Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myenglishisno]

Hey all.

I was going to sell my PC (have an ad but in Buy & Sell) but I think I'm going to have one last crack at trying to fix it before I give up. I know it's a hardware problem related to the video card however I don't want to buy a video card just to test it.

I took it to a few computer repair shops and they stopped me at the door telling me that they don't deal with English OSes or Windows 7 for that matter (XP only).

Does anyone know of a good computer repair place in Itaewon or Haebangchon area? I live near there so it'd be the most convenient.

If I do have to go to Yongsan's Seon-in area... which shop is the best for repairs? I don't want to just take it to the first guy.

Thanks in advance.

[vDroop]

You can't really 'fix' a defective or blown graphics card. When computer hardware breaks, you send the part back to the manufacturer and they replace it if it's still under warranty. If it's too old well then you are out of luck.

There isn't anything a computer shop can do. They just assemble hardware and reformat your OS.

If you could give some detail of the issue maybe we can help you here. Does the computer boot up to desktop?

[eamo]

[myenglishisno]

In my experience, Korean 컴퓨터수리점s can't fix their way out of a paper bag I'm well prepared that it's just going to be a parts swap.

The reason I want to take it in is because I can't tell exactly what needs to be replaced. I want to salvage as much of this PC as possible and move it onto my next rig.

The specs:

Intel Core2Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHZ
(Zalman) ZM660-TX PSU
Mainboard: Gigabyte Technology EP35-DS3R
4GB RAM
XFX Nvidia 275 GTX
320GB HDD

The problem I'm having is that on a fresh start, I get three beeps (one long with two short) and nothing comes up on the display. When I hit the reset button after this, then it works like a charm.

I thought this was a PSU problem as the biggest drain on a PSU occurs when the computer is starting up, however according to my mobo user manual, this beep sequence means a video card error.

When the computer is working, anything that is hardware accelerated doesn't work properly. This usually pertains to games and flash videos. Games that were playable before are now barely playable and the only way I can watch flash videos in full screen without stuttering is if I drop the resolution down low (thank you Windows 7 for not having an option to disable hardware acceleration). I know it's not a CPU problem because DivX videos and other codecs that aren't hardware accelerated work flawlessly... it would seem that only part of the video card is bad and that part handles specific kinds of rendering.

I guess it might also be the PSU with a bad connection to the video card or maybe the PCI slot on the motherboard is bad.... I honestly don't know.

This began happening after I shipped the computer to Korea from my home country. I packed it well but not well enough, I guess.

I just want to know if it's the video card, the PSU, the mobo... etc so I'll know what I can transfer over. I want to buy a new mobo and video card anyway but my PSU is beast and I'm hoping it's not that because I want to transfer that to my new rig for sure.

I guess I basically just need a place that will diagnose it, tell me what is salvageable and build me a new one (I'd build myself but I have no time these days).

Do you think this would be more cost effective or should I just buy a whole new tower? Not sure what the repair costs are going to be.

[sheriffadam]

borrow a gfx card to test with from a friend/your school?

[Wad]