purplegoth Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Hiya, I was having problems with my PC (the screen was multi-coloured and pixelated after closing down games e.g Steam) so I figured it was a problem with the graphics card and decided to clean it out (I thought it might be overheating). So, I hoovered out the inside but when I put back together I got a disk error message. After poking about inside and ensuring everything was plugged in correctly, I turned it back on and the error message was gone. I was able to start the computer with no problems. For a few days, the computer was working fine. Unfortunately, now the problem is occurring 100% of the time. Not only is the screen pixelated but it looks as if its in 'Safe Mode', i.e all the icons are huge! Is this a sign that the graphics card is on its way out? Or is another problem entirely? Note: I am also having a problem with the computer no longer picking up my USB keyboard (only an old PS/2 one) but this is in a separate thread. Any help would be really appreciated :-) Quote
KenB Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Hi, Start > Run ....type in .....devmgmt.msc ......ENTER Click the + next to Display Adapters Are there any yellow exclamation marks or red Xs ? What is listed? Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
purplegoth Posted January 4, 2012 Author Posted January 4, 2012 OK - I went in to Device Manager and the graphics driver was out of date (Also the 1394 Net Adapter #3). So I managed to update it using the wizard. The PC worked fine for about 2 hours then suddenly went pixelated again. I checked back in the Device Manager which said that the driver was out of date again. I tired to update it again but I get the following message in the wizard: "Cannot continue the hardware update wizard. The Wizard could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you have installed". I tried uninstall the driver and reinstall from the Nvidia website which didn't fix the problem. If it helps, my graphics card is a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT. Quote
KenB Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Do you have on-board graphics that you can try? ( another VGA connection at the back of your machine for the monitor to connect to ) Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
computerservive Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 Hi, purplegoth. Checking the Nvidia GeForce forums, it seems that the card runs very hot with standard cooling, some people mentioning temps of in-excess 85degC. Its worth checking the temps of your graphics card and CPU using hwmonitor (link included) while stressing the system playing a game. Its also worth checking the minimum +12V value while stressing the system. The pixels could be due to overheating or potentially a failing, weak or under spec power supply. Cheers Quote
purplegoth Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 I have since replaced my card with a new one and it seems to be working fine. However, I am now not getting any sound!! All the drivers are up to date and I even did a clean installation from the Nvidia website. When I go into the device manager, the only audio listed is Nvidia but i'm sure that before I had Realtek installed. I tried installing a Realtek driver from the HP website which apparently was successfully installed but nothing appears in device manager and I still get no sound. Help! Quote
KenB Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Good to hear that your graphics are back to normal. Have you got the sound muted? Click on the speaker icon bottom right of screen. Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
purplegoth Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 Nope. All the volumes are up. The speaker icon doesn't even appear at the bottom of the screen Quote
KenB Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 The speaker icon doesn't even appear at the bottom of the screen Right click in a grey area close to the clock > Properties > Notification Area Is the Volume Control Checked there ? Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
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