Broken gfx card?

[joliet_jane]

Yesterday I installed another HD.  In the process I must've broken something because now my computer can't understand its graphics card and has trouble booting.  When it can boot (after many tries), it looks like this (except what I see is probably worse):


It was working fine before I went to bed!  I removed the extra HD, thinking the power supply (600W) wasn't working well enough, but that didn't help.  And yes, I do use always use a grounding strap.

The display is garbled before the OS even begins to load. Big trouble, but at least I know my boot drive isn't the problem and my data is safely backed up also.  A new computer could cost $400+, but data is priceless.

The next time my computer turns off, it might not turn on again. And it's my fault.

[RomanClock]

Have you tried disabling it or removing the graphics card?
Maybe try to get to dxdiag? (Run:dxdiag)

[joliet_jane]

Have you tried disabling it or removing the graphics card?
Maybe try to get to dxdiag? (Run:dxdiag)

Dxdiag? Wow, I never knew about that.   Never needed it before.

It looks like it's going to do something, but my display is so garbled, I can barely see the text on it (or on this web page, for that matter)

I'm pretty sure something happened to either the card or the board.

[DarkMatterClock]

looks like you beat it up pretty bad...try the card in another computer is the best suggestion i've got, but it seems as though its damaged.

[CaramelAppleClock]

Yup I had that too.
It's dead..

[joliet_jane]

I hope the GeForce 8500 is dead and that it’s not anything on the board. That would be much harder to replace.

I removed and re-seated the card. Same deal. Tried to swap in an old 16MB card, but it's too long to fit (the end of it jammed against the case). I can’t use my old comp. to test on because it has no drives and can’t boot from USB devices.

I could by a new (and nicer) card, but I don’t want to plug that into a board that could fry it. I have no idea what I did to it.  It looks all right and the fan runs.

[joliet_jane]

I sent the card back to where it came from, Magic Micro, and they sent me a new one that works.  I could not recommend them more highly.