MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Dead graphics card?

> > I have a XFX Radeon HD 7850 graphics card, and I was in the middle of playing an
> old
> > 3D game (non-MAME) when my computer suddenly powers off. I know it was just the
> > computer and not a complete power outage because the LEDs on my monitor and
> speakers
> > stayed on. When I power it back on, I get nothing but a black screen, so I turn it
> > off and turn it back on again and hit delete to get into the BIOS. The BIOS
> settings
> > screen shows up for half a second before it goes black again. Fortunately my
> > motherboard has onboard video, so I pull the secondary power supply cable on the
> > graphics card and plug my monitor into the onboard video instead, power up and
> > everything seems fine. I power off, plug the monitor back into the graphics card,
> > plug in its second power cable, turn everything back on and black screen again.
> Does
> > this sound like a dead graphics card?
>
>
> Goto Fry's, buy another Video card and test it. If it fails, go back to Frys's,
> return the Video Card and buy a Power Supply that is better than what you have.
> Install it, and find out what happens. If Still you cannot Post, try new Memory. If
> that fails, it's your MB.

With these symptoms, swollen caps on the MB would be a dead giveaway and are also a possibility...if he's got a board that still uses electrolytic.

They'd be in a bunch near the CPU, and in the 1500uF to 2200uF range.