VGA card fault! Code 10 -device cannot start

[al Roumi]

Hi all, I'm experiencing what appears to be an intermittent fault with my VGA card (Inno 3d 8800GT).

I know this is no tech support forum and I am pursuing other avenues of enquiry but I thought some of the Orgahs must know a little about what happens in their whirring beige (or black) case.

My Pc:
XP pro (sp3)
Intel 2.66Ghz Dual core / 2Gb RAM
VGA card: Inno 3d Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT

I've been running my system for approx 18 months now and this problem occured for the first time 5 days ago. It since seemed to disappear after I physically resettled the graphics card but has now come back again -and hasn't so far been cured by my re-settling efforts.

When running, the display froze, artifacts appeared on the screen and a continuous beep was emitted. After restart, the artifacts were all over the screen (from boot screen onwards). The system booted into windows on very low graphics settings. Colour was almost down to shades of gray, resolution was very low and there were artifacts all over the display in a repeated pattern. I was getting a notification bubble as well that my graphics settings were low (as if i couldn' tell).

On checking device manager, there was a yellow exclamation mark next to my VGA card and the properties screen reported the (bland) error "This device cannot start (Code 10)".

Apparently this is usually a driver error, but uninstalling and reinstalling the driver (I was already using nvidia 191.07) had no effect.

As mentioned above, the first time this happened to me, the issue disappeared by chance, more than anything I consciously did.

Previous procedure was: Unistall driver (which btw was the latest). Restart. Install driver (latest). Restart. <Not fixed.

Shutdown, cables disconnected, VGA card removed for visual inspection and retrieval of serial for tech support on Inno 3d site.

-There were (and are) no signs of frazzled components or other card/contact damage.

-Inno 3d told me to reinstall the latest drivers and if that ddin't work, have the card checked by a store.

-as it was the weekend, i was interested in seeing if there was nothing esle I could do so i put the VGA card back in the machine.

-on Start up, this time (to my great surprise) everything was as normal.

I cautiously but happily proceeded to use my PC for the rest of the day -and continued to do so as the opportuinity presented itself this week untill this morning when the problem happened again.

I haven't yet refreshed the drivers again, but resetteling the card hasn't worked so far this time. I'd read elsewhere that resettleing a card is at best only a temporary solution...

The big question for me is: Do I need to get a new card?

I'm concerned it could be a contact/power fault, which would mean that the PSU or motherboard might be damaged, perhaps as well as the VGA card -or not...

I unfortunately don't have a spare card to hand so i may try to take it round to a local shop and see if they/we can't try some different configurations out.

This is all rather annoying as I was hoping to upgrade to Win7 this weekend!

I'd appreciate any insights or advice you guys may have.

[caravel]

I'm not sure why you've been told this is a "driver issue". The hard lock up, continuous beep, display artifacts and the "device could not start" errors point to a hardware issue. Cards that are loose in the slot do usually cause an instant unrecoverable freeze and coninuous beep after the reboot, so it could be that the slot is loose. Check that the card is fully seated, if it is seated into the slot at a slight angle, i.e. the rear of the card is elevated, this is due to an ill fit of the motherboard and case. Fibre washers may need to be fitted to the motherboard risers to level the board off. Also when you screw the card into the chassis ensure that there is not a huge gap between the card bracket mouting tab and chassis backplate itself. This indicates that the motherboard is too high and results in the card going into the slot at an angle..

If none of that applies, then the problem is very likely to be due to heat buildup. Artifacts usually indicate a problem with the card's memory. Carefully dust the card off, blow out the GPU fan and ensure that the card is in a slot where airflow is not obstructed by flat cabling and other adaptor cards. Also it may be that the case does not have enough ventilation so move it away from the walls to improve airflow and clean all of the fans out and tidy/tie up loose cabling. It may also be an idea to run with the case side panel off for a while to see if that improves matters.

[al Roumi]

Thanks Asai, I agree this is rather innacurate reporting of the fault by windows. I think code 10 is a coverall for un-recognised drivers and other "non-recognition" issues.

The fact that having my card out of the machine for a while seemed to fix it when it last did this could point to cooling/dust issues.

What strikes me as odd is that I've not ever had this before in the 18 months I've had this system. Neither has the VGA card or machine in general been under high load at the time of failure (machine idle or browsing the net).

There is a fair bit of dust built up in the case, as well as on the card. The VGA card is also located very near the motherboard's I/O controller chip -but that shouldn't be a major issue. I won't pretend that the cables are particularily neatly routed in the case, but they aren't really obstructing much either.

I think I'll give the card a good dust (without using the vacuum cleaner!) and see whether that's any better.

If not, I've got a pretty quote from ebuyer for a new VGA card, PSU and more RAM which I hope will avoid the issue and ensure a bit more future proofing/win7 performance.

[al Roumi]

Ok, cleaning & re-settling the card in the slot didn't work. I ordered a new card in the hope it was the card at fault (as it was at least receiving power).

Thankfully, the new card worked fine so I assume my 8800GT died. At the same time as replacing/upgrading the VGA card (to an XFX HD 4870 1GB DDR5), i also invested in a Coolermaster Silent Pro M 700W PSU. My previous PSU wasn't bad but certainly wasn't that good either.

Everthing runs nicely now, all the more so on Win 7!