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Solve : Distorted image on boot up? Bad video card or something else??

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I am having a problem with my custom PC I built nearly a year ago. I have a water cooling loop installed and it is somewhat complicated. Anyway, one of the tubes (I am using hard acrylic tubing) had a small crack in it, so I drained my loop and went about cleaning everything, created a new piece of acrylic tubing for where the crack was and then putting it back together again. It turned into a slightly longer job as I got some new fans, lighting, etc.

Anyway, I put everything back together and fill the loop. Then I connect everything and turn on my computer.

On my monitor, the image is VERY distorted, with pixelation and wavy lines across the screen. I know it is not the monitor because I've tried it on a couple different monitors and it is the same.

At first I thought I might have a bad graphics card, so I first drained the loop again, removed the GPU, cleaned it and reseated it carefully. The same thing is still happening.

I can't possibly imagine how the GPU could have gone bad in the course of maybe three days. It worked perfectly when the computer was put together before and I haven't touched it until I put it back together yesterday. For the record, the GPU is watercooled as well. The only potential issue could be leaked coolant causing an issue? But I very much doubt that. It just doesn't make sense.

My question is whether you think this is a graphics card issue or if there are other THINGS that could be causing these symptoms?

Here are some photos that show the problem:

http://cdn.overclock.net/6/6f/900x900px-LL-6f6f4468_20150413_184333.jpeg

http://cdn.overclock.net/9/99/900x900px-LL-99c52cd0_20150413_184348.jpeg


Any help would be very appreciated.

I don't think it matters, but here are the specs of my computer

Corsair Obsidian 900D case
Intel Core i7 4930k
Asus Rampage IV Extreme
16gb G Skill 2400mhz RAM
EVGA Geforce 780 SC
500 Samsung 840 EVO SSD
3tb Western Digital HDD
4tb Western Digital HDD


Do yhou have ANY other graphics cards you could try?
Does the motherboard have a built-in VGA?
What is the coolant used in the cooling system.
Is it Ethylene Glycoll or similar liquid?



Quote from: Geek-9pm on April 14, 2015, 05:34:04 PM

Do yhou have ANY other graphics cards you could try?
Does the motherboard have a built-in VGA?
What is the coolant used in the cooling system.
Is it Ethylene Glycoll or similar liquid?

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately I don't have any other graphics cards I could try and my motherboard doesn't have built in VGA. 

The coolant I am using is XSPC EC6 Blood Red:

http://www.xs-pc.com/coolant/ec6-coolant-blood-red

Are there any other things that could cause a problem like this other than a bad or malfunctioning graphics card?


I never removed the waterblock from my graphics card, so I could remove that, clean up everything and check for any potential issues?  I can't understand what could have happened in the few short days that I had my computer taken apart.

I know it's not an overheating problem though.  Even though the display was distorted, I managed to get into the bios and check temperatures.  All are under 30 degrees Celcius (CPU, System and Motherboard). 

I could probably just take my graphics card to a computer repair shop to verify if it is working okay.  I've got the original heatsink and fan for it. 

But I'd like to see if there is ANYTHING obvious that I could have missed.OK, that coolant is safe.
Maye  you disturbed something while working on your system. However, it is possible that your GPU is FAILING and it had nothing to do with the temps.

If you want  to do more DIY projects, you need to have on HAND a few items for testing. A spare low-cost video card is a small investment. Try to find a low-cost VGA card that will work in your system. Even a $15 card is good ENOUGH for a test.


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