GPU Problem (Radeon HD7850) - PC is now occasionally unusable. (Photos attached)

[Matt Lawson]

UPDATE 19:05 GMT - 14/08/14

Before you read the following, please note that I have just again been inside the PC and been more forceful than in previous attempts at making sure the GPU is seated properly. I was scared of breaking it, but I've given it a good push into the MOBO. Fingers crossed, touch wood, salute a magpie etc., it is now working! If you have any other suggestions though as to what else it could be (as it HAS been working intermittently), please do read on! Thanks!

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Hi everyone,

I asked on another forum (the company where I bought my PC from) about this problem, but I thought this forum would be more active. Here is the original message which highlighted my issues back at the end of July:

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The other day, my 2-year old PC loaded up fine, but after playing a game for a while, I began to experience flickering of the screen which corrected itself.

When I next switched the PC on, I was greeted with the screenshots attached. After logging in, I got a plain black screen with no functionality at all, meaning I had no option but to switch off.

I tried running in Safe Mode, and this was absolutely fine, suggesting it's a GPU problem perhaps?

Opened up the PC to clean the dust filters and make sure everything was plugged in OK, and when I switched it back on, it seemed to be fine and worked well for a few days.

However, after playing a different game today, I got the odd split-second flicker, and sure enough upon rebooting the PC, I had the horizontal lines again.

I'm currently using the PC having cleaned it out (again) and had a play around inside, but the third screenshot shows I'm having problems with menus etc. All black until I roll my mouse over it, which reveals the options.

I downloaded up to date GPU drivers a few days ago, too.

My full specs are as follows:

Intel i7-3770 @ 3.4Ghz (8 CPUs)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 X 4GB)
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1

Any tips greatly appreciated.

The two games, out of interest, are Bioshock Infinite on full graphics, and Lord of the Rings Online on full graphics. The latter has always worked fine, but the former seems to be the cause of the initial problem despite my card being comfortably within its requirements. Indeed, I was running the game flawlessly on highest settings with a fantastic frame rate with no issues. It's when I closed the game down that the problem began.

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Now - it worked fine for over ten days - but today, I've gone to switch it on again and I'm having the same problems. The 3 photos show just some of the variations of screen trouble I have. In the 15-20 occasions that I've had trouble upon startup, it has gone to BSOD twice.

It's also rare for it to happen when I've been using the PC for a while. For example, yesterday (13 Aug) I played LOTRO on Ultra-HIgh graphics for a good 6 hours during the day, and then used it fine for work for a few hours afterwards. No problem whatsoever. It was when I switched it on again today that it loaded as in the photos.

The other forum suggested a driver reinstallation, which I did. I've also had the case open again to check the GPU is in OK. I've attached photos of the GPU and cooler to see if my untrained eye has missed anything. The card is actually bright red, but the flash on the phone makes it look metallic silver (or dustier than it actually is!) in some photos.

Any help would be much appreciated before I go down the expensive route of sending it back to the supplier for service/checkup/repair.

 

[Viking2121]

Yeah looked as if a cable was loose or the video card wasn't seated in all the way, hope it keeps working for ya.