Computer display has broken/gone haywire - coloured scratchy lines across screen? o_o;

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Okay, so last night my main computer pretty much seemed to have a heart attack. I'm on my laptop now.

 

I was playing Skyrim - using an old Vanilla save to go back & make .npc files to re-construct an NPC overhaul that I've added to here & there over time, when the screen went haywire. Uniformly coloured perpendicular stripes covered the screen, and the sound froze & went all warbly. This happened a few times as I restarted & went back to what I was doing.

 

I figured "okay - not good", and hit the "Off" switch at the back. Restarted the computer. Once it got to the blue-ish "Windows Sign-in" screen, there were thin,  scratchy, pixelated, coloured lines across the screen, obscuring most of it. I wondered if I had overheated it somehow, & shut it down using the button, & left it until morning.

 

I have switched it on again this morning & the same problem is there. I have not yet tried to sign in. What can/should I do to try and fix this???

 

[Guest MonsterFish]

Try taking out your Monitors power supply and video... port (I forget the word) and plugging it back in and the same on the computer end. It might be that your ports have come loose.

 

I had this issue a couple of years back with an old laptop where there were really thin lines of white and light pink, sort of like MissingNo. I believe it did turn out to be an overheated MoBo.

[bjornk]

Sounds like there's something wrong with your graphics card.

 

Do you see any graphical oddities on your BIOS screen as well? Is it the same in safe mode? If that's the case try attaching your monitor either to another port on your graphics card (if you have multiple ports) or one of the ports on your motherboard if your motherboard supports on-board graphics.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Try taking out your Monitors power supply and video... port (I forget the word) and plugging it back in and the same on the computer end. It might be that your ports have come loose.

 

I had this issue a couple of years back with an old laptop where there were really thin lines of white and light pink, sort of like MissingNo. I believe it did turn out to be an overheated MoBo.

 

Does that mean pull the plug connecting the monitor out at the back of the computer box & plug it back in again? I did that, but the problem persists.

 

 

Sounds like there's something wrong with your graphics card.

 

Do you see any graphical oddities on your BIOS screen as well? Is it the same in safe mode? If that's the case try attaching your monitor either to another port on your graphics card (if you have multiple ports) or one of the ports on your motherboard if your motherboard supports on-board graphics.

 

I am guessing this means pulling plugs out INSIDE the computer box? I haven't done this before... I will take the side off the box & take a look inside, but truthfully I have never done anything like this before (except with car stereos, if that counts - I have little to no real electrical knowledge). I don't see any problems on my BIOS screen - only when the blue "Welcome" screen loads.

 

*For reference, I use Windows 7. Graphics card is about 3-4 years old, as is the motherboard, some elements of the computer are older, and the monitor is maybe 7 or more years old.

[Silvermetal]

Had a problem like that a week ago. Those "stripes" you are seeing are called "Artifacts", and it's caused by your video card. The more probable cause is messed up wieldings, it doesn't have a permanent fix but it can be "treated" with reballing (I say treated because it's something you'll have to do every 6 months or so) , which is basically re-wielding (don't do this yourself, go for a professional).

[Guest]

Before spending money, try this. 

 

I mean if a middle aged woman can do it.. what is your excuse?

[Captain Cobra]

Baking isn't a permanent solution, but it can help bridge the gap while you're waiting for a new card.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Okay - I went & cleaned out a lot of the dust with an airbrush, pulled out & reconnected a few of the internal plugs to the same ports they were in, re-inserted all the cords into the back of the box & plugged it back into the monitor. Hit the "On" switch. The machine itself chugged away & seemed to do its thing, but nothing was showing on the monitor. So, I pulled-out the monitor plug & put it into another port.

 

I saw my desktop as normal, all as it should be, with a window saying "Windows needs to restart to etc. these changes". Okay, so I hit the "restart now" option. The machine restarts, but now I see nothing on the monitor no matter where I plug it - just "no signal". I can even sign-in using my password, but I can't see anything. I have no other spare monitor to check this on, so I can't tell what is happening.

[bjornk]

Is the fan on the graphics card running?

[D_ManXX2]

baking videocard when i first saw that on youtube i was laughing my ass off, but then my video card broke and i had felt nothing too lose so tried that method and it actually worked.    Anyway it is not just the baking but also can use a hair dryer then use cooling paste and video card worked better then it ever had in years. 

 

And it will stay like that till your cooling paste has run out then you need to redo that whole process over. 

[bjornk]

A hair dryer won't be able to melt the solder.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Is the fan on the graphics card running?

 

Yes, all the fans in the box seem to be running.

[bjornk]

Then your graphics card is probably dead.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

(Oh - one last thing: I also tried plugging the box into the TV with an HDMI like I do with my laptop, but it doesn't do anything).

 

Okay - so, before I go & buy a new computer (*I had been planning to do this later in the year in any case, I was just hoping for a few months more out of this one), how on earth do I get the info & things I need off this current one & onto a 2TB external drive that I had bought for the purpose? All my entertainment & Skyrim mod-making stuff is on this box that I now cannot access because I can't get any screen. I don't have a spare graphics card lying around, or even know how to hook one up if I did.

[bjornk]

Why don't you just get a cheap ass graphics card and keep using this one, perhaps alongside your new computer? What is your current graphics card?

 

BTW, some motherboards support on-board graphics, perhaps yours has one too? 

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Why don't you just get a cheap ass graphics card and keep using this one, perhaps alongside your new computer? What is your current graphics card?

 

The card is an AMD 7850 2GB.

 

This machine was great up until maybe a year or so ago when it slowly became more twitchy & unreliable - a lot of parts in it have been around the clock a few times & are old. I definitely would not want to hook this one up to a new, clean machine for fear that this one's problems (and there are a lot) would slither over. I just want to be able to get the data from this one that I need, then wipe & junk it when I have a new one.

 

I think you're right though - I will need some kinda card in it to be able to see anything. I think a cheap AMD card here is maybe $50 or so... but I don't know how to safely remove this one & install a new one... I'm guessing I can't just pull this one out, plug in a new one, & then hit the "On" switch...

[bjornk]

Your old gfx card or the new one you'll buy may have a user manual or a setup guide with instructions on how to install/remove it properly but I think it's best to take your PC to a computer repair shop or find someone to do it for you. 

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Your old gfx card or the new one you'll buy may have a user manual or a setup guide with instructions on how to install/remove it properly but I think it's best to take your PC to a computer repair shop or find someone to do it for you. 

 

D'oh. I was hoping to avoid that.

 

(*Other:  I do need to replace BOTH my computers this year... I'm not sure whether I should do that or instead buy ONE kickarse gaming laptop with an AMD card on one of those "buy now - pay later" type schemes...)

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Okay - here is what I have done:

 

("Oh dear GHOD whadda'veiDOOOONE??!!!!")

 

I bought a little casing to put the HD's from the old machine in, turning each of them into an ersatz external HD. I will then plug these into another machine, transfer the data across & into the 2TB box I have, then junk them (with fire).

 

I bought a custom-build gaming machine at a local store.

 

Owwwwwwww.....

 

 

 

Thank-you all for your input on this - it has basically walked me through the process I needed to think-through before buying a new machine later this year (it's just happened a few months ahead of schedule, which is annoying, but has the same end result). Thanks especially to Bjornk for being willing to keep going with this!