Artifacts? after unplugging computer

[JohnK93]

Hi,
I recently unplugged my computer from the wall (actually, I unplugged the surge protected power strip from the wall) because I was doing some electrical work and didn't want my computer to see a surge in case I made any mistakes. When I plugged the computer back in, I began to see strange behavior. There seem to be "artifacts", for lack of a better word since I'm not overclocking anything, during startup and after booting. The text is all messed up, showing the wrong letters and symbols, and the asus screen is screwed up too. After booting, there are discolorations and severe misalignments, and the monitor going black and coming back repeatedly. I tried resetting the power strip, plugging the power directly into the wall, and cleaning out the dust in the box.

The problem comes and goes, sometime more sever than others and sometimes all is OK, and I can't figure out what is causing it. All temps are OK (GPU is 42 idle, CPU is 29). Specs are as follows:
Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI
CPU: AMD 3700 San Diego
GPU: EVGA 7800 GT
PSU: Antec Truepower 2.0 550
Mem: 2x512 Corsair XMS
1 DVD drive, 4 hard drives, stock cooling (with 1 extra hard drive fan)
Old Gateway CRT monitor (using DVI-Analog adapter)
No overclocking on CPU or GPU

Right now everything is fine and the Asus PC Probe shows the following voltages, pretty much rock solid :
+12 : 11.84
+5 : 4.945
+3.3 : 3.296
V Core : 1.392

RivaTuner monitor shows all hardware behaving as usual.

Can't be drivers, since I can see the problem upon startup. Possibly video card, seems to struggle with rthdribl now. Possibly PSU - when I see the "artifacts" the computer behaves very slow with the monitor problem described above.

Please offer any suggestions to troubleshoot this.

Thanks a lot,
John

 

[kangaruffian]

(using DVI-Analog adapter)

Hmm check monitorcable first its maybe loosen a bit

 

[Ididmyc600]

Hmm check monitorcable first its maybe loosen a bit

I had a Belinea Monitor that reached 3 years old and started to display the same symptons you describe.

It finally went pink and died.

 

[kangaruffian]

Pink eye? :haha:

 

[kangaruffian]

I had a Belinea Monitor that reached 3 years old and started to display the same symptons you describe.

Yup yep.. it could be ending too..

 

[JohnK93]

I guess it could be the monitor, it is prety old (6+yrs, I'd guess). One reason I didn't think it was the monitor is that the computer sometimes seems to slow down when the monitor starts showing strange things.

On the other hand, I did find the monitor needed adjustment to re-center the picture once this started. Hopefully this is it...I can't think of what might have put it over the edge like this, but I sure would like a reason to get a new one!

Thanks for the input,
John

 

[kangaruffian]

Onemore thing.. do u have another videocard to replace that EVGA 7800 GT and test does it still have same problems

 

[JohnK93]

Nope...only 1 video card, and that's the one I'm using.

 

[kangaruffian]

Take off video card and put it back then try again..

 

[Ididmyc600]

but I sure would like a reason to get a new one!

Coffee down the back works well for me..... :haha: