Video Card Troubleshooting

[vexion]

So I had trouble with my HD 4850 in my new build. When I first booted up, everything posted fine, but the BIOS showed two fat red vertical lines running the length of the monitor, and once I booted into the Vista install disc, there were diagonal jagged thin red lines all over the monitor.

I tried installing Vista (I could get through the install just fine, the errors only affected readability a little.) and I installed the latest Catalyst drivers. But Vista says it doesn't even recognize the card. It doesn't show up in Device Manager and the "Vista Experience" gives graphics a 1.0. And the Catalyst drivers exacerbated the problem. Now the machine BSODs before it gets to the Windows splash.

The problem I have is deciding whether the problem is with the card or the motherboard. I'm using an Asus P5Q Pro, an ATI motherboard, and I don't have another ATI card I can try. Is it possible (common?) for just the PCI-E slot to fail on a motherboard? And to cause problems as described?

I've already sent the video card back to Sapphire for an RMA claim. But I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping it actually solves the problem.

Complete specs:

Mobo: Asus P5Q Pro
CPU: E8400 E0
RAM: 4GB G.Skill DDR2-1000
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB
HDD: 1x 320GB Samsung Spinpoint F1, 1x 750GB Samsung Spinpoint F1

Anyone know if I should be calling Asus about the motherboard too?

 

[vexion]

Bump

 

[haffey]

it certainly could just be a dirty slot.

 

[AceGoober]

Good suggest but I have never seen a "dirty" expansion slot on a brand new motherboard.

OP, what PSU are you running?

Did you try to run the card in the 2nd PCIe slot?

Have you updated the BIOS on the motherboard to the latest version?

 

[vexion]

Ah right, sorry. Corsair HX520W. And I don't remember if I tried running it in the second slot... And no, I hadn't updated the BIOS. I suppose I'll have to wait at this point till the card gets back from RMA...