Most likely your graphic board died
Try to connect your monitor in onboard input instead of graphic one and see if the computer runs ok, if that so then ur graphic card is dead.
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Thanks for responding, but sorry I didn't really get what you mean. How would I go about doing what you suggested? :)
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He means use the integrated GPU if you have one instead of the discrete GPU.
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Plugin your monitor in the motherboard graphic input instead of ur graphic card
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Oh right, now I get what you mean. I'm not 100% sure on how to do that, so before I try I'll ask this: As I said in the OP, the PC itself runs fine now, it's just that my graphics card doesn't seem to be detected. Is there still a point in trying to do what you said? If yes, then I'll try figure out how to do it
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Without knowing the details of your system it's hard to help you. If you have an integrated video card you'll have a video out port near your usb ports.
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Oh, well then that's already working. Isn't that what is allowing me to see the screen in the first place? It's that thing with the screws on either side to tighten it right? It's just like the piece I use to connect my HDMI cable to my PC
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My guess is that, as everyone stated before, your GPU is faulty or not correctly connected to the motherboard. Since you cleaned your computer, you may have reconnected the monitor to your on-board VGA instead, and that's what's giving you signal now and no problems in simple games.
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Well I didn't connect it instead. I have one cable from VGA going to the monitor, and an HDMI cable going to the monitor too. It's always been like this, and without any problems.
Thanks for the reply by the way!
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Your GPU is likely dead. The only way to really test if its a problem with the PC or the card itself is to try the card in another computer. Obviously if the card works in another computer, then it could be something in the PC, which could require a motherboard replacement if something like the PCI connector is fried.
What he's suggesting is so you can at least use the monitor with the current PC.If you look at the back of your computer, look where the mouse and keyboard connect to. There's likely a display jack there, but it may be a VGA (probably blue) or DVI (white) connection, if not both. Possibly HDMI depending on motherboard. Thats what they mean by motherboard graphics.
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That's already connected then. Thanks for the explanation. I'm assuming that's what is allowing me to see my screen right now. The way I connect the HDMI cable is through a similar looking piece, which just allows the HDMI cable to connect to the PC.
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Basically you have several issues that could be the cause:
- You have the wrong video card drivers.
- You're in Windows safe mode
- The video card is damaged or dead
- The BIOS is corrupted and needs to be reset
- The video card isn't getting proper power
- The video card isn't seated properly in the slot.
- The slot it's plugged into has gone bad. (move it to another slot if available)
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Thanks for all the suggestions.
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I guess we can rule out the wrong driver, as it was fine for weeks without updating it at all, and as stated in the OP, I tried downloading a driver for my GPU but it doesn't detect a GPU that can use it supposedly.
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I thought about it being in safe mode, but it never really gave me the option when booting up the PC, so I'm assuming it's running fine. Besides, my network seems to be connected, as well as my sound, and if I remember correctly that would be disabled in safe mode.
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Probably this
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If you think this is worth giving a shot I'll look up how to do it. I'm assuming it won't reset anything else, right?
5/6/7 Might be but I don't see what could have changed that suddenly yesterday.
Thanks for all the help so far
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- Is the working video cable connected to area 1 or 2 in the pic?
- And what area was the HDMI cable connected to that no longer works?
I need to leave so some possible directions:
If 1=area 1 and 2= area 2, then you're now using the integrated video card and need to install the drivers for it. Intel or AMD/ATI most likely. The area 2 video card would need to be troubleshooted or replaced.
If 1=area 2 and 2=area 2 then something is wrong with your video card. Could be a variety of things, such as a loose power cable to BIOS issues or just dying.
If 1=area 1 and 2=area 1 then you are using the integrated video card and something catastrophic could be happening.
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Working video cable is in area 1(I think it's called VGA).
HDMI that no longer works is in area 2
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Lol just answered at the same time. Your motherboard/BIOS switched to integrated graphics then. Install the video drivers for most likely what your CPU is. Somebody can help you troubleshoot the PCI card but if the motherboard isn't seeing it there is something seriously wrong with it.
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Alright thanks. I'll try to look for some drivers for my CPU and see if that fixes anything. That wouldn't exactly explain why my nvidia control panel won't open, and why my Nvidia graphics card isn't detected anywhere, would it?
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It's exactly why they don't open. The motherboard turned off the slot because your Nvidia card didn't respond at boot time. If you successfully troubleshoot the Nvidia card and turn the system back on it'll switch back to it. I noticed the MSI card has 2 power plugs on the back. Did you verify they both had plugs pushed in and they're both pushed into the power supply too?
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I'll try open up the lid and make sure the graphics card is plugged in properly later. You mentioned troubleshooting the Nvidia card, in what way do you mean exactly? Right now I'm installing an Intel video driver like you suggested, so we'll see what difference that makes.
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The Intel drivers will only fix your current video output nothing else. There's a variety of reasons why video cards stop working. Gamers typically killed them due to heat issues. Cooling fans fail after so many years so that could be the issue and most likely means your card is dead. Power supply issues either from loose cables or power supply itself dying are major causes too. The PCI-e slot could be burnt out for a variety of reasons but if you have another one you can plug the MSI card into that and it should work, but that is rare. The BIOS is corrupt and needs to be reset, again rare but that's why we're able to reset it..should be a button/switch on the motherboard for that.
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Would you recommend I look for that button on the motherboard and reset the BIOS? Or is that something I should not bother trying right now before other fixes?
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I would wait unless somebody with more time can walk you through it. If plugging the video card into a similar sized slot doesn't fix it and the power plugs are attached on both ends it most likely is the card. BIOS corruption is rarely the cause.
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Alright. I'm waiting for something to finish rendering, and then I'll try re-plug the graphics card, reboot the pc and see what happens :)
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Well I updated my Intel CPU graphics driver like you suggested, and I seem to have run into new problems. Check the updated OP :) Thanks so much for your help so far
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From the succession of events you described on the OP your problem is with the non-integrated graphic card, cannot be other things.
Before attempting to "manually" fixing it (there are "invasive" ways to give a dieing card a few more weeks of life) try the card on another machine just to be certain.
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That would have been good to try but I have no access to another card or PC. I decided to let my local store check out the PC. Thanks for all your help!
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I'm confused. Is your HDMI cable connected to the Nvidia card in area 2 still or the motherboard in area 1? When you get a "no signal" alert it usually means the video card switched to a different output method, such as DVI or HDMI. If the HDMI cable is connected to area 2 that means the Nvidia card is active for some reason. If it's connected to area 1 it means the Intel drivers switched to either DVI or VGA output.
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I left it as was before. HDMI in area 2 and VGA area 1. Anyway I took my PC to the local store for a checkup since this has turned out to be a problem I cant easily fix myself. Ill update the thread in around 2 days with the outcome. Thanks so much for your consistent help!
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Hopefully they can fix it cheap. On the plus side a replacement card with similar performance are fairly cheap. Unless you live on an island in the middle of nowhere..oh.. :p
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Hey, I realise it's been almost 3 weeks but I'll update you since that's what I said I'd do. I took it to the store, they checked it 2 weeks later which really pissed me off considering my job requires a PC, and they told me it would take 2 days. Obviously I understand they were probably busy, but I would have preferred if they told me it would take that long to begin with. Anyway, they reported no problems. I bring the PC home, and sure enough it works fine.
I now think it's an overheating GPU issue, since it probably cooled down over the period of 2 weeks. Except I start using my PC the next day and it breaks down again. Great, they took 40 euros from me, and did nothing. He told me all he did was test the GPU with 3DMark. He didn't even try the GPU on other machines, or stress test it, or anything. They didn't even clean the computer.
Anyway, I take the GPU out of the PC and take it to them to test it for a day. I leave the rest of my PC at home and use on-board graphics so I don't get bored at home. They say the GPU, is fine. I bring it back home, it works ok.
I call someone who I actually trust more than this shop, and he comes to my house and checks it out. Cleans it well, and installs afterburner and uses it to limit my GPU temperature to 80 Celsius by telling the fans to work harder incase the GPU heats up to that point. We ran many benchmarks and stress tests and the GPU seems fine. Well... I wasted 3 weeks of my life, and I have no idea what went wrong with the PC. It's almost worse than actually having found a problem, and fixing it.
I guess I'l see if it holds up, seems to be ok for 2 days now. Thanks for all your past help :)
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Oh and the whole resolution being messed up and not being able to play intensive games means your GPU is busted. I had an integrated GPU that I would play decent games with and it started giving me problems and eventually was kaput. Except without the vendor device drivers (nVidia) and just generic-ass Windows drivers it would still work. And be stable. But the screen looked like shit, looked blocky, and very, very few games worked. But it was stable like that for a while until I got a discrete GPU. Seems like you're at the same point now. You're stable at the moment using the PC port but you have no ability to use the full potential of the card.
It's done, son.
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Damn, seems to be the case. Thanks for the feedback, uh.. father.
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Yeah, it's dead... but if you wanted to be sure try using another GPU with your Pc, and use the one you have installed on another set as well. Just to be Extra-sure and precise, but I'd say it's dead...
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I'd love to have done that but I don't really have anyone I can try that with. I guess I'll take it to the shop when I buy a new one and ask really nicely if they could just check it there. Might as well try
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Just on the off chance, try taking your RAM out and putting it back in. Sometimes it needs a re-seat.
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Time to get a new graphics card. Try a different one before you buy one just in case.
What's the pc specs?
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Well I don't really have anyone I can borrow a graphics card off, so out of luck there, and I can't think of any other way I can get my hands on one to try out. Guess I just need to buy a new one. Thanks for the help!
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Haha thanks. Gonna try this out tomorrow and see if it fixes it
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Who the the hell has their display driver fail repeatedly and doesn't try to do a clean install of the darn thing or an earlier version that worked properly?
It does sound though as if your issue is beyond that and the GPU is dead...but still why on earth am I not reading anything about a driver re-install in the topic?
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"I downloaded the latest driver for my card, but it wouldn't let me install it as it said that it didn't detect any graphics hardware that could use that driver."
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Bah, I'd stopped reading by that point since it should have happened much sooner already and I overlooked it when skimming the rest. Oh well.
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tried reinstalling the graphics card drivers? Do that. If that doesn't work, try launching command prompt "cmd.exe" in admin mode, and write "sfc /scannow" to search for missing/corrupt system files.
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I tried what you suggested and it said everything was fine. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Do you overclock your graphic card? Overclocking it too much can cause these symptoms. If you do, try reverting it back to normal. If you don't, I'm sorry but I can't really help, but I guess your card died like other people said.
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Nah, I was always too scared to try after hearing many horror stories about it. Thanks for helping :)
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Yep, sounds like a faulty GPU...try switching to the integrated graphics port & see if the monitor works
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Yep, the monitor is working fine through my VGA cable. I just can't seem to get it to work through HDMI.
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I'm not sure. Is it possible to connect the VGA directly to the GPU? Or do you mean just connect it to the PC? If it's the second, then that's what I'm doing right now
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Nope...they are not, those are DVI ports..guess you have to get a new card or claim warranty if it still has it
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I'm almost certain my warranty is void, so I guess I'll have to buy a new card (Maybe a better one than my current one). Thanks for all the help! Appreciate it
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My advice depends on whether you have a desktop or a laptop, and then also on how comfortable you are with ripping it open. First, however, if the computer is purchased and under warranty, contact the manufacturer. No point doing work if you can get them to fix/replace stuff for you. Second, if you didn't purchase the computer as a whole, check if the card is under warranty. If it failed, you might be able to get a free replacement. However, it sounds very much like a software problem.
To check, open up the Device Manager (assuming Windows, of course) and look for any unidentified devices. While it may not be the case, it sounds like your computer is not recognizing the card and possibly that it is using improper drivers or having a software freakout. If that's the case, you can interact with the unidentified device; usually just hitting something like check for drivers fixes it. If it shows up though, there's a good chance that there's a software problem, not a hardware problem. However, if it's not there, the problem is probably with the card.
However, before replacing it, it would be best to see if reseating the card fixes the problem. It's possible it simply came loose or the power cable (if it uses extra power from the motherboard) was disconnected. If you have a desktop, simply open the side panel (the exact way to do so varies by case) and look for a graphics card. If you built it yourself, you should be able to recognize it, but unless your manufacturer really cut corners, it shouldn't be soldered to the motherboard. You can google GPU pictures to see if you can find a graphics card that looks like yours. Simply release any levers holding the card in place and slide it straight out, then slide it back in. It will require a bit of force and will click when it seats; be sure that you have all the pins corresponding, you cannot slot a GPU more than one way.
If you have a laptop, the only solution is to look up the service manual for your laptop, open it up according to the manual, and then make sure that all connections to the GPU look correct. It is likely however that the GPU is soldered onto the chipset and that you will probably not be able to do much. Be careful if your laptop's service manual says any step will void the warranty; it is meant to be used by professionals and only do this step if your laptop is not under warranty.
Hope this helps!
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As an addendum, it's unlikely that your card is completely dead. If it were completely dead, I would expect it not to have the issues with the HDMI setting, but rather not offer it at all. This makes me think there might be a power draw issue. You could try, if you're sure all the power is connected properly to the card, disconnecting the power to any extraneous disk drives or other components and seeing if that fixes the problem, because what it sounds like from the description is bad power draw. Now, that could be on the card's end, in which case it would probably have to be replaced. If you added any new hardware recently, it wouldn't hurt to disconnect it, and yes, even things that seem random. (Even a USB keyboard? Yes. You would not believe how many times printers/keyboards/mice/external hard drives have messed stuff up for me. Just remember that with no devices connected you're liable to get some funky messages on boot. It should boot fine, though if it asks for a keyboard prompt without a keyboard, you will need to connect one.)
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I suspect that his motherboard switched to integrated graphics which would explain why the drivers won't install and the HDMI port no longer works.
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The switch alone though wouldn't make the drivers not install; the hardware would still be recognized, and the weird HDMI output errors that happen when using the card are unusual if it was simply an issue with the motherboard looking in the wrong place. What seems more likely is a power failure or a bad component on the GPU chipset, or some bizarre software glitch.
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The hardware would be detected but if the drivers were never installed Windows would only display basic video output. He tried to install Nvidia drivers but most likely if the system switched he's now using an Intel/AMD video card.
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Thanks a lot for such an in-depth response. I've got a custom-build desktop, but it was built by a local store. I've already opened it up before so the warranty is void, I believe.
I can't seem to find any unidentified devices in the device manager, so it must be something hardware related. I'll do a bit of research later today and try to disconnect and reconnect the GPU without any devices plugged into the PC.
Thanks again!
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If it was built by a local store, they can probably evaluate the machine and see if anything is wrong. Also, simply opening the case does not void the warranty in all cases, though their individual policy might vary. It's usually something like reseating the CPU that would void the warranty, and GPU's and RAM are usually easy enough to install that they do not void warranty inherently (though changing for different configurations might).
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Well I haven't messed with any configurations in hardware, but the giant sticker holding the lid of the PC says "Warranty void if sticker removed", so that probably doesn't help. Taking the entire PC to the store is a bit difficult, so I'm considering taking the GPU to see if they can check it there.
Thank you for your help :)
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If desktop-did you use compressed air on your GPU cooler?
maybe u spread something into hdmi port?
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Yep, I used compressed air in the entire desktop. I'm planning on unplugging the GPU today and replugging it. I'll check the hdmi port
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I could boot into safe mode with my half-dead GPU. Like I said, I had to use the generic drivers (to get into Windows normally). My talk about integrated GPU was about a problem over half a decade ago.
My discrete GPU died last month. I loaded up PAYDAY 2, things were weird and slow. I had a blue screen. I was troubleshooting when eventually I couldn't boot into Windows. Blank screen. It did POST, it was at the point where Windows started loading drivers that things failed. Couldn't even get into safe mode. Tried a live CD. Same. Uninstalled discrete GPU, actually had a blue screen or two with integrated (because I needed to fix my drivers because they're different for the integrated). Fixed drivers, and I was fine until I got my replacement GPU.
Long story short I think your GPU is still busted. The best way to test that it's a hardware issue and not a Windows issue is to boot from a Linux live CD and fool around in Linux for a while. Given that you can no longer boot into Windows normally I suspect your attempts at a live CD will fail.
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Hmm. Your posts are kind of confusing but I think I have it now.
You said you always had two cables going to the monitor. Sounds like you had both your integrated and your discrete plugged in at the same time, yeah? So then something happened and your discrete no longer worked. Hence you could no longer use HDMI as the source on your monitor. So you switched it to the VGA/PC input and it worked. Because that's connected to the integrated. But then you found some drivers for your GPU. So now the GPU works again. So now the source is HDMI again. Except you have to boot into Windows using safe mode. So things aren't fixed.
Could just be drivers, or a conflict, but I still think your discrete is going.
Anyway, if you're not using integrated don't keep it plugged in. It's not like you can hot swap them.
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Yea I think you got it. Anyway I've taken the PC to my local store for checkup since evidently this isnt a simple enough problem to fix. Thanks a lot for your help though :)
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UPDATE 2: Hey, I realise it's been almost 3 weeks but I'll update you since that's what I said I'd do. I took it to the store, they checked it 2 weeks later which really pissed me off considering my job requires a PC, and they told me it would take 2 days. Obviously I understand they were probably busy, but I would have preferred if they told me it would take that long to begin with. Anyway, they reported no problems. I bring the PC home, and sure enough it works fine.
I now think it's an overheating GPU issue, since it probably cooled down over the period of 2 weeks. Except I start using my PC the next day and it breaks down again. Great, they took 40 euros from me, and did nothing. He told me all he did was test the GPU with 3DMark. He didn't even try the GPU on other machines, or stress test it, or anything. They didn't even clean the computer.
Anyway, I take the GPU out of the PC and take it to them to test it for a day. I leave the rest of my PC at home and use on-board graphics so I don't get bored at home. They say the GPU, is fine. I bring it back home, it works ok.
I call someone who I actually trust more than this shop, and he comes to my house and checks it out. Cleans it well, and installs afterburner and uses it to limit my GPU temperature to 80 Celsius by telling the fans to work harder incase the GPU heats up to that point. We ran many benchmarks and stress tests and the GPU seems fine. Well... I wasted 3 weeks of my life, and I have no idea what went wrong with the PC. It's almost worse than actually having found a problem, and fixing it.
I guess I'l see if it holds up, seems to be ok for 2 days now. Thanks for all your past help :)
UPDATE 1: Well my computer told me that there was an intel graphics update, so I let it do that seeing as one or more people recommended I do so. Now my computer has swapped, and displays an image only when it's on the "HDMI" setting on my monitor, as opposed to the previous "PC" setting. (This is how it used to be when my computer was fine, so that's good news.) I'm not sure what that means for the people who said that was proof of a faulty HDMI port on my graphics card. The problem is this:
I'll only see the initial windows booting screen, and a big msi logo, which I believe is the motherboard. Then I get an error message from my samsung monitor: "No signal", and it just stays there. I never actually get to seeing my desktop. The only way I can do that is by booting the PC in safe mode, which I am doing now with networks enabled. I appreciate the previous help from everybody, I think we've made progress! :)
It's pretty late here so I'm going to sleep and will read your replies tomorrow morning. Thanks again
Since this site is filled with wonderful, helpful and smart people I thought I'd bring my very frustrating problem to the forums.
Yesterday I was using my PC just fine, editing videos, playing games. 'Til I launched Left 4 Dead 2. The game kept freezing, until I tabbed out, tabbed back in. It would then freeze again after 5 or so seconds. Eventually, it froze up my computer, crashed it and threw a blue screen of death.
I rebooted my PC and now whenever I tried launching a game, after a minute or so, my screen would go black and a message would pop up saying my display driver failed, but recovered. Eventually this would happen so many times that all my windows would be completely black, and no icons were visible. Restart the PC, and everything is ok for a few minutes before that whole thing happens again.
I thought that maybe since I hadn't cleaned my PC in about 2 years, it might be overheating, although it felt cool enough. This morning I used compressed air and cleaned it out. Plugged everything back in, and turned it on. The HDMI Setting on my Samsung Monitor now says "No signal" whenever my HDMI cable is in, and when I unplug it, it says that I need to connect a cable in. Proving that it KNOWS the cable is in, just doesn't show anything.
My PC displays fine when I switch from the "HDMI" setting to the "PC" setting on my monitor, however the resolution is messed up, and I can't even open the Nvidia control panel. Anywhere I look on the PC, it seems to find no sign of my graphics card. I downloaded the latest driver for my card, but it wouldn't let me install it as it said that it didn't detect any graphics hardware that could use that driver. Great...
I haven't gotten that black screen, "driver failed but then restored" problem ever since, and the PC runs fine.(Although with a really weird resolution).I can't play any high-end games like Just Cause 2, but can run Binding of Isaac fine. (Because it runs in flash, obviously). I've tested and the HDMI cable isn't the problem, and the monitor works just fine.
My guess is that the graphics card is just faulty. Probably the HDMI port on it is messed up, but I'm not an expert so I thought I'd ask what you all thought. Any suggestions on what I can try?
Thanks everyone :)
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