Hi,
One day started a 3d game computer crashed and restarted, now i have vertical lines at startup and when it goes to windows the same. I took everything out video card, ram, cpu,etc. and reseeded all the components, tried one stick of ram, then the other, same thing happens. Have a hp desktop with Geforce 8800 gts vid card. 2 gigs of ram, when i get to Windows and go to properties it shows a exclamation mark under the 8800, however i reinstall drivers and still starts up the same way and when i get back to windows it shows the drivers for the 8800 with an exclamation mark, also the internet is connected and i dont have internet any help is appreciated

Also when it goes to a black screen I see a whole screen of white characters

that is interesting. the exclamation mark either means that is doesn't have a driver installed or the hardware is bad. you said that in re-installed drivers so my guess is that your vid card is bad.

Erratic graphics indicate one thing: VGA gone bad. Especially if it is as early as pre-booting. By pre-booting I mean something like motherboard logo corrupted, or erratic characters showing on screen in text-display-mode prior to booting OS.

All other display-related and display-driver-related problems are to follow.

Probbably one of the memory chips is toasted. If your warranty is stil valid, use it.

Yes... Warranties are good. as long as you don't void them like i tend to do.

Heh... me too. (custom cooling).

I feel your pain man. somtimes computers just aren't good enough from the factory.

"Mod or Die" that's my motto