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White boxes on monitor screen, now won't boot past bios

By Okayest ·
Tags: Operating Systems, Windows, Hardware
Oldish pc. Win 7 pro on one side of partition. Gpu is Saphire Radeon HD 4870 2g and Mobo is Asus n13219

Tried to open up Warframe, screen suddenly turned to blue and white checker board pattern. Was able to close game and restart PC, but still messed up, weird white boxes and lines. Shut down completely.

Waited many hours and started again, same but PC suddenly turned off. Opened up PC. Cleaned out much dust and dog hair I never knew was in there. Fist fulls of it. PC starts now, but screen is still messed up and won't go past bios. Tried to reset bios to defaults, made it worse.

Very desperate to fix, important info and pics on PC plus can't afford a new PC.

Is it Mobo or gpu? Both? Can I get cheap and compatible replacement?

Ty in advance.

Pic of screen. https://ibb.co/r7Tft63

Pic after resetting bios to default https://ibb.co/album/9305TK
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Boot

by BOB.B In reply to White boxes on monitor sc ...

Get a can of compressed air and give the innards a good cleaning.

Get all the heat sinks and fans nice and clean.
Don't forget the psu.....a few shots of air from both directions.

Reseat all the cables.
Reseat the gpu.
Test.

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Thanks

by Okayest In reply to Boot

Thanks but I did clean it out with canned air. Probably the cleanest it's ever been atm. I did check all connections but was wary of taking anything apart as I'm not the one who built it. I will try resetting gpu.

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Try the canned air but this card came out in 2008.

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to White boxes on monitor sc ...

I WOULD NOT replace it with the same card. Let's compare it to the 1030 and then 1050 Ti which are our go to cards for cheap and old gamer PCs.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GT-1030-vs-ATI-HD-4870/m283726vsm7788 shows the 1030 is an upgrade so that's nice. Prices tend to be good here.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-ATI-HD-4870/3649vsm7788 is the card we suggest as it looks to be double the performance for about $155.

And yes, the client will often ask "will this fix it?" which is why we demo their PC with any of the shop cards to help them get over that hurdle.

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Thanks but

by Okayest In reply to Try the canned air but th ...

It's actually not a gamer PC tbh. Really it was only ever used for websurfing and email, and digital pictures. I was simply curious if it would run Warframe, if only to trade off my old stuff to someone.

I will try getting a cheap gpu, but how will I know if it will be compatible with the old and probably also 2008 mobo and psu?

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I'm going with 99% sure it is compatible with the cards I noted.

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to Thanks but

I have an even older HP d4999t and it will take such cards. You have this:
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/P5K/specifications/

So I can write with assurance the GTX 1030 and 1050 Ti works (because I've tested same on the Core2Quad similar motherboard and these cards.)

If you buy something else please post here so I can check it out.

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Expensive

by Okayest In reply to I'm going with 99% sure i ...

Those cards are $100 to 150. Do you know if there's anything I can get in the 30- 50 range?

I found the same card i have for 35 but if I could get a slightly newer one for a little more I wouldn't mind it.

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I don't see new cards for that little.

by rproffitt Moderator In reply to Expensive

Since it appears you are shopping used, you can guess I can't tell you if the used card is in good shape.

https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Cards-25-50/s?keywords=Computer+Graphics+Cards does find new cards that I can't get behind since many like that GT 710 and that other by AMD end up at the service counter with the client complaining about this or that.

But hey, your money and if you don't do more than game cards and YouTube these may be fine. But you can imagine folk tend to demand more.

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Re: important info and pics

by Kees_B Moderator In reply to White boxes on monitor sc ...

Two remarks:
1. Nothing in your post gives reason to think the hard disk is compromised, So all your important info and pics should still be there. If you put the disk in an external enclosure you should be able to access it on another PC (maybe after taking ownership) even if this PC can't be repaired.
2. Important info and pics should be on your BACKUP. Preferably on multiple media. As we say here: "You only lose what you don't backup".

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