Computer Upgrade Help, new video card / power supply? |
|
Computer Upgrade Help, new video card / power supply? |
|
|
|
|
Oct 22 2007, 05:41 AM |
EDIT-EDIT-EDIT: just getting the power supply for now
EDIT: current plan is to buy a new Video card and power supply although doing this going to leave be VERY VERY POOR. unless there was so magically way to just fix the problem... hey guys, this has been bothering me for several weeks now, and i've been unable to figure everything out by myself so i'm asking for help. currently, i'm using an emachines t6534. yeah i know, everybody says emachines are pretty lame, but it was cheap and it usually is enough for me. however, lately (last two months) half the time i turn the PC on i get no display on my monitor. i've checked all the cables and everything, seems ok... when the pc does actually show a display the screen seems to "scramble" up alot, and most of my programs don't work well. examples: Counterstrike runs like crap. (before these problems occured i could run this on high quality perfectly etc) Guitarpro constantly does the "scramble" thing on my screen. each note comes out pretty badly, and the program runs choppy overall. (a 5 year old computer could probably run guitar pro) when surfing the web my screen "scrambles" a little bit whenever i go over a link. i've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my display driver several times. tried getting the latest driver. tried e-mailing emachines tech support (they just said to get new drivers). my father says i need to get a new video card... i'm really poor right now, but if i have to i will buy one. since i haven't been able to solve the problem any other way, i'm guessing something bad is going on with my video card. here are my PC's specs~ Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (SP2) CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 3700+ processor with AMD 64 Technology (2.20GHz, 2000MHz system bus, 1MB L2 cache) Chipset: NVIDIA® GeForce® 6100 Memory: 1 gb of RAM Hard Drive: 200GB (7200rpm, 2MB cache) Optical Drive: 16x multiformat dual-layer DVD±RW (Up to 8.5GB with dual-layer media) Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 6100 integrated graphics solution Up to 128MB of shared video memory PCI Express (PCIe x16) slot available Ports/Other: 5 USB 2.0 (1 in Digital Media Manager™, 4 in back), VGA external connector, parallel port, 2 PS/2 ports (keyboard and mouse), 5 audio ports (2 in front, 3 in back) lastly, upon reading more on emachines, i guess they have a "very very bad" 300w power supply. my dad also suggested my power suppy sucks, i need to get a new one. will that ^ video card work with the normal emachines power supply? do i need to get a new one of those too? ohhhh boy. thank you for taking the time to read this. i'm sorry to bother anyone, it's just gotten to the point where i feel almost turned off when trying to play guitar when i have to deal with guitar pro running like rubbish. This post has been edited by Asphyxia Feeling: Oct 25 2007, 06:04 PM -------------------- What did you learn tonight? while shouting so loud, you barely joyous, broken thing. You are a voice that never sings, is what i say. You are freezing over hell You are bringing on that end you do so well and you can only blame yourself, is what is say. |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 22 2007, 07:03 AM |
With pc issues like a black screen it's useful to listen to the POST messages you get on startup as they can help pin down the issue.
Regardless of, and without the POST, to me its sounds like the heart of the issue is the video card. First the spec of the card, particularly that it shares ram, isn't really good enough for a lot of new games. (Though the spec is more then good enough for guitar pro, surfing the net and 2d apps in general.) Second the screen glitches point to the card, or at the very least the video driver dlls. 2d scramble that you describe sounds like a refresh/redraw issue. Video driver dlls are not easy to remove and correct btw. Often all that happens is they partly uninstall and the new fresh driver then fails to install properly. You then think that you have a good install but you don't - sad but true. No display on start up can be the video card not initiating properly but could be other issues. I don't know what power supply comes with an e-machine but a failing power supply can cause this effect as well. A failing power supply can cause all sorts of problems btw as it will not be able to produce consistent power to the board. High end video cards pull a lot of juice, particularly on pc startup and can sometimes result in drm issues for other peripherals. Failing and incorrectly installed ram can cause a black screen and 3d crashes. Ram that's been in place and functioning ok for a year doesn't, in my experience, fail very often so I'd look first to the video card as the possible culprit here. If you can borrow a different video card and see if that will work ok AND try your video card out in a different pc and see what happens. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 22 2007, 07:09 AM |
Whatever graphic card you take, it has dedicated RAM memory. Only on-board graphic cards have shared memory.
As for your problem - it's strange (i know, this is not much help but still....) A lot of problems could be because of faulty RAM chips. It is worth testing those. -------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 22 2007, 08:25 AM |
If you need anything computer part related you just can not beat newegg. The PS's are here, read the reviews and pick one out.
I do have to say the description of your problem seems to be video card related. But a new power supply is a lot cheaper way to go and you can eliminate it as the problem for very little. -------------------- Had a guitar hanging, just about waist high, and we are going to play these things until the day we die. |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 22 2007, 08:05 PM |
ahhhhh NOOOOOO. it had better not be the motherboard. UGHH. stupid emachines. now i feel weird about even buying a video card if it's not even going to work! ps. looked at the 7600gt, looks good. EDIT: OH OH! i don't know if this means anything, but when i boot in safe mode things are fine... aside from being in safe mode. If it boots in safe mode it is unlikely to be any sort of hardware issue - far more likely to be drivers. The MB is obviously ok, as is the graphics card. In your previous posts you just said you got a blank screen - if that is the case, how do you boot it into safe mode? Do you get regular bootup messages then a blank screen after that? -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 25 2007, 07:24 PM |
Sometimes it's lot easier to sell old one and but new machine.
Course,after you "fix" old one. Just an idea. P.S. I have 2 gb or RAM and think 1 gb is pretty fine but if it's fault chipset, yeah might cause the issue. But it worked fine before you said. Hmm -------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Oct 25 2007, 11:17 PM |
Very true Muris,
You can fast get to the point where you virtual end up rebuilding the pc. Mass market boxes are generally cheaper then custom building a pc so if you end up replacing a lot it can be cheaper to junk and buy a new one as Muris says. Personally I'd add that any pc you sell though you should preferably remove and physically trash and junk the h/d. Failing that you should do a low level wipe and low level format of the h/d. (Call me paranoid but its too easy to get supposedly deleted files and data back - including bank info, credit card data passwords etc. I know I have to recover my wife's often enough . Last recover of 'deleted' data was when she lost windows due to a corrupted LSB in the master boot record and Fixmbr didn't work . That was fun to recover from . Deleted files are not deleted but flagged for overwriting.) Cheers, Tony I build my pcs (not my wife's her's are mass market) for personal enjoyment. I like the sense of panic when you switch your new baby on and NOTHING happens . That's second only to finding that the mobo you've bought is incompatible with the screw turrets in the case -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
|
|
||