Graphics card problem; PC constantly shutting down

[Deleted]

Hi guys, Ive been having problems with my graphics card, and before I send my PC off for repair, was wondering if someone here could help

Background

A couple weeks ago my friend asked to borrow my graphics card to use in his PC (his PC wasnt working and he wanted to use my graphics card to see if it was that causing his issue...). Anyway, he took my graphics card out of my desktop, put it in his, started up his PC and then shut down and put it back into mine. Whole thing took about 10 minutes, no bother. Ever since then, my PC has worked right though...

Problem

When I start up my PC it runs fine and will run indefinitely on MS Office programs like excel etc., however if I watch a movie or play a game it will work absolutely fine for about 7-12 minutes, then the PC just goes into power saving mode and restarts itself. Once it restarts then, the monitor remains black, like its getting no feed from the desktop. At this point, if I unplug the graphics card and plug the monitor into the graphics card built into the mother board, the PC runs fine again (albeit poorer graphics....). Another thing to mention is, when I start the computer first, if its plugged into the motherboard the monitor will remain black and say its getting no feed, it has to be plugged into the graphics card first (and inevitably it goes to power saving mode and restarts)

Ive tried disabling hibernation, checking the power saving settings and disabling everything there, but nothing works. Any ideas what this may be? If the graphics card is wrecked then why does it always work fine for 7-12 minutes? I thought it may be the PSU (since the PC always says its entering power saving mode), however the issue has to be being caused by the graphics card. Could it be some simple settings issue (like, when the card was removed from the desktop it set something off in the PC that meant it would always try to default to the mother board graphics card)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
L

[theWocky]

Sounds to me like when the card was removed or re-installed, it was damaged by static electricity or something.

EDIT: or... the fan on the graphics card may have been damaged ~ my Gigabyte 560ti card used to do this.

[Sinshin]

I think i was having the same problem..but it might be from the CPU Cooler. Maybe the graphic card is overheating the CPU forcing it to shut down. Try getting a copper-base cooler.
But still it may be something else.

[Deleted]

Had a similar problem. Could run windows with no problem, but if i played wow the screen just Went black after a while, sometimes restarted itself.
I took a gamble and changed the psu, problem Went away!!
I would first try another Graphics card if u have that opportunity. Computer problems is a bitch! There can be many things causing problems. Well good luck!!

[Deleted]

Thanks for all the fast replies

Theres no fan or anything on the card, its just a simple card, no casing or anything flash either. Fan inside the PC is clean and running fine too. Any idea why the PC needs to go through the present routine of being plugged into the graphics card first until it restarts before I can switch to the mother board? As in, if I just left it plugged into the mother board the screen would just remain black until I plug it back into the graphics card

I was planning on replacing the card and PSU before Christmas anyway, hopefully that may clear it up!

[Sinshin]

My problem was at the fan from the motherboard..the graphic card was too powerfull for an alluminium based cooler.

[Deleted]

what card do you have, specifically?

GeForce 315 512mb