GameBanshee Forums

Ok today i got home from work and go turn my computer on and everything starts up as usual until it gets to the login screen and all of a sudden my monitor goes into low power mode. i messed around with it for a while before i finally took out my video card and re-enabled my onboard video. the computer booted up fine. i put my card back in and it did the same thing as before, the monitor just dies. i really have no idea what is going on....the card worked fine this morning and i hadnt touched my pc since then. My system specs are:

900mhz Celeron
256mb PC-133
Geforce4 mx420 pci
Windows Xp home

if anyone has any ideas i would love to hear them. my onboard video sucks and im going to be stuck playing old games until i get this fixed. i sure hope i dont need a new card........

First, reinstall your video drivers. Check with your card's manufacturer to see if there are any known issues between your card and Windows XP Home.

Move the card to another slot on your motherboard. It doesn't happen often, but PCI slots go bad and moving the card may solve your problem.

Put the card in another machine and see if it works. If it works in another computer, your problem isn't the card.

If none of those options work, see if your video card is still under warranty. If it is, take it back to where ever you bought it and exchange it for a new one.

You should always start with the simplest (and cheapest) solution. As you check those off, move up the scale in terms of complexity and cost.

I've seen this happen before, and it turned out to be a dirty contact on the card. Check if there's any dirt or dust on the contact points on the video card or any dust in or near the slot on your motherboard.

HLD's suggestions are a good way to find the problem.

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Put the card in another machine and see if it works. If it works in another computer, your problem isn't the card.

If this other machine isn't yours, you might want to ask the person whose it is whether they will take responsibility or not if anything goes wrong...just a bad experience on my part that ended up with me shelling out for something that could not possibly have happened...

Originally posted by Kameleon


If this other machine isn't yours, you might want to ask the person whose it is whether they will take responsibility or not if anything goes wrong...just a bad experience on my part that ended up with me shelling out for something that could not possibly have happened...

Are you still bitter at that? Admit it, you would have upgraded that card sooner or later.