating again. In addition to this, the monitor would kick off intermittenly. And when it came back on, it caused the system to reboot. I can't even get to the Windows reinstall screen before these problems kick in.

I tried throwing in my spare AGP Nvidia FX5200, and it wouldn't even display a picture. I purchased an Radeon 3850 as a replacement, and it fails to display a picture as well. Strangely enough, my X850 pro is the only graphics card that will display a picture. Do you think I've damaged the AGP slot or possibly the entire motherboard?

 

[Trizik]

have you by chance cleared the CMOS and then loaded the fail-safe default settings in BIOS?

 

[Ashrym]

No. How do I go about doing that?

 

[Trizik]

1) shut down the computer and unplug it from the wall power outlet.
2) short the CMOS pins on the motherboard for a good ten seconds. there should be a connector on only one of the pins; reconnect it so that it's on both of the pins or use something metal like a screwdriver to touch the pins together if a connector isn't provided. keep them connected for at least ten seconds. some motherboards even have a "clear CMOS" button. you could also just pop out the CMOS battery (the circular "wrist watch" battery).
3) disconnect the pins again (so the connector is on only one pin) or replace the battery.
4) power on computer.
5) load BIOS (DEL key @ startup) and usually on the first menu at the right there are some default settings you can load. save & exit.

whatever you do make sure the computer is unplugged from the power source when you clear the CMOS otherwise you risk damaging the mobo.

 

[Ashrym]

You're a saint. This seems to have fixed my problem. Now time to send back that Radeon 3850, lol. I really appreciate your help.