PruritusAni Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 As some of you may recall I've put together a build for mom last year. Well as it turns out on two occasions in the last week her monitor would go blank quoting "no signal" as an excuse. Some relevant info: AMD Phenom II X2 555 (no overclock, no unlocked cores) AsRock M3A785GMH - has onboard ATI 4200 Corsair 400W A-Data 2X2Gb DDR3 1600MHz Windows 7 64bit SP1 Here's what I've tried so far: - different monitor: the problem persists even if use my monitor, and her monitor works just fine on my computer - different cables: tried using VGA or DVI and went through multiple cables, the problem does not lie here. - connections: made sure everything was plugged in correctly, all the way in, and secured with the screws built into the VGA/DVI connectors. - BIOS: have the latest bios installed (v1.5) - Catalyst: have installed 11.2 Yet the problem persists! So I am now convinced that the onboard graphics is at the end of its usefulness. I am not sure what else I should try at this point. I'm never excited at the possibility of RMA, so I'd rather avoid it if at all possible, especially since AsRock's RMA page seems designed to exude hassle. Do you know of any other diagnostics/potential solutions I should try? Could anything else be causing the problem? PS Tomorrow I'll be putting my 250 in her machine (probably along with my PSU as I don't know if her 400W could run the 250) to see if just buying some cheap nVidia card could provide a solution to this impasse. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Try going back to Catalyst 11.1 rather than 11.2 as there have been a few people saying they have been having problems with that driver Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) Try going back to Catalyst 11.1 rather than 11.2 as there have been a few people saying they have been having problems with that driver The thing is she had 10.2 going when the problem started occurring and the 11.2 was an attempt at a solution. Needless to say it failed. I'll try it the 11.1 tomorrow just in case, but I'm not expecting miracles. Edited March 5, 2011 by PruritusAni Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 The thing is she had 10.2 going when the problem started occurring and the 11.2 was an attempt at a solution. Needless to say it failed. I'll try it the 11.1 tomorrow just in case, but I'm not expecting miracles. Ok fair enough. When does the monitor blank out? When running a specific application or is it mostly random? I'm assuming it boots fine to windows and then just randomly blacks out when it feels like right? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Yah that pretty much sums it up. I've tried random things to trigger it but so far it seems to happen whenever it feels like it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Yah that pretty much sums it up. I've tried random things to trigger it but so far it seems to happen whenever it feels like it. Try your GTS250 tomorrow and don't bother about changing the PSU - the Corsair 400w should run it with ease (Her system at full load should draw about 280w with 18A on the +12 volt rail with your card and the Corsair 400w has a max of 30A on the +12 volt rail so it will be fine) Tell us how it goes 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krieg1337 Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Which monitor is it? Try to go into the menu of it(using the buttons on the monitor) and look for input or something along those lines. I know my samsung monitor used to have it on AUTO and occasionally it would randomly switch to HDMI or Analog for no reason at all, after I put it to manual no more switching. Or does it just turn off completely? If its the onboard, just get a cheap gpu(IE HD 5450 or something) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 Ok so this is rapidly turning into one of THOSE things. I just opened mom's compy to put in my 250 and I thought just for laughs I'd look at the VGA/DVI jacks on the mobo. The solder joints seemed ok, but there was a bit of give in the socket, so that when one plugged in stuff into the VGA port it would lean back considerably. Im thinking this is where the problem lives, but I'm not sure how to fix it. But anyways I went on to put in my 250 and its after market cooler hated the SATA ports, so right away I had to take one of the fans off. Furthermore the PSU only has one 6pin power guy, so I had to go searching in my pile of stuff for a Molex to 6pin converter. Fortunately I found one, so I didn't have to manufacture one of them on the spot. The card is in there now and it's working quite well, but I'm going to wait a day or two to see if the problem reappears. In the meantime I think I'll look for a new cheap graphics card. What do you guys think of this one or this one or this one. PS I also checked that the monitor was not doing stupid things like switching the input source on its own. The monitor (a 19" ASUS) does not have a manual setting, and when the problem occurred switching the input source did not make a difference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Doh forgot to check whether your current PSU had enough PCIe cables Can you clamp the socket down a bit so that it doesn't move that much? Some pics might be helpful here. As for what graphics card (if you cant fix the port) I would probably choose the HD5550 as it will cost you $40 all up after the MIR and it has lifetime limited warranty. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) There's really not much i could do about the socket. I thought of various mechanical fixes, but in the end i think buying a cheap gfx card may be the way to go, as the 250 is going strong in her machine. This way I'm also not tempted to do stupid things to her mobo. Here's a photo of the mobo layout. I think I may end up going with the Galaxy 430, as I never really do MIR. Thanks for your help though. Edited March 6, 2011 by PruritusAni Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 No problems mate! Hope that card works alright Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccokeman Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 If you want I have a couple GT220 cards that would be perfect. One is yours for the cost of shipping if you want it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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