Just this morning, i booted up Win XP and it started artifacting in boot up screen!

and it won't even go past the boot up screen where it shows the progress bar, the screen turns into weird shapes and i can't even move the mouse sometimes.... could this be the video card or the motherboard? dammit!

 

Can you boot into safe mode?

 

What kind of system is this? Isn't this one of the symptoms of the Nvidia 8xxx GPU issue?

Could just be a driver problem too. If you can get in with safe mode as Kegobeer suggested, uninstall your graphics driver and reboot. If you can get back into windows with the standard svga driver, then try re-installing the actual driver for your card.

 

nope, not at all

 

well this is the desktop 8800 GTS 320 mb.... is this a common issue with it?

 

I think your GFX is getting overheated , check the ventilation , fans and temp readings mate :rolleyes2:

 

this just happened out of nowhere, it never artifacted once even in 3+ hours of gaming.... it just started when i booted up the PC

 

I'm not sure of Nvidia's official stance on this card, but there are some who suggest that it is one of those affected by the infamous GPU defect. The symptoms seem to fit.

 

its well over 2 years old so im guessing im out of luck

 

try asking over at DesktopReview

 

Your GPU is probably dying/dead. Nvidia still hasnt come clean on which models are really defective.

If your motherboard has onboard graphics, try using that.

I suggest you continue this discussion at www.desktopreview.com

 

Well, if you can't get in even under Safe Mode, then I'd suggest swapping in another card temporarily (if you can rustle one up) and see if that will work. Basically at this point it's either the card itself, your motherboard, or some sort of software/driver issue. Obviously sticking in a different card for testing is the easiest first step.

 

im gonna have to cought up $100 for a replacement because the only other video card on hand is the AGP slot 9800 pro from over 5 years ago lol

 

Have you tried running a Linux live CD or the Windows recovery console yet? If those fail graphically, you've ruled out a software failure. If they DO work, it might be a very messed up Windows install that System Restore or a re-install might fix. I doubt these would work, but it's worth a check before you buy a new GPU and find out you don't need to.

 

how do you run the recovery console?

 

what does it mean when its even artifacting in the BIOS

 

If it's artifacting during POST or in the BIOS setup screens, then you can be pretty sure that it's the graphics card dying. The only other cause at that point would be the motherboard itself.

 

i really hope its not the motherboard, they probably don't sell it anymore. and i hate unscrewing and unplugging everything.