this isn't a joke and there's no punch line.

My home PC is screwed up: turn it on, distorted screen, tries to start up, can't, go to start up recovery and repair screen- still distorted.
Tries to fix itself, can't
repeats process.

I unpluged the monitor from the card and plugged it back in and got it working again for awhile but now that doesn't work either. (my friend here said that's probably because the leads are corroding and moving the plug moves the card, so it gets re-seated in the slot - clearing some of the corrusion, but I have no idea if that's what happened or not.)

I'm pretty sure it's just the video card that needs to be replaced but I don't know for sure, and I hate the idea of throwing down a couple hundred dollars (or whatever) for a new card that doesn't actually fix the problem. i don't think they let you return that kind of stuff, right?

blah- anyone?
and no, this doesn't belong in the tech formum because it takes days to get a reply there.

You have zero respect for proper thread responsibility.

either offer a valid reply or gtfo of my thread, pal.

Avatar trouble again?

I will only offer a valid reply when this thread is placed in the proper forum.

don't any of you dolts know how to read.

give me free advice about my stupid PC, yo.

Just because it might take a few days to get a response doesn't mean the thread belongs here. I've lost a lot respect for you today.

and you wonder why you're poor.

Unless you're doing a lot of gaming, malice, a video card shouldn't cost you a couple hundred dollars.

I honestly thought this would be about a Blockbuster card.

blockbuster is so 1990's.

and you guys are no help at all- fuck it, I'm buying a new PC. Hope you're all happy now

First, how old is the PC? If it's old you might be better off just replacing the whole thing.

Second, if it's just a display problem it's either the video card, the monitor, or the cable connecting the two. Have you tried swapping it out with a different monitor to see if that fixes it?

If this were posted in the proper forum you would have received an adequate response.

bought in late 2007 (I think end of the year) so it's around 3 and a half years old- it's a Dell which basically pisses me off because it's probably the 'best' Pc I've purchased over the years, and it lasted the shortest amount of time - Also, the video card is an NVIDIA GForce card- which I'm pretty sure is a good card- I know the brand at least is well regarded among gamers, so that's pretty shitty too.
I haven't tried swapping out the monitor, or a different cord because the plug is different for this PC than any of the others we have.
And looking at various desktop PCs online, they are , of course, all much better, stronger, faster, brighter, than this one and cheaper too so whatever, I'm just getting a new one and hope the damn thing doesn't crap out on me so soon this time.

I think it's retarded that the average shelf life for a PC is no more than about 5 years - it's such a rackett.

Look into Asus brand PCs. They're really well made and are sold at a decent price.

Thanks, dave- you've reformed me. I'll never misuse my thread creating privileges like that again.
you're the best, pal.

I'm vaguely familiar with these as well- I'll compare them against an HP I found online that I'm considering. Thanks, Pete.

Good. I look forward to you obeying the rules of the board in the future.