My graphics card ha sbegun to act oddly. Whislt playing the sims it goes very well for a while then the screen blanks out and my monitor goes into self test mpode to tell me there's no signal coming from the computer. It's done it twice, in different places in the game, so I don't think it's the game causing the problem.

I'll also add that the latest drivers are installed and the graphics card is only 3 months old (since I bought it brand new at least). The game is also patched to it's latest version, but again I don't think it is the game; I've played over the last few days for hours and hours on end with no trouble (except a strange crash that occurs in one particular place that I've come across), so for it to suddenly begin doing this suggests to me it is the graphics card.

Could it be overheating?

Okay, now, I've had the computer running for about 20 minutes after it's been turned off for around 40, then the screen started to flicker with different purple colours. it did this before when it died the first time, after I restarted it was flickering red. I thought it was the cord from the monitor so I pulled it out and plugged it back in and it stoped, though it can't be that this time, can it?

Hmm, could it be that my monitor's had it? I did notice the other day when I turned the computer on that the monitor had managed to alter the colour settings by itself (it was a lot more red than usual - it has done this once before about a month ago too).

Can't rule out the graphics card though until I check the temp of the GPU really, though I can't figure out where I can do this?

Yes that is a distinct possibility. The fact your monitor displays it's native "no Signal" error message means the graphics card is ceasing to output any signal.

Re-seat the graphics card, check it's cooling and if possible improve airflow across it.

Does that card have it's own direct connection to powersupply? some do. If so check that as well.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Well when you tell the full story the possibilities change. There is a possibility that the monitor data cable/connector is faulty. Not something your average home user can repair/replace. Are you able to test this monitor on another PC?

"I thought it was the cord from the monitor so I pulled it out and plugged it back in and it stoped"
I would also ask did you unplug/reconnect the monitor while the system was powered up?

Good way to fry your graphics card.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

I didn't unplug it, or turn it off. In fact I leave the monitor on all the time. I did turn the monitor off by it's power button on the front when it went dead the first time, then back on again, but that didn't change anything.

The cable is old, although I am unable to test it any other computer. Thinking about it I don't think it was the monitor that cause the black outs. Afterall I wa splaying a game at the time and everything went dead; I wasn't even hearing any sound.

Also I've looked inside the case. Airflow seems fine, although it probably would do with the side of the case removed. The GPU fan is running okay. I thought I needed to install the Catalyst control center to check the temperature of the GPU, so i have. And I was wrong. I do believe the card I have does have a sensor onboard the card, since I read a review about it where it mentioned this.

The only thing I haven't done is reseat the card. I have had it running now for a while with the side cover off and there's been no funny business. DX Diag reports no problems, the catalyst thing doesn't seem unhappy, for all intents and purposes I still have absolutely no idea why it was doing this, or if it will continue to do it.

Oh and also to answer your other question, no the card doesn't require a power connector from the PSU. It's currently running in the PCI-E 16x slot of my asus a8n sli mobo. The mobo is set to single graphics card mode, but it does have a thing called 'EZ Plug', a seperate power connector on the mobo specifically for the graphics cards (but I believe it's only used when SLi is in use, which it isn't in my case), either way I do have a connector plugged into it.

Incidentally it can't be my PSU underpowering the card either, since it's also nearly brand new (replaced the old one a few weeks back), It's an Antec 500w dual rail PSU, so plenty of power there.

Just check your moniter on another computer and post back!!!!

I just said I can't. The only other computer I have only has DVI output. This is a VGA monitor and I have no DVI to VGA adapters.

Sorry,My Bad!!

No problemo.

Okay, here's where I'm at; I started the game up and almost immidatly after I started playing it crashed with the same crash I mentioned agoes ago (not the one where the signal drops but another I thought I'd isolated to just one area of th egame, guess I was wrong). So I got thinking that maybe it is the driver afterall. I know I have the latest version, but, for all this to just suddenly crap out like this when nothing's changed from my usual routines suggests it's either the video card or the drivers. I ruled the drviers out because they were upto date and dxdiag wasn't reporting any errors...

... But then I just thought. My graphics card has had no trouble with this game up until now, the airflow might not be brilliant in the case but I've played FEAR, a much more graphically demanding game prior to the sims 2, so why would it just siddenly die for no reason (I know it could ahppen but unlikely given the age of the thing, right?)

So maybe it's possible the first few times it crashed it corupted the drivers or something. So I downloaded and reinstalled the drivers again. And I've been playing the game now for a while and nothing's happened. It's working like it did before.

Well I hope it is. I'm just praying it isn't a fluke and is just working for now. Either way io think my system could do with a reinstall anyway so I'm going to wipe the HDD tommorow and give it a frsh copy of everything. I shall post again, obviously, if this apparent fix turns out to be just a chance happening. If not then I expect you can presume it's all working again, in which case I thank you for the help.

No, it still does it. Sould I just RMA the card? It must have got fried somehow.

Are you trying to overclock something in that box? If not, and you can send it back then you should.

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

Nothing's overclocked, and the cards got a years warrenty from the retailers as well as the manafacturer (I think) from new so, yea I can send it back. i just wanted to avoid doing so if it wasn't fried. Which it increasingly sounds like it is.

Here's a new twist to the story I'd like some advice on;

I've now done a complete reinstall like I said I would of windows. I've installed the latest drivers for ati by downloading them, installed the sims 2 and started to play. Got a good few hours of play out of it when it froze again, with the dodgey multicoloured lines, however, no sooner had they come up on screen, but the screen went blank. I could still hear sound too. Anyway, then the screen came back to normal.

Well it was a loading screen or something, then the computer went to the desktop and I got an ATI error message saying VPU recover had rreset the gpu because it'd stopped responding to driver commands. I clicke dokay, I clciked the sims 2 tab and it came back up where it'd crashed.

... I mean, what the hell? I had VPu recover active on the old drivers (I thought they were uptodate but they weren't). Does this mean the graphics card wasn't overheating at all, and that the game really was causing the crashes, it's just vpu recover on the old drivers wasn't working correctly?

if so I'm chuffed because it means I need not go through the hassle of an RMA. What are your views?

Forget it then if you're just going to leave me high and dry. I'd probably get more help from a cart load of monkeys anyway.

You don't seem to be very good at taking the advice you asked for. Good luck.

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

It's easy for you to say just RMA it, but if I do and they find nothing wrong with it because whatever was causing the trouble was software related or otherwise, I'll have to pay to get it back. I will have to anyway but at least if it does have something wrong with it it'd be worth the money. Okay so ten bucks isn't exactly a huge ammount of money but I'm not the type to just flush cash down the toilet. I need more help before I can do something like that, and no one's giving me any so I shall take my questions elsewhere.

Goodbye!

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

I know it's probably to late to say anything now, gleeb, but you should ignore him. He has an unhealthy obsession with hardware warranties. So much so that you only have to hint at the possibility of defrauding one to benefit yourself and all of a sudden you're the scourge of humanity in his eyes... With the added nonsense that he thinks everyone else cares.

IE, "instant credibility of zero".

In any case, you all have yourself a nice day. OK? Good. Bubye now.

How are you Blowbox? Seems familiar doesn't it?

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

How are you Blowbox? Seems familiar doesn't it?

He's the one that mentioned that he may have a bad card and mentioned RMA, no one else. I advised him to send it back, the worst being that he gets it back and pays shipping. The best being that he gets a new and good card. WTF?