GPU Dead?

[millermusing]

So I built this computer for my wife as a Valentines gift:

 

CPU: AMD FX 6300

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 960

Mobo: ASRock 930m Pro3

PSU: Corsair C500M

RAM: 2x Ballistix 4GB DDR3

HDD: 1TB Seagate

SSD: 120GB Kingston

OS: Windows 7 Pro. 64 bit

 

I had some issues with it right off the bat, with the display driver freezing up for 30 - 60 seconds at a time and recovering. There's a thread for it here, but the TL;DR version is Chrome was using Hardware Acceleration and that was messing with the display drivers or something. Turning off Hardware Acceleration seemed to fix that issue.

 

Now I'm running into a new, more sinister issue. It started about a week ago, and for a little bit it looked like the same issue was back again. Her computer would freeze, display some weird colors/patterns, and finally recover. Then it stopped recovering. Keep in mind, this whole time she's only using Chrome and Spotify for some light browsing. Not a ton of tabs open, nothing super taxing going on in the background.

 

Pretty quickly, within a matter of hours, the display driver stopped recovering. She could get 10 - 15 minutes of use out of her computer before needing to restart it. That was all within the first day. Now her computer locks up within 30 seconds of powering on, sometimes before she can even log in.

 

I tried a number of fixes. I completely uninstalled all display drivers using DDU, and reinstalled the latest version. I tried installing older versions that people who were experiencing similar issues reported as being stable for them. I tried reseating the graphics card. 

 

Her computer would be perfectly usable when I uninstalled Nvidia's driver, and simply ran of the default display driver. As soon as I tried installing an Nvidia driver so she could play games, the thing would go right back to not working.

 

Finally, I bit the bullet and did a fresh install of Windows. The first time around, I had been in a rush to get the thing done before she got home, so I had had multiple drivers installing at once. I figure maybe something went wrong there, and I just needed a fresh start. 

 

So I reinstall Windows. I'm taking my time, installing a single driver at a time, and restarting between each one. I get to the fateful Display Driver, and it goes through, with no issues. It seems to be doing fine, so I start running Windows Easy Transfer to get her user profile installed from before the wipe. While that was running, the display conked out again. Same as before. Crazy colors all across the screen, and no indication of recovering.

 

So I'm finally beginning to resign myself to the fact that it may be a hardware issue.

 

Which finally brings me to my actual question:

 

Does this sound like a faulty graphics card, or could it be some other component, like the motherboard?

 

I've built a couple computers recently, but I haven't had to trouble shoot hardware issues before, so I don't really know how to go about narrowing it down.

[The_Stig]

If it doesn't happen when the graphics card isn't being used (without drivers.etc), then chances are, its the graphics card.

[millermusing]

That's kinda what I figured. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some easy troubleshooting steps or something before I ship the thing off.

 

I guess I'll go ahead and RMA the thing now. Thanks for the input!

[IsaacDaGrazin]

14 minutes ago, millermusing said:

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 960

locks up within 30 seconds of powering on, sometimes before she can even log in.

i mean come on, a gpu problem?

[cpuwaiy]

Check your cpu and the heatsink.  Is the fan spinning?

[millermusing]

@IsaacDaGrazin I can't tell if you're implying that it's obvious, or pointing out an issue with that particular GPU...

 

@cpuwaiy CPU Cooler is spinning.

[IsaacDaGrazin]

21 minutes ago, millermusing said:

@IsaacDaGrazin I can't tell if you're implying that it's obvious, or pointing out an issue with that particular GPU...

I mean, a GPU cannot make the pc lock up.

1 hour ago, millermusing said:

I had some issues with it right off the bat, with the display driver freezing up for 30 - 60 seconds at a time and recovering. There's a thread for it here, but the TL;DR version is Chrome was using Hardware Acceleration and that was messing with the display drivers or something. Turning off Hardware Acceleration seemed to fix that issue.

 

Now I'm running into a new, more sinister issue. It started about a week ago, and for a little bit it looked like the same issue was back again. Her computer would freeze, display some weird colors/patterns, and finally recover. Then it stopped recovering. Keep in mind, this whole time she's only using Chrome and Spotify for some light browsing. Not a ton of tabs open, nothing super taxing going on in the background.

 

Pretty quickly, within a matter of hours, the display driver stopped recovering. She could get 10 - 15 minutes of use out of her computer before needing to restart it. That was all within the first day.

 

1 hour ago, millermusing said:

I tried a number of fixes. I completely uninstalled all display drivers using DDU, and reinstalled the latest version. I tried installing older versions that people who were experiencing similar issues reported as being stable for them. I tried reseating the graphics card. 

 

Her computer would be perfectly usable when I uninstalled Nvidia's driver, and simply ran of the default display driver. As soon as I tried installing an Nvidia driver so she could play games, the thing would go right back to not working.

 

So I reinstall Windows. I'm taking my time, installing a single driver at a time, and restarting between each one. I get to the fateful Display Driver, and it goes through, with no issues. It seems to be doing fine, so I start running Windows Easy Transfer to get her user profile installed from before the wipe. While that was running, the display conked out again. Same as before. Crazy colours all across the screen, and no indication of recovering.

 

Dyeing GPU 100%

 

1 hour ago, millermusing said:

That was all within the first day. Now her computer locks up within 30 seconds of powering on, sometimes before she can even log in.

This is either your CPU (idk how, could be the cause though?) or the HDD (stopping for some odd reason? head stuck?), although I wouldn't say that these are the cause until we sort out the GPU.

 

Check for physical damage in the gpu slot, any scratches or anything looking out of order.

Try the gpu in another slot if possible

Test the gpu in another computer (yours or a friends)

 

 

 

RMA the GPU then when they send you a fresh one install it, then update us, if it still has those problems reply back.

 

 

 

[cpuwaiy]

did you check your cpu temp?  install cpu-z.  try booting with another gpu?

[millermusing]

@IsaacDaGrazin I thought it was the GPU because it's doing the same thing, (causing weird display errors and freezing temporarily) just not recovering. Previously, it would display weird stuff on the screen (I can get pics if that would help) and recover, citing a display driver error. Now it displays the same weird stuff, within 30 seconds, and just never recovers.

 

Sadly, the board is a microATX board and only has the one PCIe slot. Also, no on board video. Bad choice on my part...

 

I'll RMA the card and update once the new one comes in.

 

@cpuwaiy I'll check that tomorrow. I'm going to bed now.

 

Thanks for the help guys! I appreciate it.