Solving Graphic Card Problems

If your computer keeps crashing when you play games or when you are viewing/amending your digital pictures the cause of the crashes is likely to be a problem with your graphics card or its software device driver or even the DirectX version running on your PC.

Downloading and installing the latest graphic driver file for Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 might be all that's required to solve your pesky problem. The best place to get a compatible download is from the graphic cards manufacturer's website.

If downloading and installing the updated drivers does not solve the repeated crashes the processor on your graphics card might be overheating. Your graphic card should have a large cooling unit which keeps the card at the correct temperature (most current high-end graphic cards are equipped with a large, cooling unit). Sometimes this cooling unit can come loose from the graphics processing unit (GPU), or its fan can seize up. This can even happen if a new graphics card is being installed. If the cooling unit on the graphic card is properly installed, apart from taking the computer's base unit into a repair shop, you'll have to try swapping the components one by one with ones known to work.

To eliminate the graphic card as the cause of the problem, start by replacing it with one of a different make and model. When the graphic card is eliminated as the cause, try a different power supply unit, followed by different RAM modules. If there is more than one RAM module installed, you could try using only one, because a PC can operate with only one DDR RAM module. Try using each module on its own.

If the PSU and the RAM aren't faulty, that leaves only the motherboard to replace.

But before you try using another motherboard try experimenting with different BIOS settings. It could be that your graphic card doesn't agree with one or more of these settings.

If you want to swap components yourself one way of doing this is to use ebay to buy the components you need (e.g. motherboard, processor, RAM, Power Unit) and when your tests are complete resell them. You might even make a profit!