Hey, this morning i turn on the machine and it gives no video signal, so i switch the cable to the integrated graphic chip (sigh), i then went on to check in the hardware settings and the graphics card is not anymore among the computer devices! has this ever happened to any of you? have i burned the graphics card? any help is appreciated, i really loathe the thought of having to send it in for assistance, would take weeks if not months (assistance is in Milan, over 600kms from here)

ps: i already tried reinstalling the video card drivers to no avail

Try moving the card to a diffrent slot? If available.

thanks pakimo! if i open the case the warranty ceases to exist!

hehe....probably he vanished because of your skill:P

Do you mean the GFX card is completely missing in the Device Manager? Or are there any yellow markers left with 'unknown device' ?

completely gone!

Well if your case is sealed by a waranty-seal, then it's kinda hard to check this.
Have you checked in your bios if your GFX-Card is still present?

thanks kinetic-be, i'll check the bios again, but i think i didn't see it. I think i will turn it in.... now i have to move to another pc

Not necessarily.
In your bios, you should have options regarding the on-board VGA card.
I can't remember exactly what these options are, but I do remember a case in where the 2nd PCI or PCI-x card wasn't working anymore, was fixed by disabling the on-board card in the bios.
Wheather it would work for you, I have no idea, but it's worth trying it.
What you also can do is, if the above doesn't work, is resetting your bios to default settings again. I doubt that it will work, but it's another (non-risky) thing to do.

thanks again k, there's no option in the bios to disable on board, i suspect a faulty connection for teh video card, that or it is totally burned. Could als be a faulty motherboard. I'd reflash the bios but i've read that it invalids the warranty...so away to Milan it goes. Fortunately the other pc i have is almost ready to keep working on.

topic closed i guess.

A few weeks ago I noticed a burning smell coming from my computer. Turned out the fan on my graphics card stopped working and the card began to melt. Luckily it was a cheap and quick swap. I just wasn't blowing the dust out regularly enough.

I'm guessing that doesn't help you very much but thought I'd mention it anyway.

It would be worth trying to reseat the graphics card before sending it away.

Don't forget to KICK IT and slap both sides of the case hard. Well you know just to make sure.

you can take cigar or something... attach it to a thread.. light it and throw it through an opening in your case. With a bit of luck and practising it will fall exactly on your graphic card. after a few minutes, when it starts smelling like burned plastic, pull back the cigar and of you go. you will probably get a new card. good luck!


*edit*
oh.. i saw you got guarentee.. guerantee.. ??? however you write that. *sigh*.. nevermind.