I was playing a retro game that was not especially testing for the card. At one point in the game I experienced numerous graphical artifacts and the game and my system somewhat froze but after a while it came back and everything was fine. This repeated once the next day and resulted in a hard crash on my system (Windows 7). No blue screen or anything like that, just graphical artifacts over the whole screen and a complete system freeze.
On reboot I was able to get the log in screen for Windows and enter my password, but after logging in the system simply went to a black screen presumably where the graphics get handed off to the driver. This behavior only stopped once I booted in safe mode and uninstalled my driver (the latest). I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the latest driver and nothing changed. Neither did trying numerous older drivers. I also tried using 'Display Driver Uninstaller' to ensure everything was getting wiped. I also double checked the PCI connections and the card seems to be installed fine (and has been working for years in any case).
One big hint maybe? My card features 4 small LEDs. 2 are side by side on the end near to where you plugin the monitor/etc. Two are side by side near where the the PCI plugs into the card. All 4 are red. Unfortunately I'm not sure whether they were always red or this is a recent thing. I didn't notice, and I've been unable to find a user manual for my card.
I have not recently changed any hardware or software. Unfortunately I do not currently have access to another PC to try to test the video card in which would be the next step I'd normally take.
On reboot I was able to get the log in screen for Windows and enter my password, but after logging in the system simply went to a black screen presumably where the graphics get handed off to the driver. This behavior only stopped once I booted in safe mode and uninstalled my driver (the latest). I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the latest driver and nothing changed. Neither did trying numerous older drivers. I also tried using 'Display Driver Uninstaller' to ensure everything was getting wiped. I also double checked the PCI connections and the card seems to be installed fine (and has been working for years in any case).
One big hint maybe? My card features 4 small LEDs. 2 are side by side on the end near to where you plugin the monitor/etc. Two are side by side near where the the PCI plugs into the card. All 4 are red. Unfortunately I'm not sure whether they were always red or this is a recent thing. I didn't notice, and I've been unable to find a user manual for my card.
I have not recently changed any hardware or software. Unfortunately I do not currently have access to another PC to try to test the video card in which would be the next step I'd normally take.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram