AMD 5770 Asus graphic-card issue+ 3 other major Issues help help help & help

[dixdocs]

About Xmas time my PC shutdown twice in a 24hr period knowing that means dust around the cooling fins of the CPU .I duly whipped  of the side of PC case to aid this task I took out my almost new GPU & dusted it of with a can of compressed air.After refitting the card & cables as the were I didnt have anything on the screen at all.Schoolboy error [ I wish] .So this want for another 3 times Eventually I realised that if I left of the extra power power supply & the side of case I could hear the fan on the GPU spinning up at boot.but still nothing on the screen.Considering everything was working properly before 2 screens were plugged into the GPU both VGA & HD many hours spent swapping & checking cables again nothing doing but blue flashing  light on the power on button on samsung syncmaster 225bw.So Ive had resort to the VGA output on motherboard Biostar MCP6P-M2 Nvidia integrated graphics It does work but Im having loads of problems to get it properly Configured   .I thought   all I need to do was open CCC & configure grahics card .I get a error message telling me no CCC  not installed aticonfig gives me no devices detected.My main problem at the moment is I dont see a boot screen I have to reboot 5-6 times turn the monitor power on & off to see a login screen As you can imagine I dare not turn the system off. 3rd problem No synaptic reloading the page gives a out of date list of games sites from 2010 404 errors  I DID download thru synaptic removed & reinstalled CCC & tried the monitor & graphic at the time nothing doing .but blue flashing light on the power button as though the monitor not being recognized.similar to whats going on now I dont no please help Im getting desparate

[pags]

First, for a long post, formatting and puncuation help.  I'm definately having some trouble reading this flow...

Second, is it possible that the video card has become damaged?

I would consider removing the Video Card, booting into text mode and running XFdrake from there to set the video driver to VESA.  After that, try booting to the GUI again (using the onboard graphics).  Once there, you should be able tp set the correct nVidia driver.

Personally, at that point, I would make a remaster before testing the (possibly bad) Video Card.  You could boot the remaster with the Video card inserted, and see if it autodetects (or, download a current LiveCD).  You could (potentially) also test the card in another PC, if you have one available.

[dixdocs]

Thanks for speedy reply.Im downloading a copy now Yes I suppose there a chance the card got damaged.As I have not got another PC to test it in .Ill have to take around a mates  place. I have tried booting with a current copy of PClinuxOS I just get a black screen no BIOS settings on screen The same symptoms that I GOT    with the GPU.what is XFdrake? this my first computer & Graphics card  many thanks pags

[pags]

XFdrake is the command that will run the configuration tool for your Video card.

If you pull the Video Card, and connect to the onboard, you should get access to the BIOS when you reboot.

[dixdocs]

PAGS THx for your help so far   But before I Take the card out I have just checked the card to see the state off play   it just flashes endlessly between VGA & DVI I know theres a button to select between the two  when I press it I get an error message saying check the cable . This is similar to the    problem Ive got connecting to the motherboard     triple checked BIOS settings & burned copy of PCLinuxOS The reason Im using PCLinuxOS & not oobum2 LTS is that my graphics after months of use stopped getting recognized   Just     got a black screen ..... I havent turned PC off in weeks due to this problem Any last tips before I do   thx so far

[pags]

Sorry about the dealy...been offline for a bit...

PAGS THx for your help so far   But before I Take the card out I have just checked the card to see the state off play   it just flashes endlessly between VGA & DVI I know theres a button to select between the two  when I press it I get an error message saying check the cable .

Could be the card has gone into a low power mode, the cable is bad or the card may be bad (as discussed earlier).  Difficult to say from the information, so far.

This is similar to the    problem Ive got connecting to the motherboard     triple checked BIOS settings & burned copy of PCLinuxOS

If the BIOS is OK, it might be a cable issue...the only real check will be removing teh videa card, connecting the onboard and booting back up...you should get the boot/BIOS screen from the onboard, at that point.  If you've done everything else (changed your video drive r to VESA), you should get a desktop (although without advanced features such as Desktop Effects, etc).

The reason Im using PCLinuxOS & not oobum2 LTS is that my graphics after months of use stopped getting recognized   Just     got a black screen ..... I havent turned PC off in weeks due to this problem Any last tips before I do   thx so far

If the video card was giving you problems under another OS as well, this does seem to point to a hardware issue...

[dixdocs]

OK when I first starting using PCLinux Thru the graphix card everything worked perfectly 2 monitors detected & configured thru CCC .Since  the problem with card has happened using Motherboard VGA has been loads of hassle  specifically the fact I dont see a BIOS setting  [bios is set to verbose or similar]  I dont see boot options but if I keep rebooting [by pressing button on front of case ] I might see the screen power-up. Then the screen will go really bright      Then Ill  have to  turn the   screen power button off then on again . Then I will see the LOG-IN screen.   Hours off messing about .. This happens when I Turn PC OF for a couple hours    If it is powered of for a few minutes or a I just do a normal re-boot It will act as normal . PLEASE HELP   frustratingly yours

[pags]

I suspect (but can't confirm, based on your information so far) that it is a hardware issue.

You state you had 2 monitors configured at the beginning.  I presume this means you have access to two monitors, two video cables, etc.  I state this because the problem hardware could also be the monitor (I have a dying LCD that I though was an OS problem for a long time... ).

As far as seeing the BIOS screen (or, actually, the boot up screen) at power on...this can be affected by having the addin Video card still installed, especially if it is designated as the default device in the BIOS (thereby bypassing the onboard chipset).  If you can get into the BIOS, do so and check that.  I still recommend removing the discreet video card, forcing the onboard to be the only device (and thereby forcing the bootup screen onto it).

After that, you may need to try various combinations of video cables and monitors, in order to rule out the possibility (or, confirm it) that the problem isn't a cable or monitor.  After that, boot up with the onboard graphics only, and see if PCLOS runs OK for a bit.

After all that, you can consider putting the video card back in and see if the problem is there...

This is a troubleshooting process you will have to go through to determine if the problem is hardware, and if so, what piece (or, possibly pieces) of hardware are problematic.  If your hardware all checks out OK, then the next step is to look at software (OS settings, drivers, etc).

Run through these steps, and report back in clear points as to:
1) What works
2) What doesn't
3) What combinations you test

[dixdocs]

Thanks pags Im going to give it a now