# [SOLVED] Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen



## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

Any ideas how to get the blue and yellow lines of my screen???

My specs are: 

Vista home basic sevice pack 2
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 x2 Duel core processor 4400+ 2.30Ghz
2 GB Ram
Nvidia Geforce 8300 GS

I tried running a system restore it worked but the screen stayed the same and its not the monitor i allready tried switching it out.

Thanks any help would be great.


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

What power supply is being used? Have you tried updating the video drivers yet? Seems to me the GPU is going south.


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

How do i find out what power supply i'm using? i tried updating the video drivers from the manufactures website but i just checked and my video card has stoped working it has error code 43.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Open the case and read the label.


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

The power suppy is 160w, if the GPU is the problem can i replace it?


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

If the gpu is the problem the psu caused the problem. That is not enough power for a pcie card. The psu needs to be addressed before you should replace the gpu. 550w 80+ unit for low end pcie cards is minimum.


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## David Mo (Jun 27, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Give us *all* of your computer specifications and we may be able to help you with a new power supply. Is it a factory or a custom computer?


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Its a factory computer called inspiron 531 and it has worked fine for about 2.5years, i have an old broken computer should i try take the the gpu out of that and put it in the inspiron?


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## David Mo (Jun 27, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Not yet.

When was the last time you blew out your computer with compressed air? If never, it's definitely time after 2.5 years and is the first thing you should try. 

Screen artifacts can be caused by either the PSU going bad or the graphics card....or overheating or the need for new graphics card drivers (unlikely) or a number of things.

Do you have a multimeter? Check the voltage of your twelve volt rail while your computer and especially your graphics card is under a load. Run some benchmark software like 3DMark Vantage to stress your graphics card some. 

You want to confirm whether or not your PSU is still good first. Test your 5 volt and 3.3 volt rails while you are at it.


I don't trust voltage monitoring software as much. A quality multimeter does not lie.


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Ok thanks for all the help i got somone coming round tomz that knows alot about computers i will tell him all your ideas.

If he fixes it i will post to tell you what was wrong. Thanks again!


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

are you sure is 160w? I am suprise the thing turned on never mind destroyed the GPU.


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

I was probly wronge about it being 160w but the lable with the watage on it is not visable  i took the GPU out and blew it all out with compressed air then put it back in again but it did'nt help.

The guy who took a look at it thinks it is the GPU, if i do buy a new graphics card should i just get the same one or can i upgrade?


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

ATI Radeon

Would this be an upgrade and would it be compatable?


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## David Mo (Jun 27, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

You need to know with certainty the power of your PSU before purchasing a graphics card.

Is there a model number a UL number or any sort of indicator on your PSU as to what it might be? You may have to pull it out of the case so you can see all sides.

Otherwise, you have no choice but to buy a new PSU so you know what you have.

Don't risk burning up a new graphics card by plugging it into a computer with an underpowered PSU.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

The Inspiron 531 has a 300 watt Psu and of course it's the usual dog, in this case made by Delta, made by most brand name pc makers so adding a pci-x video card to a system really puts the system at risk. I would not be buying any new pci-x video card without first replacing that psu if you value the rest of the components.


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## highlow (Aug 12, 2011)

*Re: Blue and yellow veritical lines on my screen*

Ok the problem was the graphics card i've taken it out now and its running fine of the built in NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430(did'nt know i had that), before i get a new graphics card i will make sure i get a new psu.

Thanks everyone you were very helpfull


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Great why not mark this solved in the first post under "Thread Tools" in the first post.


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