i started up my computer today and everything started fine i tried too start EVE Online it started normal then before i could enter password the computer crashed to blue screen. i restarted comp GOT too log in page and it crashed again. So i restarted comp and had it start in safe mode did a role back of 2 weeks and tried starting it up. it would not start in normal mode and this time there where columns of red dashes running up and down my screen.

i powered it down and left it alone for 30 min came back tried to start it up and the dashes appeared again and the BIOS words where not displaying right. cunks of the letters where well below there proper spot. Again i tried safe mode but vista will not even start up. i tried resetting everything too defaults since i had over clocked cpu a bit and upped the fans speeds but all i get is a black screen with the red dashes that are now there from the moment i start comp. What are the specs on this comp? 750w thermaltake
intel core 2 duo e6600 2.4
NFORCE 650i
4gb ddr2 supertalent 800mhz
250gb western digital
dual 8800 gtsSounds like the graphics card died. Does your motherboard come with an on-board graphics card or do you have another spare to test with?Remove one of the vid cards and turn off SLI/Crossfire in the BIOS and re-boot.
If no joy-joy swap the other card out...i have removed the bad vid card and everything looks good

but now the system powers down before vista can even start i have tried normal start and booting from cd but the system just powers down. if i unplug it for a bit it stays on longer and vista starts booting but then the whole thing shuts down. what did i mess up?You may have dislodged a RAM stick or a power connectioin such as the 4 pin ATX power connector...
Re-seat and re-check everything and make sure the heatsink is not LOOSE...they are funky on that chip.the cpu fan had poped out of place got that fixed and did system repair it WORKS now thanks for the helpExcellent.
How old and what manuf. was the dead card ? ?
It may still be under warranty...