New card is on the way

[Stecher]

After going through a lot of crap it's pretty much been determined that it is my video card, not the drivers or anything else that is responsible for me not being able to fly or even use my computer some times. I think it's been fried for lack of a better term. I've got a post up in UBI support forum with a little video clip if anyone's curious. Anyway, a new video card better be what I need because I just bought a 9800. I was going to just replace my 9700 with another one and wait for BoB before going for a major upgrade, but I found a real good deal on ebay with less than an hour left on it. I should be up and flying again by next week (fingers crossed). After it gets here can one of you guys help me with installing it? I have never done any hands on work with a computer's guts before. Thanks guys.

[Mölders]

S!, good to hear from you Stech. Hope everything works out.

[Specter]

Good to hear you figured out what the problem is.

If you need help replacing the card let me know. Its pretty easy, pop the old one out and put the new one in its place.

Make sure you touch the metal part of the case before you touch anything with circuitry. I thought this was an old wives tale before I fried a memory bank.

[Spinne]

So thats why you haven't been online? I've been wrapped up in an online turn based strategy game called Alien Assault Traders. Check it out at www.aatrade.springfield.net
Are you sure it's your video card and not the power supply? I had issues with my PC until I upgraded. The symptoms sounded similar to yours, and I suspected the video card as well. In my new system, it's rock solid stable. It was a bad power supply.
Just remove the old one, stick the new one in, and reinstall your drivers.

[Stecher]

Yeah, my Dell Dimension 8250 comes with a weak 250W PSU, so I also have a new Antec 330 PSU with highly upgraded Amp levels. The PSU came yesterday and the 9800 came today. I'm hoping my additional RAM shows up tomorrow so I can put it all in and get in the air again.

[Stecher]

Okay, well everything's here now, but I've realized that the PSU outlet is on the bottom of the Antec, whereas my Dell's PSU is on the top. So I need to cut out space on the back sheet metal. There's a first time for everything, hehe.

[Spinne]

Thats what Dell does. It makes it so that the parts are Dell only, which cuts the upgrade path for most people.

[Mölders]

I think you would honestly save more buying your own parts. You at the least know what your putting into your computer. Those companies that make pc's for you always hide something. Example, I ought a PC from MDG, and it consisiting stopped working exactly two weeks after getting it from the company. We took it in and we got a new O/S installed. Two weeks later, same magic. We again repeated the process five times until I finally knew that it was a scam. We had to pay money to get it fixed and did not get it back for three weeks. Lesson learned.