corrupt display (occasionally)

[Guest]

Yikes! I've got a problem with severely corrupted display (weird lines of
repeated random character[?] across screen). Corrupt lines intersecting mouse
position appear in wrong RBG. Very strange! Began as game crash in Arx
Fatalis (now fixed), now happens on occasional vendors video demo and
espesecially when starting up computer after it has been off for some time
(to cool off?). Startup problem goes away after 15-20 miutes runtime and
reboot, and used to be avoided via booting into safe mode for "warm-up." Now,
problem appears even in safe, which eliminates (IMO) VC related probs. Any
help, please???

sys summary -->> XP Home/Pro dual boot, 2.6P4 in hyper mode@800FSB, MSI
875P, Gainward FX5700 Ultra Gold Label @ factory enhanced setting
(500/950Mhz), dedicated pagefile partition of 3072Mb, 1024Mb PC3200 DDR, SP2,
all patches/drivers current (far as I can tell...)

Thx
Daddio8itall

 

[D.Currie]

Yikes! I've got a problem with severely corrupted display (weird lines of
repeated random character[?] across screen). Corrupt lines intersecting
mouse
position appear in wrong RBG. Very strange! Began as game crash in Arx
Fatalis (now fixed), now happens on occasional vendors video demo and
espesecially when starting up computer after it has been off for some time
(to cool off?). Startup problem goes away after 15-20 miutes runtime and
reboot, and used to be avoided via booting into safe mode for "warm-up."
Now,
problem appears even in safe, which eliminates (IMO) VC related probs. Any
help, please???

sys summary -->> XP Home/Pro dual boot, 2.6P4 in hyper mode@800FSB, MSI
875P, Gainward FX5700 Ultra Gold Label @ factory enhanced setting
(500/950Mhz), dedicated pagefile partition of 3072Mb, 1024Mb PC3200 DDR,
SP2,
all patches/drivers current (far as I can tell...)

Thx
Daddio8itall

Sounds like a hardware problem. I'd guess either video card or memory.

Just for the fun of it, open the case and make sure the video card an memory
are seated fully.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a hardware problem. I'd guess either video card or memory.

Just for the fun of it, open the case and make sure the video card an memory
are seated fully.

Thanks, tried both already w/no improvement. Also, all sys monitors
(msinfo32, dxdiag, etc.) report everything as OK. I too suspected vid card
until my homespun "boot into safe mode-workaround" failed to avoid corrupted
screen this AM. Safe mode boots using generic VGA(w/out graphics card
drivers), right? Any other ideas? I've got a couple screenshots but can't
figure out how to attach them here. Can that be done?

Thx again

 

[D.Currie]

Thanks, tried both already w/no improvement. Also, all sys monitors
(msinfo32, dxdiag, etc.) report everything as OK. I too suspected vid card
until my homespun "boot into safe mode-workaround" failed to avoid
corrupted
screen this AM. Safe mode boots using generic VGA(w/out graphics card
drivers), right? Any other ideas? I've got a couple screenshots but can't
figure out how to attach them here. Can that be done?

Thx again

That eliminates drivers as the issue, but it doesn't eliminate the hardware
itself beginning to fail. Since it's better after a short warm-up, my guess
is that there's something that's not making full contact until it heats and
expands, like a small crack in one of the connections on the video card. And
not necessarily something you'd be able to see if you looked.

Memory errors can also cause some interesting video malfunctions, but I'd
consider that less likely. But it would be worth the test if you have more
than one stick of ram to remove them one at a time and see if you've still
got the errors.

 

[Guest]

That eliminates drivers as the issue, but it doesn't eliminate the hardware
itself beginning to fail. Since it's better after a short warm-up, my guess
is that there's something that's not making full contact until it heats and
expands, like a small crack in one of the connections on the video card. And
not necessarily something you'd be able to see if you looked.

Memory errors can also cause some interesting video malfunctions, but I'd
consider that less likely. But it would be worth the test if you have more
than one stick of ram to remove them one at a time and see if you've still
got the errors.

Really?
That could be source of problem then, my card is huge (roughly 21-22cm/8
1/2") and has heatsinks, fans, fuzzy dice, chrome tailpipes, etc.) and in the
way when working with lowest drawer of HDDs. Could easily be damaged. I'll
take CLOSER look . How would I check memory? I'm guessing: shutdown, pull
a stick, restart, then shut sytem down overnight, then boot normally in AM(or
when "cooled off"), watching for changes in display quality; repeated for
each stick. Right? Please correct as req'd.

Also, BIOS PC Health reports CPU temps around 40deg C (37-42, as observed by
me). Not too excesive, is it? I do OC a bit; nothing wild, 2704 on a 2.6GHz
800FSB P4 w/ robust fans/heatsinks & 480W PS.

Also(last one), device mgr shows 3 "default monitors" in addition to my NEC
MultiSync FE700+. I disable and uninstall repeatedly, only to have them
detected and auto-installed as soon as uninstall processes finish and close.
VERY frustrating! Is there a fix? Could this be source of corruption? Sysinfo
lists monitor as "default monitor", so I'm assuming that NEC MultiSync
drivers and capabilities are not being utilized and, further, I'm thinking
that advanced graphics capabilities of card would be inaccessible in this
situation, resulting in advanced/high display settings (1024x768@85 hertz, 32
bit color) forced onto a "default monitor" at "unknown" location (w/ unknown
timing pref's, etc.) via hi-perf graphics card. Yes... no...? Regardless of
connection to corruption issue, I'd like to eliminate the "phantom monitors
once and for all." Any ideas?

sorry for long wind... I need to fix ASAP and am "compressing data" to force
quick resolution. many thx 4 tolerence

 

[D.Currie]

Really?
That could be source of problem then, my card is huge (roughly 21-22cm/8
1/2") and has heatsinks, fans, fuzzy dice, chrome tailpipes, etc.) and in
the
way when working with lowest drawer of HDDs. Could easily be damaged. I'll
take CLOSER look .

Have fun. Magnifying glass is a good tool.

How would I check memory? I'm guessing: shutdown, pull

a stick, restart, then shut sytem down overnight, then boot normally in
AM(or
when "cooled off"), watching for changes in display quality; repeated for
each stick. Right? Please correct as req'd.

Sounds like a plan.

Also, BIOS PC Health reports CPU temps around 40deg C (37-42, as observed
by
me). Not too excesive, is it? I do OC a bit; nothing wild, 2704 on a
2.6GHz
800FSB P4 w/ robust fans/heatsinks & 480W PS.

That sounds reasonable. You might want to try cranking the OC down to see if
that makes any difference. If you're OCing the video card as well, it might
be the problem.

Also(last one), device mgr shows 3 "default monitors" in addition to my
NEC
MultiSync FE700+. I disable and uninstall repeatedly, only to have them
detected and auto-installed as soon as uninstall processes finish and
close.
VERY frustrating! Is there a fix?

Try deleting them in safe mode and see if the come back.


Could this be source of corruption? Sysinfo

lists monitor as "default monitor", so I'm assuming that NEC MultiSync
drivers and capabilities are not being utilized and, further,

I usually just set it for plug and play monitor and don't bother with
specific drivers. Monitor drivers don't do all that much, generally.


I'm thinking

that advanced graphics capabilities of card would be inaccessible in this
situation, resulting in advanced/high display settings (1024x768@85 hertz,
32
bit color) forced onto a "default monitor" at "unknown" location (w/
unknown
timing pref's, etc.) via hi-perf graphics card. Yes... no...? Regardless
of
connection to corruption issue, I'd like to eliminate the "phantom
monitors
once and for all." Any ideas?

Kill 'em all in safe mode. Use Plug and Play monitor. All new monitors are
plug and play and they'll "tell" the computer what they can use as far as
frequency, etc.

sorry for long wind... I need to fix ASAP and am "compressing data" to
force
quick resolution. many thx 4 tolerence

Have fun.