i could not get the screws undone .
so i didn,t like to force it.
i couldn,t find any muck on the blades .
pushed the fan up & down on it,s spindle then put it back in.
yipee, no grinding noise.
windows xp starts to load.
then nothing,just a black screen.
lots of swearing.
now i,ve put the mx420 back in & so far all ok.
any idears
thanks,
fugglestone.

Is that a poem? Cool!

ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI.

Never wrestle with a pig:  You both get all dirty; and the pig
likes it.

bobI

Where has this thread come from fuggle. You should post it with the rest of the thread as no-one has any idea what you are on about.

Pete

Are the blades turning?

Its either overheating, got some dirt shorting out a component or been damaged when taken out (though id imagine it not to work at all if that was the case)
Personally i still think its heat related.

Can you also cleaned the heatsink of dirt?
Do your memory chips have cooling fins that need cleaning?

If you do get the screws loose then lift off the heatsink, clean it (using suitable fluid) and apply decent silver thermal paste - most card makers usually put cheap & nasty paste on that barely touches the gpu, yours could be the same.
Without new paste on its difficult to rule heat out - you could try running the pc with the case sides off (and also using a small hand fan aimed at the card to aid the fan on there) to see if extra cooling provides stability

i,ve given up with this card.
thought i might try a radeon 9200 se 128 mb.
they look good value for money.
though will i have trouble installing it as i was using nvidia before.
any other card suggestions welcome.
thanks.

DONT buy that radeon if you want to play games. Its no good. The clue is in the SE in the card description.

Pete

If you have about £50 to spend then id go for FX5200 - they arent great, but they just about cope.
However, if you can afford an extra £10-20 then go for GF4 Ti4200 or better - they are old, but for dx8.1 games they're still up there with the best. You'll have to offset this decision with the fact it might struggle with Dx9 games, but depends if you see yourself playing the latest games in 6 months/1 year.
FX 5200 certainly wont handle Dx9 and is about as good as MX400 at dx8.1

ATI dont produce anything worth having for under £100 IMO, the 9200 SE has about as much chance of favourably impressing as Bernard Manning at a christian festival

Its probably the worst time ever to try and get a budget card that is new(ish) technology and capable of keeping up