Graphic Card Woooooes......

[Fish 40]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, and I am no techno-Guru. I've got a problem, that I cannot seem to fix. It started about a week ago, but up until then, everything was kool. Whenever I play any games,(IL2 FB, MOHAA, just to name two), within minutes, the screen becomes corrupted. Artifacts,and multicolored pixels and lines fill the screen. Also, print in the game menues is also corrupted. I thought this may be a heat related issue, so I opened the case, powered up, and noted that ALL fans are operating, includeing the fan on the graphics card. Next, I reinstalled the graphics driver thinking that it had become corrupted. The problem persists. I have no problem when in desktop, or surfing the net. Only when gameing, do the problems begin. Here are my system specs: Dell Dimension 8250 P4@2.4gh, 1024 of pc1066 RDRAM, ATI Radeon 9700pro graphics, SB Audigy2, Windows XP Home. Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[BxSlipSk8718]

ok my freind is having the same problem he got a new mobo and now its fine

 

[Fish 40]

Thank's for the replies. I've tried alot of suggestions from not only this forum, but others that I belong too. I'm still haveing trouble, and have two more things I could try, befor I throw in the towel, and have to call in professional help. First, I'm going to install an after market fan on my 9700 pro. Mabey the stock fan is not performing 100%, causing an overheat condition. Second, if changeing the fan dose'nt work, I'm going to replace the card. My big problem now, is time. Between work, and running around doing odds & ends, it's hard to squeeze in the time to sit down, and get it done! Anyway, keep those suggestions comeing. I really appreciate the help.

 

[zerozero]

How long has it been since you cleaned up your fans? Dust will prevent air from circulating and create heat problems. Use compressed air can to blow the dust away.

 

[Fish 40]

Cleaning the fans and case interior was one of the first things I did on this troubleshooting adventure. It was surprisingly very clean. Tonight I have some time, so I'm going to try a graphics card fanectomy. Hopefully, swapping the stock fan with a better performing aftermarket item, will put this matter to rest. If not, I guess the quest goes on. ................................................................................... Fan surgery was unsuccessful. Still got the artifacting despite the addition of different fans on the card itself, plus extra case fans we hooked up and directed towards the graphics card. There is one bright spot in all this mess, something I can do to definitly prove the video card is the problem: I now have access to another 9700pro. After alittle convinceing, I was able to get my dad to let me borrow his from his system, and pop it into mine. If I can run my games without a problem with his card, I'll pretty much know for sure, my card is in the crapper. After that, the hard part will be comeing up with the 300.00 I'll need for the 9800pro I intend to replace it with.

 

[zerozero]

What you can also try to do is underclock your card. Get a program like RADCLOCKER (do a google search) and reduce both core and memory speed and check if the artifacts go away.

 

[Fish 40]

The transplant was a success. Popped another 9700pro into my system, and it worked beautifuly. No corruption, no problems. Guess what I'm going to buy tomorrow night? I still have no idea what caused my card to fail in the first place. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with something like this again. But at least after the experiance, I'm alittle wiser in computer problem diagnosis. Thank's again to everyone who responded with your ideas. My appreciation runs deep!