oops. the monitor cable was a little off.

i do believe it is the card itself becasue running safe mode apparently works and gets into windows fine.

a BSOD shows a error in a graphics driver but i doubt that effects the card itself.

no the bsod doesn't affect the card - in fact it helps identify the problem. most cards have a 2d mode and an accellerated 3d mode (the 2d mode is only really ever used when installing the card for the first time or when you go to safe mode - also it does get used at other times but to a much lesser degree) so xp and modern os's use the 3d part to accelerate window drawing etc so when the 3d part goes down you get all kinda of weird effects - mostly consisting of lockups and bluescreens, however boot to safemode and they generally all go away (as its running in effect in 2d mode). anyway next step is to test the card in another machine just to be 100% sure then he can look at replacements.

Update: a spare part was gathered from a friend.

however the computer isn't powerful enough to power the card alone.

I have no spare power cables... so i cannot do anything more without spending money.

i don't see how the computer isn't powerfull enough to power the new card. do you mean the card fails to start as a result of the psu not being powerfull enough? or is the card too new for the type of board (i.e. card maybe 16x pci-e while board maybe supports up to 8x)? or is it simply that the psu doesn't have enough leads to power the graphics card? if its the latter then borrow a lead from the drive (assuming it is the same connection) and use that to see if it gets to the bios without the zeros. it obviously won't boot however you can tell within seconds if it is the cause - then you can think about getting power to the card, well at least that's how i would go about it.

i don't have any leads that fit on the card.

well i do but it's in use.

well you could use it to see if the zeros thing still happens in the bios (i don't think it will meaning the problem should be sorted but you have to be sure). its either that or shell out money for a lead/psu/adapter however you could find the problem might still be there. its up to you of course im just saying what i would do.

(This post was last modified: 27/07/2009 03:34 PM by Anger.)

it was the graphics card. i found a spare lead while digging around for cables.

everything looks ok. well besides the 640x480 defaulted res.

aha... this spare is lesser power than what they had before. excuse me while i laugh evily

(This post was last modified: 28/07/2009 01:15 AM by Syfe.)

ill join ya. lol. sorry. but seriously at least they know for sure now.

yeah i thought it might not be as powerfull but at least they now know for a fact that it is/was the graphics card and that should they wish to buy a better replacement they know they now can (and get you to fit it perhaps :) )

well at least that's another (slightly) happy customer anyway. :P