One day I was playing some on-line flash games on one of my favorite game sites when my monitor screen began to flicker off and on. I immediately became concerned because like everyone else computer troubles give me an upset stomach and usually ends up costing me a bunch of money. I was initially afraid I had a virus but after running a couple virus programs I felt re-assured that wasn’t the problem.
After a few days my monitor started to show lines running diagonally across the screen, and that’s when I knew I had either a video card problem or a monitor problem. I turned off my computer and unplugged it, then opened the case. Once I located the video card I then used a screwdriver to unscrew it from the AGP slot. After that I then plugged the monitor into the motherboard’s video plug , then I plugged in the power and started the computer normally.
Once Windows started, I did not see any diagonal lines across the screen anymore, and that’s when I knew for sure the problem was with my video card. I then went looking for a new video card, but I thought it best to take my old video card with me, just in case. After searching a few computer stores and asking the sales people I met which video card would be best for my system, I then bought a new AGP video card and headed back home.
I received wonderful advice from the sales people I talked too, but the biggest advice came as a firm warning, static electricity can cause serious damage to computer components. Always ensure that you are grounded when working on a computer, especially when you are installing a component such as a video card.
I purchased an anti-static wrist strap which is supposed to automatically discharge any static electricity on the body, this is important before working on a computer. Once I got back home, I put my anti-static wrist strap on, took out the new video card and placed it into the AGP slot, and then I closed the computer and turned it on. Windows started up normal and I was prompted to insert the video driver CD, which I did, and then everything was back to normal. Replacing a video card is not difficult at all, if I can do it then anyone can.
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