Blue Pixels /BSOD

[TRex]

Wondering if I could pick a techie's brains -

I have an intel e8400 cpu (socket775)running at 3ghz (standard ) with an asus 8800gt 500mb graphics card ,4gb ram , on a gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R mobo with 500w antec psu. Windows Vista .

It's done me great for most games, and the main reason I could go back to playing ps again.

Howether ,2 days ago , I started to get random blue pixels all over my screen. I could hover my mouse over them and they would disapear , but moving the mouse would leave a trail of blue pixels behind it . I restarted the pc .

Upon restarting , I immediately noticed that on the login screen where I input my password to launch windows , all the colours were grainy and pixellated . I logged in, then the pc crashed with a diagonal pattern of pixels across the screen.

I restarted the pc manually in safe mode , and the error screen notified me it was display drivers that were causing it. I uninstalled the graphics drivers , and replaced them ( just to note that windows update had occured a day or 2 before this all started) . Restarted the pc as instructed , and I get BSOD.

I then reformatted my hard drive , reinstalled vista , did a full update on windows , put norton back on it and run a full system scan . Updated my mobo drivers and BIOS. After all this I went to official Nvidea site and downloaded a fresh copy of drivers , scanned the copy for virus then reinstalled them . Upon restart I get BSOD again. I restarted in safe mode , removed the drivers , and went to microsoft site , they had 8800gt drivers there , downloaded them , scanned them and reinstalled them . Same thing BSOD. I unistalled them , restarted the pc and the pc runs 'normal' albeit with no graphics card (or at least no drivers) .

I can access the internet , hence why I'm posting here. But I do notice that if I'm on a dark background I occasionally can see some slight plue pixellation on that background. I've checked my pc, the fan is running fine on the graphics card , and my system temp is 28-31 degrees .

I can only conclude that the 8800GT is knackered ? Hope someone could clarify this . I really didn't want to spend any money right now ( partly because I'm a little strapped after paying for my son's school ski holiday , and also was waiting until ps:n was a bit closer ) but if it really is the case, what would be a comparable upgrade to replace faulty card with or any advice .

Thanks.

[Mightymouser]

It sounds like you've got multiple problems now...

If you can replicate the BSOD and tell us what the error code is (or google it yourself); that'll likely give you a clue as to what specifically is causing the problem with your startup. Somewhere on the screen it should say STOP: 0x[########]. That's the hex code we need.

As for the blue pixels; I would assume your video card is indeed FUBAR; if you can swap out an older one just to troubleshoot; that'd be the best way to tell...

Assuming your card isn't under warranty; the cheapest way to replace it is to look on Craigslist. There are often people who've replaced their cards who'll be willing to sell off their old ones for cheap, you should be able to get an 8800 or something similar for a reasonable price. Just inspect the card first, and you might even ask if the person you're buying it from will put it in a tester box so you can be sure it works...

[TRex]

Thanks for the reply .

A friend at work was upgrading his current graphics card and he sold me his old gts450 1gb card for £20 , and the problem appears to have gone .

[Mightymouser]

Glad it worked out then