Okay well... I've encountered a gargantuan problem... Everything was working perfectly fine on my computer, but just a little while ago I was playing LoL and a message came up saying that my graphics card was outdated. I thought the game was just being stupid because I had played it so many times before without any problem. I attempted to keep on playing but then the screen started flashing pink and the colors got all fucked up (kind of like how Starcraft's colors get messed up). After a couple seconds, my screen went black, so I restarted my computer. When it was loading up, the first screen that I see (not sure what you call it, it's the one that you see when you first start your computer) had red dots everywhere. However, when the Windows screen came up saying that it was logging me in, everything was perfectly normal. But, when it logged me in, my screen went black. I couldn't do anything. I went online and looked for a bunch of different solutions but nothing worked. I've started my computer in safe mode so it works fine now. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the drivers, but after the computer restarts, my screen just goes black like before. I've updated the driver with ATI Tray Tools, but that still doesn't help, and when I try to update it with Catalyst Control Center, I get an error saying that it detected an incomplete build. What the fuck. The only thing that I can think of causing this is that I opened my case and messed around with the card to try to stabilize it because my case has retarded levers that don't keep it entirely in place. I didn't break anything... I hope. Anyone encountered this problem before/know a solution to it? I'd rather not have to run my computer in safe mode all the time, and I really hope my graphics card isn't fucked.

Have you tried checking your system for viruses?

The levers in your case *will* work to support your card in some way. You need to put in the time to work out how to do it, because you risk damage to your card and/or motherboard if you do not. That is potentially what has already happened, with the symptoms you're describing.

After going into safe mode, have you tried turning the display settings to Aero Basic?

Red dots in the POST screen (counting memory and stuff)? Not good. Sounds like hardware damage.
You did remove power from your computer when you tried to fixate the graphics card, right? If you do it while running you can easily damage your card and/or mobo.

Since the computer is new I'd say format c: and reinstall windows to make sure there's no bad driver or something. Takes an hour at most. If the problem persists, try to get a new card via warranty. If not, happy gaming.

There is, however, a different possible cause for it: Damaged or too weak PSU. Since I trust Ex on his judgment we can narrow it down to damaged PSU.

In general, to identify hardware problems you need 2 roughly similar computers and then cross check. This is standard procedure and here's how it's done:
1) Remove the part suspected to be damaged and try it in the other computer to see if it works there.
2) Then take the part you just replaced in the other computer and put it into damaged computer to check if the rest of the computer runs fine if the (suspected) defect part is replaced.

In your case, if you can, cross check gfx and PSU.

Lanthanide is absolutely correct. Nude's format/reinstall option isn't a bad bet. Unfortunately I don't think you have the parts to do a guess and check.

Don't install anything yet, just downloads.
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx
download the catalyst software suite. If you want to use CCC, dont use ATT. If you want to use ATT, don't install CCC (you can uncheck this when you install the driver).
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-%28Setup%29_d1655.html
download driversweeper.

1.) uninstall your graphics driver. This is usually done by the AMD uninstall utility found in add/remove programs. Also uninstall ATT.
2.) it will make you reboot.
3.) run driversweeper. Select only AMD stuff to delete.
4.) install catalyst without ATT or CCC.

It's also possible, however unlikely, that your graphics card was overheated and was showing artifacts on the post screen.

It's important to note which errors are consistent, and which ones only happen once or twice. If the post artifacts only showed up once, I'm betting on overheating. If it's constant, it's your graphics/psu.

You could also try installing the Drivers in safe mode.

rockz, I did what you said, but the catalyst software suite will not install. I keep getting an error that says "Failed to load detection driver." If I install ATT, it installs fine, but then the program won't open because it "Cannot initialize ATIPDLXX library." I can't test my graphics card in another computer because it won't fit in my other one. The thing that I don't get is, if the graphics card was messed up, wouldn't all the screens be messed up? Why does the windows login screen look fine, but then the computer startup screen has red pixels everywhere?

Also, I've tried installing uninstalling/reinstalling the card/drivers in safe mode, but nothing works. My screen still goes black when I log in under normal windows.

So unless you still get the red dots at startup you should just reinstall windows. This is why I recommended it in the first place because these errors can be hard to track/fix even for a computer expert, and reinstalling windows doesn't require a lot of time or expertise.

Well fuck. I reinstalled windows and my screen still goes black. God damn it, I really don't feel like replacing my graphics/power supply, and I don't even know which one of those I need to replace.

If I had to guess I'd say it's the gfx card. Don't you have a friend that can borrow you his gfx? Or go in a store buy a gfx, test it and give it back stating it wouldn't work in your computer.

Wow okay well I got it to work by running msconfig and disabling all of the startup programs. I updated my graphics card driver but whenever I restart, a blue screen pops up for a second and then my computer attempts to restart again. Then, I get the "windows did not shut down properly, choose how you want to start it" screen. D:

EDIT: I just uninstalled the graphics card again and made sure that all of the non-windows programs were disabled at startup and it worked. There's definitely a problem with the graphics card.. I just hope that it's got something to do with the drivers and not the card itself. It installs fine, but after I update the drivers, I start to get the blue screen after restarting.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 27 2011, 7:35 pm by Dem0nS1ayer.

then try an older driver

I'm not sure where to find older drivers. I did a bunch of different things and I got different results for all of them.

1. When I uninstall my graphics card in safe mode and then restart in normal mode, everything works fine. I can see my desktop and the graphics card installs.
2. If I update my driver with catalyst control center and then restart, I get the blue screen.
3. The first couple times I tried to restart my computer without updating the driver, my monitor would flicker on and off, but now whenever I try to do this, I just get the blue screen and restart every time.


Also, I'm still getting those red dots on the computer startup screen which worries me. If my desktop shows up fine, then why dose the first screen have red dots everywhere?

Just to note, it's stories like this which make me think I'm right in telling people to go with pre-built. Good luck, demon.

Red dots right at the start means there's something wrong with the card. Which explains the blue screens and that the driver that detects the card can't be loaded.

You see, gfx cards are not as simple as a monitor where damage affects all displayed pictures the same. Gfx cards are like computers in itself with multiple processors, calculation units and memories, each doing a specific job and if one of them fails it sometimes (if the damage isn't too big) only affects a specific part of your card. There's also many modes such a card can run in (2D and 3D and many sub-modes like direct draw, palette based, DirectX, OpenGL, to name a few). In your case the basic 2D mode seems to be affected.

It sounds like a physical issue with the card.

Did you already get the card supported properly in the case?

Well it's pushed into the PCI slot just fine, but it still moves around because the things on the case are retarded and don't do anything. It's always been a bit wobbly, but it always worked before yesterday. :\

I have the same problem where the card doesn't sit snugly in the PCI slot, and impact on the case can cause it to slip.

If the same has been happening to you, I believe frequent slipping of the card out of the slot can cause cumulative damage.

Okay well I just got the blue screen again and when it went to restart, my screen went white with red and blue vertical lines going across it. Yep, my graphics card is fucked. I give up.