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Can a monitor damage a video card?

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dengorius:
Hey guys,
some time ago i had some issues (artifact and such) with the video card of my pc, it was still in warranty so i sent it for RMA. When it came back and it was working ok, but after a couple of months the problem started again. Now it's gone for RMA a second time (btw what i never got to know what they did to fix the card the first time).

Yesterday as i turned on my monitor that i use with the pc and that is now connected to my laptop, i saw a very strange thing: the on screen messages are "broken", sorry but i can't find a less silly way to explain that :P It's like if the normal OSD messages have "unglued", like they're falling apart. There is a small part to the left, another at the top of the screen and the actual message is in the bottom left corner (everything used to be in the top left corner). Now this is happening for every kind of on screen message: source selection, channel selection, menu etc.

Is it possible that the monitor is faulty and that is has damaged the video card in the first place? It is connected to the wall outlet with its original transformer and to the laptop via a vga cable. Except for that OSD issue the monitor is working great, everything looks ok.

I don't wanna risk to burn the laptop's video card aswell :(
Any ideas?

Thank you

charliex:
Its possible to destroy a CRT with bad signals. Its usually only certain types/brands though. I can't say i've experienced the other way around

but if its the OSD on the monitor itself, then they're usually entirely separate and it sounds like if the patterns look more "digital" noise than analogue noise that its the OSD hardware thats borked, which is going to be separate from anything the laptop can get too.

but with anything wired, you never know what can go on, any sort of short or overvoltage is possible.

marianoapp:
artifacts in a video card are almost always because over temperature or not enough power. What video card and PSU do you have?
after discarding temperature and power, you should try the video card on another computer to see if you can reproduce the problem

i never head of a monitor killing a video card, but who knows..

dengorius:
Thanks for the answers,

I've done the whole "standard checks" with the video card and it is *definitively* faulty. Since you asked it an Asus 8800 GTS and the PSU is a Corsair 520W and the whole systems has been working properly for 2+ years. I also tried the card on another pc and it showed the same problems. But that should be taken care of from the assistance. The thing that i would like to be sure of is that the cause of the whole thing doesn't come from somewhere else, i don't wanna fry the card again when it's back. I know it sounds weird, i haven't heard of a monitor damaging a video card ever, but you know... Murphy's law is behind the corner, that's why i asked. I'll see if i can borrow another monitor or try the one i have someplace else, really don't know what else to do.

Meanwhile if you have any idea i'll be more than glad to hear that.

Thanks again

charliex:
look for an overclock tool that does a verify, i'm not sure if rivatuner does. if the cars memory is faulty, then it'll tell you. I believe ATITool will do it.

most cards have an inbuilt thermal shutdown that just heavily underclocks the cpu on an overheat, its fairly hard to damage a stock card that way. even OC'd ones (unless they don't have thermal protection)

we run our cards at 100% within a few percent of their TDP for weeks on end.

Low power is a possibility, run a stress tester and it'll tell you really quickly if theres a problem.

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