Strange pixel artifacts on startup

Greetings. I encountered a rather peculiar issue during startup today. Upon booting, the pixels look completely distorted, triggering that automatic Startup Repair sequence. It runs for a moment, shuts down, and then eventually boots normally—but the display remains utterly garbled. Does anyone have any insight into what might be causing this?

http://www.postimg.org/image/r8y1b1tf5

Edit: I'm currently on my phone and unable to paste links properly, so here it is..

Jamie Lopez19 said:Hey, I’m running into this weird issue today—whenever I boot up, my pixels look totally wonky and it triggers that Startup Repair screen. It loads, shuts down, then boots normally, but the display is just messed up. Anyone got a clue?

http://www.postimg.org/image/r8y1b1tf1

edit: posting from my phone so I can't paste the link properly, so here it is..

Why the hell are you even letting Windows repair run?

Did the PC actually finish booting? Have you tried swapping out the VGA cable? Tried plugging in a different monitor? Start with the basics—that's the fastest way to figure out what's actually broken.

He let it run once and then just cut out on me. I tried swapping in a different monitor and a different cable, but nothing works—it's the exact same issue.
Yeah, the PC boots all the way up to the desktop.

Jamie Lopez19 said:Man, it worked once then just died—tried a different monitor, swapped the cable, nothing... still the same crap.
Yeah, the PC boots all the way up, though.

You plugging directly into the Motherboard or you running a GPU?

Graph

Jamie Lopez19 said:GPU

Which GPU are we even talking about here? Have you tried pulling it out of the slot entirely and reseating it—maybe give the slot a quick blast of compressed air while you're at it? Also, did you grab the latest drivers? You should probably try plugging it straight into the Motherboard just to see if the issue clears up there.

it honestly looks like someone went absolutely nuts overclocking the GPU... and even if they didn't, maybe try using some decent software to dial back the memory frequency... if it isn't overclocked, just drop it below the factory defaults, that might help, but I mean, you might just have to bite the bullet and buy a new card at this point. I really, truly hope you didn't go messing around in the BIOS trying to tweak voltages and stuff like that, because honestly, that's just rookie stuff...

It’s some kind of NVIDIA card with about 128MB of VRAM—I can't be certain of the exact model because the display is shot. This machine is strictly a workstation for document storage and processing; I’ve never once messed with the BIOS, attempted any overclocking, or touched any other settings. My plan is to pull the card out myself first, but if that doesn't fix the issue, I'll just drop it off at a local repair shop.🙂

Jamie Lopez19 said:It’s some old NVIDIA card with maybe 128MB or something—can't tell because the screen is dead. I just use this PC for filing and processing documents. I haven't messed with the BIOS or overclocked anything. I'll try pulling the card out, and if that doesn't work, I'll just take it to a repair shop... 🙂

That GPU is 99.9% dead, period. Seriously, find a buddy who builds PCs to take a look and swap the card for testing. If you take it to a repair shop, you're basically just throwing money away on stuff you already know is broken.

Christian Torres3 said:There is a 99.9% chance that GPU just gave up the ghost. Honestly, find a buddy who builds PCs and have them swap in a different card just to test it. If you take it to a repair shop, you’ll likely just end up paying a technician to tell you exactly what you already know.

Actually, yeah. I'll try swapping in a different one at a friend's place first to see if that works.. 🙂

I mean, I guess it also crosses my mind that back when I was deep into my overclocking days, my PC used to act out just like this whenever I pushed the processor clock too high... so if it isn't some weird issue with your GPU, there’s a decent chance it might actually be the CPU itself... honestly, your best bet is probably just to take it down to a local repair shop or something, you know? Just have them run some stress tests so they can tell you for sure what the actual problem is...

electricharbor30 said:It actually reminds me of how my old rigs used to act back when I was obsessed with overclocking... if it isn't the GPU, it might be the CPU itself. Honestly, just take it to a local repair shop so they can run some diagnostics and tell you what the hell is actually broken.

It doesn't even have to be an overclocking issue. After a few years, dust builds up so thick the heatsink basically stops working entirely and everything just goes to hell. Anyway, someone needs to look at it. If he knows a tech expert personally, he should ask them instead of dragging it down to a big-box service center.

Christian Torres3 said:I mean, it doesn't even have to be an overclocking issue, you know? After a few years, you just end up with this massive pile of dust buildup making the heatsink basically useless, and then everything just goes to hell. Anyway, someone’s gonna have to take a look at it, and honestly, if they know someone who actually knows their stuff, they should probably just ask them instead of lugging it all the way to a repair shop.

Yeah, true, but I guess repair techs gotta eat too... and I don't think it’s even that pricey, maybe like $33 a diagnostic fee... at an authorized service center, right? But if you just go to some tech-savvy neighbor down the street, he'll probably just check the processor for free...