Graphics card causing boot problem

Hello Everyone
Well, coming to the issue, my pc doesn`t boots up in the first try. It gets stuck after the "Starting windows" logo with a black screen. However, when i press the restart button, it boots up correctly. Okay, i think that`s may be confusing, so, here`s my problem explained in steps-
1. I pushed the start button on the cpu case.
2. Things go nicely until the "Starting windows" screen.
3. After this, just a black screen (not the black screen of death, it just stops booting with a black screen and the red led on the case stops blinking)
4. I pressed the restart button. It booted nicely.
5. The problem doesn`t appear as long as i`m only restarting or logging on/off but as soon as i press shut down or sleep option, the same problem happens.
I`ve a XFX HD Radeon 4350 1GB card. I tried re-connecting the vga cable to the card`s slot to no avail. GPU-Z reads its location at PCIe which means its in the PCIe slot. I tried changing the bios settings, "Init display first" to PEG and "Onboard VGA" to Enable if no exist PEG" thus disabling the onboard VGA but it too doesn`t help. Oh yeah, i forgot to tell that the problem doesn`t appear when my monitor is hooked to the onboard graphics card.
One thing i know for sure now is that the issue has something to do with the add-in card. But i`m out of ideas now. Tried upgrading and downgrading it`s drivers to no avail. Played with bios sett., didn`t help. Its so annoying that I`ve to always wait for the black screen just to press restart button and again wait for it to boot. Thanks in advance.
My specs: Intel core 2 duo E7400 @ 2.8GHz
Motherboard- Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
BIOS- Latest version
3GB Memory

Sorry for the delay. Let us know if you still need help.

Hello,

Run some test on Graphic Card so check the consistency. Check this article http://www.sevenforums.com/748030-post2.html

Hope this helps,
Captain

I took it for repair. Surprisingly the problem didn't appear there. Brought it to home, problem came back.
One thing i noted that at the repair site, GPU-Z showed i nthe bandwidth field as PCI-E x16@x16 but at home it showed PCI-Ex16@x1. Is it an indication of insufficient power supply?

Hi, you should have computer beeps if you have graphic card problem. Can you took out graphic and clean copper connector with eraser ? It might help.

Also, x16 should be speed of North bridge, and x1 is for South. South bridge doesn't have enough speed to transfer graphics, it's only for audio, network or disc. I don't get why did you get that message anyway, it doesn't make sense for GPU.

Your power supply might be the problem, or might not. How many Watt's your PS have ?

I doubt i can open the case myself, I've not done this ever..
Regarding the PSU, i think its 200W..

I doubt if it's dust problem coz as i already said, i got the interior cleaned at the repair site, the card worked perfectly there, brought it to home, problem returned.

Damn, just 200 W.. For that graphic card you need at least 400 W, you should buy new one. 400 - 500 W. I have NVidia Gainward GTX260 2 GB and i have 550 W PS, and i need new one because it's to low for my graphic card.

That's why i think that the PSU is the cause but there's also another fact to counter this i.e. didn't used to happen even when the power supply to the house is same as before..

I can not believe you're even able to play games with that supply.. Change it as fast as you can, it's critical for rest of computer components. It is also possible that you run game for some time, but when the computer fails to get enough power, everything will freeze or restart.

Actually, I can still 'game' titles like assassins creed 1 and 2 with just a slight decreament in FPS. Apart from that, no freezes or lockups or graphic related problem. Even ran FurMark, no errors were reported..

You'r lucky, it appears that you have a high quality motherboard. Trust me, and change that Power Supply before something bad happen.

Is there any rock-solid method of knowing if the psu is the real cause before i buy a new one? My pocket isn't much warm these days, it's cold.

Your Graphic Card requires much more power! I'm sure. Just use Google.

This guy had 8800 and too low PSU
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1300701

And i'm not sure, but on your Profile it says you have OS x64, that's one more reason to buy new PSU.

Yes i do have a x64 os. How does x64 relate to a larger PSU? Pls elaborate.

Let's clarify one thing. 64 bit system requires much more than 32 bit.

Many users choose, although they have 64 bit motherboard and CPU, to run 32-bit operating system. Why ? Run 32 bit system on a computer that can handle 64 bits is just throwing of time and money.

64-bit components require more computing power. Faster clock speed, faster sending of information and faster delivery of results. In order to achieve all, you need more memory, a wider bus on the motherboard, which confers greater power consumption.

If we look only at the memory. 32-bit operating systems use 2 ^ 32 = 4GB of RAM memory, max! Just look at 64 bit, 2 ^ 40 = 1TB RAM.

It is not difficult to conclude that it takes more energy to operate all components, and much better cooling.

So, just as a precauion, i should minimize gaming unless i get a new PSU as by doing so I'll risk getting my mobo damaged, right? And would 500W be enough?

I agree with your conclusion Your PSU will burn out. Which could damage the components that were working at the time. PSU burning out will free breakdown voltage of 1-2 seconds which can be critical for components on the motherboard. I'm not saying that PSU can burn graphic card or processor, but transistors, capacitors and similar components on the motherboard would probably die. That's a risk.

So, a new PSU is must. Btw, what do you think about that x16 and x1 thing labelled under 'Bus interface' field in GPU-Z? Does that mean that the card was running at it's full potential and the power supply was enough for it but dropped down to x1 when there wasn't enough power for it, and so the fps in games?

It is quite possible. I had a similar problem with my friend's ps, with the graphics like mine. He had little power over 400 watts. When he use a computer more than 10 minutes in a game, computer shut down his game without any prompt for saving, and gets a message on the screen that the power supply is weak, not playable, and that the game can not start with a stronger effect. Game was DarkSiders.

Would lowering the clocks from 600MHz(default) to any low value like 110MHz do any good? I'll give it a try tomorrow.

With that change, you get nothing. You should not decrease speed of your motherboard.

x16 is speed for Graphic transferring between processor and GPU. x16 PCI-express can receive an deliver 4 GB/s (total 8 GB/s in both directions).
What you get if you decrease speed of Motherboard ? Nothing. You will slow down operation of x16 bus..