problems with video Nvidea graphics card.

[winslow]

My son's toshiba was having boot problems. Originaly got it to boot in safe mode however there were square patterns on the display. Talked to a toshiba tech and he said it might be a software issue (boot problem) and the square patterns might be a minor grahics card issue. He said if it boots into safe mode then running the recovery discs would fix the problem. Ran the recovery disks, the system seemed to reload then during the final series of reboots failed again. All the techs I talked to said the machine had integrated graphics. Bought a new motherboard but when I went to swap it out discovered it had a discreet graphics board (Nvidea Ge GoForce 7900GS). The thermal grease on the CPU and the graphics card was all dried out. (Some powder acdtually sitting on the graohics card). Was wondering if the problem could have possibly been from the thermal greease drying out. Does it lose it's ability to xfer hear after it dries out. Is it remotely possible that was causing the issues I was having? I have the new system board to install but a new graphics card is rather pricey and would need to get one before I instal the sytem board as it sits on the under side when installed? any opinions on this.
Thanks in advance.

[Harryc]

If the Graphics problem is heat related, then the only way you'd find out is to reinstall the old GPU with fresh thermal paste.