Video card problem
 

I came home to find my desktop and cursor totally scrambled, and when I restarted the system hung and restarted itself just as the Windows XP logo began to appear. Booting into safe mode doesn't help either, as it restarts itself before loading the desktop. I tried using my Ubuntu Live CD and it also crashes before I get to the desktop. I don't have another compatible AGP card to test the system with. Lately I have been having problems with Windows being completely white when it starts up. To remedy that I have to restart into safe mode and reinstall the Catalyst 4.12 drivers. Doing this solves the problem, but it has reoccured a few times in the last month. Is this card fried? If it means anything, it is a Sapphire 9600XT 256mb.

sounds like it is overheating.

I have left the system off for an hour or so while my air conditioner was running and it still does the exact same thing.

Sounds like it is probably fried, but if you have the extra money, just to make sure, you can find a cheapo AGP card for like $15-25. Either that, or borrow an old one from a friend if you can.

What about the power supply? I found that a weak power supply causes all kinds of problems. When I upgraded to a heafty power supply all my problems, including overheating, dissapeared. It's a cheap fix also.

I found out what the problem really was, and it had nothing to do with the graphics card. The boot sector was somehow corrupted and it was causing the restarts. This doesn't really explain the Live CD problem or the scrambled graphics before the restart, but my system is running fine now. I am confused, yet relieved. :)

Hmm, yea, that is strange that Live CD was having problems as well. But hey, as long as everything is working, it's all good.