Just recently I got an HP A1250N PC; it ran really solid but I was not satisfied with it completely because it lacked a video card. Two days ago I got a Radeon X600 Pro and right after that it started giving me various problems.

One of them was random pixels/shapes of color and the other was the loud fan noise. When I would power the computer up, it winds up for half a second then wind down then no fan sounds for about a second. After thirty seconds it constantly winds up and down nonstop until I restart the computer and then it goes down to a low hum.

Can anybody help me out?

 

is the card brand new?
did you reformat?
did you remove old drivers and then install new drivers? correctly?
how is your psu?

 

I bought the card off of eBay from a respectable seller (his rating was over three thousand and all they sold were computer part) and it was brand new.

I did not reformat.

I removed all of the old drivers and installed Omega drivers.

I do not know what a PSU is.

If it helps, the computer came with an on-board video card but I removed all of the drivers that are related to it.

 

PSU=Power Supply. What size is it?

Try the ATI catalyst drivers. as of late, omega drivers have been a little flaky

 

I think it is only a 250-watt power supply.

If that is the problem, then it seems like I am screwed unless I buy a new one and a case right?

 

depends on if HP uses proprietary PSU mounts in their cases

 

The PSU looks relatively small compared to what I have seen in most custom-made computers that use 400+ watt power supplys.

Should I continue to use my computer with the video card, what type of short and long term damage, if any, should I expect?

 

i think you need a bigger psu
do you have one that you can test or borrow?

 

the fan noise is caused by the controlled speed. It's louder when the card gets hotter -> faster speed. 250w should be okay for just the x600. Get the latest catalyst from ATI.com and google for ATI Tray Tool which allows you to set the fan speed accordingly. You can get ATI Tool as well (diff version - less bells and whistles). When you boot up, by default, the fan runs at 100%, that's why it's loud, but after the firmware kicks int, it's settled down to lower speed because of the temperature. But when the temp gets above certain degrees, it increases. ATI Tray Tool and ATI Tool (2.5 betta I think, not 2.4) will tel you what temp you're at and what's are the default setting for the fan speed. You can tweak them accordingly. You can also test for artifacts as well.

What you're experiencing may be the cause of artifacts. Check the card for any modding (soldering and flux). Also, the heatsink may not be seating right on the GPU core, therefore, causing it to get extremely hot and resulting in artifacts. Double check to make sure.

 

you said you removed the drivers for the onboard video, but did you disable onboard video on the BIOS?