# [SOLVED] Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST



## troydecoy (Feb 11, 2011)

Hey there,

First of all, thanks for a great resource. I found this forum during a few Google searches, and decided to sign up because it would appear you actually get worthwhile assistance here (thumbs up). Especially koala seems to be very active! I digress...

Inspired by these threads:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f24/red-blue-dots-and-video-turns-off-and-on-478870.html
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f24/red-dots-appear-on-screen-537399.html (my problem appears to relate a lot to this)

Problem:
I was watching a video clip, and all of a sudden both screens stood still and a red dots appeared. Both the mouse and keyboard became unresponsive. I shut down the PC manually and when it rebooted I could easily see dots in BIOS/POST. I proceeded to boot in safe mode, and while it did boot into Windows (Windows 7 Pro, 32 bit), the dots and lines were still there.

I let the computer cool off for half an hour and restartet it again. Now it seemed fine, but as you can see from the screenshots below, there definitely is something wrong. Also, check out the temperature the GPU is running.

Screenshot of the dots in BIOS:









So my computer is a couple of years old. I built it myself, and the specs are as follows:



> ASUS P5B Deluxe AI Lifestyle Series
> OCZ Enhanced Latency 2 x 1 GB
> Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66 GHz
> Sea Sonic S12-600 (600W) (PSU)
> ASUS EN7950GX2/2PH


I use 2 dell LCD monitors, and the error (blue and red dots) appear on both screens, so I can rule out the monitors as having the issue.

In the before mentioned threads, the suggestion was to run the GPU-Z app, and so I did. Here are the results:


































I realize the GPU temp. is extremely high. This test was done running absolute nothing (basically just looking at the desktop and running GPU-Z).

I figure this has either something to do with my graphics card or the PSU. I would like to get some input on what o try, as I don't want to switch the GFX card if it's the PSU that's the problem.

Thanks in advance, and let me know if you need additional information.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

How old is the GPU? Do you have another GPU to try?


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## troydecoy (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

It's a little over 4 years old.

Unfortunately I don't have another I can try.


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## troydecoy (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

Alright, so I just went out and bought a new GFX card. Judging from comments on other sites/forums, the GFX card would appear to be the culprit.

I've just ran the GPU-Z app on the new card (ASUS 460GTX DirectCU) and now idle temperature is sitting at 35-36 degrees celcius.

I will report back in a couple of days with an update.


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## Veridian (Feb 26, 2011)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

Heys. I have exactly the same issue and i've just ordered new videocard, but just in case - what was the culprit in your case? Replacing the videocard actually helped? Don't want to shell out 350 bucks for nothing><

Btw - restrictions on personal messages are beyond inconvenient -_-


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

The 7950gx2 was actually released mid 2006. It's a dual gpu card but with it's outdated design it's not a very good one. I'm surprised it lasted you this long.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

Glad to hear you resolved the issue. Best of luck.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

Btw - restrictions on personal messages are beyond inconvenient -_-

blame the trolls

any help has to be in a thread


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## troydecoy (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Blue/red dots on screen, including in BIOS/POST*

Sorry for not updating the thread sooner.

Yes, the issue appeared to be with the video card. After the replacement there have been no issues at all. Also, according to GPU-Z the temperatures have been completely normal since.


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## Veridian (Feb 26, 2011)

I've also replaced video card and it seems to be working. No more freezes and dots. Thx.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

glad you have it sorted


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