Bumped my computer, causing screen "static"

[Rankin McKechnie]

I didn't know how else to title this thread, but the other day, I accidentally bumped my computer case with my foot. At the exact moment my foot hit my computer case, I saw "static" appear on the screen for a split second. If I could describe this "static", it is sort of what shows up on a broken computer screen. Ever since then at random times, I will see this "static" appear for a very small fraction of a second.

I think something might have happened to my hard drive, since my foot hit the case in that very spot. I already checked for loose connections in the SATA cables, power connectors, and my graphics card. I also tested my hard drive for errours on Check Disk, however there were none. Would anyone know what exactly is going on, and know how to fix this issue? Thanks.

 

[TommyFamzy]

Doesnt sound like a hard drive issue, have you dislodged your gpu? or the display cord going to your monitor

 

[synphul]

I'd agree, either a loose video cable or the video card bumped enough to expose a loose connection to the motherboard would be where I'd look. Depending on the gpu, size and weight, it may not take much to cause it to 'bounce' a little in the pcie slot. Doubtful it's the hard drive, it sounds display related.

 

[Rankin McKechnie]

Yeah. I looked at the pins of my gpu, they are all evenly inserted into the pci-e slot. I should mention that my current case is just a tiny bit too small for my graphics card to be screwed in correctly, however it is clamped super tight to the slot opening by two of the "clamps" (or whatever they're called). I've tested the graphics card, and it is extremely hard to barely get the graphics card to budge. And just for good measure, I have pressed on the graphics card on the motherboard in case it did so happen to loosen a bit.

 

[mjslakeridge]

If you don't have the GPU properly installed because it is too large for the case, and you have jury-rigged something to get it "clamped super tight", it may be stressed/twisted in a way it is not meant to be. Do you have integrated graphics on your CPU that you can use to test using the motherboard's connections?

 

[Rankin McKechnie]

If you don't have the GPU properly installed because it is too large for the case, and you have jury-rigged something to get it "clamped super tight", it may be stressed/twisted in a way it is not meant to be. Do you have integrated graphics on your CPU that you can use to test using the motherboard's connections?

No, it's an AMD FX series. I already made sure the gpu was properly inserted. By "not fitting" I just mean that the screw holes don't line up 100% on the metal tab part on the plug-end of the card with the pci-e slot.

 

[mjslakeridge]

I believe the AMD FX series have integrated graphics. In fact I am typing this on a FX 6300 computer without a GPU card. It is worth a try to rule out the GPU.

 

[Rankin McKechnie]

I believe the AMD FX series have integrated graphics. In fact I am typing this on a FX 6300 computer without a GPU card. It is worth a try to rule out the GPU.

Well, I just checked, there is in fact a vga output on my motherboard. But all my monitours are HDMI. But I need the graphics card for my power-hungry games.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Yes, you will normally want to use the GPU. I was suggesting using the onboard graphics just to rule out the GPU being the problem. Can you borrow a monitor to test the vga output? Does the motherboard not also have a DVI output? I know you can buy an inexpensive dvi to hdmi adapter (I have one). To use the integrated graphics for the test you may have to enable it in device manager.

 

[synphul]

There are no integrated graphics on fx cpu's. Amd cpu's with integrated graphics are their apu's like the a6/a8/a10 series. If there's a vga port on the motherboard maybe the board has onboard graphics or something but the fx cpu's are purely a cpu.

 

[mjslakeridge]

There are no integrated graphics on fx cpu's. Amd cpu's with integrated graphics are their apu's like the a6/a8/a10 series. If there's a vga port on the motherboard maybe the board has onboard graphics or something but the fx cpu's are purely a cpu.

You are right. All along I thought the FX series had integrated graphics. Turns out it is that the AM3+ motherboard which has the graphics.

 

[Rankin McKechnie]

One thing I would like to mention is, from speculation, this static occurs on only two of the games that I play: AdVenture Capitalist (the game I was playing when the "static" started) and Farming Simulator 15, (where the static flickering is black). I also wanted to point out that if I look really closely when the static occurs, it's actually what my monitor is displaying as a "ghost" on top of the display. Not really sure how else to describe it.