M17x r3 - Can a PEG slot go bad, or am i just unlucky?

OK, So, from a previous post, i found out that my wife's 580M went bad - with the card installed, the laptop will not boot at all.. no lights turn on, no fans spin, nothing,.

So, i ordered a Dell 680m off ebay; admittedly, the seller said he picked it up at an auction, so i do have some worry about it working.
Well, i get the heatsink installed, everything looks good at first, and the computer boots. I go in, and disable the IGP, and set the boot to peg, and i get the screen in the attached picture. Garbled gunk, and once that clears, nothing more ever shows on the screen. i reseated things, and triple checked (reset the bios several times), and i still get the garbled boot.

So, am i just unlucky, and bought a bunk card (which i admit, is quite possible), or could this be something on the motherboard? I am so frustrated, any advice would be great...

 

Wow, that's a mess. You'll have to find a repairman/service or something to take loads at the PEG slot, make sure there's no shorts, and do the same for the card. Of course the fastest way would be to try and boot the card in another machine.

 

At this point, i think i am just going to return the 680m, and see what Alienware can do perhaps... :-s

 

Any other thoughts before i ask the seller to accept a return? The price on the 680m was right, but i just can't help but shake the feeling it is bum (but if others have a thought, i would love to hear it).

 

I would return it while you still can. I've seen lots of bad and scam (bad engineering samples, for instance) GPUs on ebay. And, in this case apparently, the seller doesn't even claim to have tested it! Yay ebay! ;-)

 

Aye, i believe you are correct (i am guessing you found the auction?). Lets hope it goes without incident...

 

I'm thinking about a GPU issue as well, it is probably better to send it back.