Very weird video card problem

[v1rtuoso]

So last night, I left my computer on as normal as I was finishing up a download. The next day, before I was ready to go to class, I tried to check email but my monitor won't get out of power save mode. I checked the cabling and it was secure so i just shrugged it off as a random occurance and went off to class. So when I come back, I turn on my computer. It goes through its boot cycle normally and windows loads fine. I'm at the desktop about to check my mail when boom, all of a sudden, the monitor goes into power save mode on its own and the computer seemingly becomes unresponsive. I was pretty worried at this point. I tried several more times to get an idea of how the error is occuring. The monitor going into power save mode consisently happened at random times between right after windows desktop loading to about at most 5 mins after loading. I at first suspected it was a software problem and went as far as formating my hard drive and puting a fresh installation of windows 2000 on it. To my dismay, after 2 hrs of getting my machien back up, the same problem was still present. Turning off and on and unplugging/pluggin back the monitor does not work as I think the computer itself becomes unresponsive as well. I then figured there was something wrong with my monitor but I tried two different ones and they exhibit the same problem. I finally swapped out my video card (PNY Geforce3) with another working computer's and the other computer exhibited the same behavior. Therefore, I've pretty much narrowed it down to the video card as the culprit. However, athis all still doesn't make sense. The video care has been fine the past year or so that I've had it and it doesn't make sense that something like this would just go wrong so randomally like this. Any insights appreciated. TIA.

heres the specs:
P4 1.6@2.1
Asus P4S333
512mb PC2700
PNY Geforce3 Retail at stock speeds
Sony E400 19" monitor
Windows 2000

 

[jackschmittusa]

Is there a fan on the card? Is it working? Have you done a visual inspection for blown capacitors, etc.?

 

[v1rtuoso]

Yes, the fan is working and from visual inspection, there is nothing wrong with the card. I mean.. the computer boots into windows fine.. if theres something physically wrong with the card such as a broken capacitor I don't think it would even boot.

 

[jvang125]

when dealing with electronic devices, you need to remember that they can fail at any given time.

 

[v1rtuoso]

bump

 

[jackschmittusa]

Yes, the fan is working and from visual inspection, there is nothing wrong with the card. I mean.. the computer boots into windows fine.. if theres something physically wrong with the card such as a broken capacitor I don't think it would even boot.

A failed component like a capacitor can certainly cause erratic behavior without resulting in complete failure. And just because your card worked fine for a year doesn't mean that it cannot suddenly develop a problem.

 

[foofoo]

hi,
i had a gainward gf4t14200 that exhibited exactly the same type symptoms that you described as well as locking up in 3d games after about 6 months of no problems. this was due to 3 bulging/leaky capacitors. have you run 3dmark2001 with it? this was clearly a manufacturing defect with a bad batch of capacitors and it was time to rma to newegg. just rma the video card. it's clearly faulty.
good luck

 

[v1rtuoso]

Thanks for the responses guys. You learn something new everyday.

While we're on the topic of RMAs, does anyone have any experience with PNY's RMA process? They have a lifetime warranty
which is voided if you overclock your video card. I did OC the gf3 at question when I first got it for about a week or so just to
see how far it would go. I ran it at stock the vast majority of the time since I experienced no qualitative performance increase
from the OC. How would they tell if you OC'ed it or not and has anyone who has OC'ed it successfully done a RMA?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: v1rtuoso
Thanks for the responses guys. You learn something new everyday.

While we're on the topic of RMAs, does anyone have any experience with PNY's RMA process? They have a lifetime warranty
which is voided if you overclock your video card. I did OC the gf3 at question when I first got it for about a week or so just to
see how far it would go. I ran it at stock the vast majority of the time since I experienced no qualitative performance increase
from the OC. How would they tell if you OC'ed it or not and has anyone who has OC'ed it successfully done a RMA?

as far as I know...unless you physically mod the card you'll be fine..verto