Windows 8 won't install because of nvidia GeForce 8400GS, TDR failure?

Question

So the other day my windows 7 pc completely froze. So I turned it of and on again only to see vertical lines (blue and pink) going down the screen. It would only start in safe mode. I then went on to do a full system restore. This did not work as the same problem persisted, I was still only able to start in safe mode and therefore was unable to do the first time start up process of windows 7. I then tried to install windows 8 onto the computer. When I attempt to boot I get the same vertical lines and a message saying 'video_TDR Failure'. I have tried to take the graphics card out and clean it but this has given no results. From what I can gather its either a problem with the video crd drivers or the video card itself. I considered purchasing an identical card and swapping them but I'm not sure. PLEASE HELP. Thanks

Answer 1

The video card has failed, you need to replace it with another, you don't need an identical one, just a compatible one (they have been discontinued now). Any computer store should be able to advise you. If you can get an identical one it would be a straight swap.



HTH

David



Sorry Brian but I disagree with you. It is perfectly possible for the chip to develop a fault and exhibit the symptoms the asker is stating. This does not sound like a driver failure especially as a system restore has failed to cure it and is also why a windows 7/8 install has failed

Answer 2

hi alex

video cards dont fail.. its the drivers/software that fail thus making the card not work when in windows .... basically drivers are the middle man between the hardware and the operating system .. without the drivers your geforce 8400gs simply appears as a basic vga adapter which is no good to man or beast

and since your card will start fine in safe mode ( safe mode runs windows without drivers .. so this is how i came to the driver issue )... this shows the problem is driver related and not hardware... i would bet that if you installed windows 7 or xp the geforce 8400gs would work fine

so a solution... well this could be hard .. since the release of windows 8 i have had many headaches installing older graphic cards from nvidia and ati (amd ) ... and this is due to the way windows 8 has been developed ( and coded ) .... for example when windows 7 was released and you couldnt locate a windows 7 driver you could 99% of the time use a windows vista driver and install it from the device manager using driver update... this worked due to the way windows 7 was created which wasnt too different from vista ... thus most vista drivers would work in 7

you could try a beta driver or the driver disk that came with your card.. however the vertical lines isnt a good sign and i experience the same issue with a radeon HD4850 many years ago.... and i did manage a certain degree of stability by lowering the memory clock speed ... however it was never the same

i suppose your lucky in the fact that the geforce 8400gs is not the most expensive card and can be replaced for under £30..... however if you do end up replacing the card then i would recommend a more up to date card such as the "ARIANET Radeon HD 6670 2048MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card "( http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards+-+GPUs/Graphics+Cards+-+AMD/Radeon+HD+6670/ARIANET+Radeon+HD+6670+2048MB+GDDR3+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=50957 ) which at just £47 is around twice as powerful as the geforce 8400gs and has 2gb of memory and a 800mhz core clock

however the main consideration when i recommended this card is its "windows 8" support and this will work with your pc without any problems

you could buy another geforce 8400gs however i wouldnt since its dated and has no windows 8 support ( you can get windows 8 drivers,however the HD6670 i recommended has full 8 support and will also run the latest games at medium detail settings )

finally it may also be worth trying another monitor cable ... a split or damage to the monitor vga cable can cause visual corruption and a new dvi or vga cable costs under £5 .. worth checking out

i hope this helps alex... any questions let me know

good luck mate !

Answer 3

it somewhat is probable brought about by using having an inadequate capability supply between different achievable themes. The 8400gs demands a 300 watt or extra beneficial capability supply the optimal on the E310's inventory capability supply is 250watt. additionally take a peek interior the bios to work out if it has an onboard video option or bootinit first and decide Pci-exhibit. The E310 does certainly have PCi-exhibit X1 slot.

Answer 4

Yes, the video card has failed (sorry Brian they can and do fail, just like any other electronic device can).

The 8500GS is a pretty old piece of kit nowadays, there are plenty of alternatives available, just pick yourself a shiny new card and off you go.