Weird grfx problem (solved) but still weird.

I had shut down the computer and one of my fans made a growling noise as it spun down.
It's been doing this for a while, so I'm not really worried.

This time I thought I'd do the old computer stethoscope test. (listen to various hardware with dowel rod)
So, I put the dowel up to my ear, and touched it on the CPU cooler, the vid card and the power supply.
The CPU cooler (push/pull fans), made the most noise... so I need to deal with that... soon.

Then I went to put the left side, back on the case. As soon as I touched the left side panel to the case,
my screen went black. Well that's weird, I thought. So I repeated the test a few times, same issue.

I also noticed that the two fans on the vid card, weren't running at the normal rpm. One was, but the other was all over the place. That was the clue I needed. Normally, they both run at ~350rpm at idle.

I turned the computer off, then wiggled the vid card in it's slot. I also pushed down on the end of the vid card that's near the front of the case. (sometimes, if you tighten the screw at the back of the vid card too much, the front of the vid card... lifts a teeny bit).

Anyway, after wiggling the vid card and pushing down on the front, the problem went away.
I must have moved the vid card a teeny bit with the dowel rod... and I was VERY gentle.


Now I can safely take the left side off of the case, and not have the monitor go black.
So there is joy in Mudville again.



Just posted this, in the off chance it may help someone, some day.

bobkn said:

Strange. There is a lock at the back of PCI-E X16 slots. It wasn't sufficient to keep your graphics card locked down?

(Not a rhetorical question.)

It was locked the whole time. I've seen this before on others' comps.
The pins on the vid cards are so tiny, that if the vid card just rocks 1/2 a mm, it's enough to cause issues.

Ofc, this was the first time I've seen it so touchy, that just removing the case panel, caused the issue.

I kept thinking to myself... this side panel can't have "anything' to do with a black screen.
So, like any good troubleshooter, I went back to the last thing I messed with.

In this case it was having touched the vid card, CPU cooler and power supply with a dowel rod.
Out of those three.. it pretty much had to be the vid card.

I used to have a similar problem with an old GTX 580. Tighten the screw on the back, to much, and it would rock the card just enough to cause a problem. Usually though, the problem won't be intermittent, like this one was.

Anyway, problem solved for now. Next time I have the case opened up to blow the dust out, I will re-seat the card.