[killa-queen]

Hello,

Strange issue with my computer, can only run it in safe-mode and it has pink lines down it, if I try to start it normally or repair the system; it restarts or says that it has not been successful. I've done some routing around online and it seems that these problems could be either the graphics card is failing or the power supply isn't getting enough power to the motherboard.
On start up all the bios crap at the beginning has gaps in it. Computer has been running fine until it started doing this yesterday when I turned it on.

My computer is an Advent, Processor Intel quad core Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32-bit Windows 7 OS. The graphics card is on board, dunno what it is apart from plastic and metal.

I pulled it appart earlier today and cleared the oversized, bloated dust mites out. It's about 4 years old. I'm going to try reinstalling windows but I'm pretty sure it's a hardware problem from what I've read.

How can I find this out for definite without taking everything apart? Has anyone else heard of this problem. I'm very unwilling to part with my hard earned cash. I'm really stuck with this and would be very happy if I knew how to fix it.

Many thanks.

[killa-queen]

Also I have just tried to reinstall windows and it has said it wasn't successful. Any idea why this is happening? I have tested my monitor; definitely nothing to do with that.

[Tanis]

Hi and welcome to TSG.

I take it these lines still appear when you start in Safe Mode?
Do you get the lines as soon as you turn the machine on (i.e. when the BIOS info is being displayed) or do they start when Windows itself starts up?
If the graphics are onboard (part of the motherboard) I would probably lean a little more toward a failing card rather than the power supply, but that is not guaranteed.

Do you have access to any other graphics card? Anything that you know works will do, even something really old. Then you can test with that card and see if the problem persists, if it goes then your graphics are the problem.

[killa-queen]

My dad pointed out that there was an on-board thinggy, so I removed the graphics card and connected my screen to that and all the problems were solved... So the card just gave up on me it seems. What on earth would cause that?

[techniquev3]

See this all the time on old cards, I think it is cased from heat. I can get my GTX470 to do the same under load if clocked too high