Monitor/graphics issue?

[mishmash]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help shed some light on what my issue could be.

It started about February when I had Windows 7 installed on my computer (which had been on there for a good year).

The monitor would flick on and off and a message on the task bar said something like "display driver stopped working but recovered"

Eventually it would happen as soon as I switch on the computer so I was unable to access it except in safe mode only. I decided to reformat but the installation process kept hanging at a specific point so I decided to try my old XP disc and luckily it worked and everything worked great, until last week.

The monitor had loads of lines flickering across diagonally so I had to restart. When it happened again I had music playing which slowed down god knows how much. It was VERY slow and I couldn't make any words and again the monitor had lines going across. It's happened a couple of times where the sound has been unaffected. And sometimes the sound goes slow and returns to normal. I think on one or 2 occasions the computer hangs and restarts.

I decided to open the computer and reseat the graphics card. When I tried switching the computer on the monitor didn't find a signal, I assumed the problem must have been my graphics card which was now dead.

I tried my onboard graphics instead and it was fine all night, but this morning after the computer was on for about 30mins the monitor loses signal. I checked all connections and all fine, so I decided just to try the graphics card - and it's now come on.

 

It's really confusing me as to what could be causing these problems.

Unfortunately I am a bit limited when it comes to trying things in a different computer.

It's a different motherboard so I can't try the graphics card in it, and I'm unable to carry the monitor there as I don't have a car and I didn't want to buy any new hardware until I had a general idea what it could be.

 

If it's any help this is the spec:

AMD athlon x2 250 3000ghz

4GB RAM

Nvidia Gefoce 6600

Asus M4A78L-M LE

500GB 7200rpm sata drive

AOC 931s wl monitor

 

Thanks for any help. If you need any more info let me know.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

You have done all that I would have suggested.

 

Not only do you have Video problems but you have Sound problems too ?

 

Did this system have XP as the original OS and you have now gone back to that ?

Did you install the XP drivers ?

 

The XP drivers for your card are here:

click here

 

Give these a try.

[mishmash]

Thanks, I shall make sure I have the latest graphics drivers installed.

It's a home built system, I can't remember when I replaced the hard drive - whether or not I put XP on it first or windows 7.

I don't think it's sound issues as such. Just it sometimes goes funny when the computer seems to hang. It could be the processor perhaps?

The processor and motherboard are the oldest components inside the computer but I'm happy to keep them if they work fine.

 

I have tried a couple of things since. I turned the 15 pin cable round just to see if there would be any change. Funnily enough I had a few black dots appear in part of the screen which would kind of move about then disappear. So I thought maybe it could be the monitor or cable. However I didn't think to try my TV till I was messing about and saw the VGA attachment - but that didn't solve the issue, so I have at least ruled the monitor and the monitors power cable, but not the 15pin.

Also I was after some new speakers for a while, which I've now replaced - so that's another thing I can rule out - same sound card though.

 

I'm gonna try the 15pin cable in another computer, and I guess I should try the computer straight in the mains and not the 6 plug attachment I've been using - to rule those out too.

 

I wonder why the computer is not connecting to my on board graphics any more? Since I haven't altered anything in the bios.

[KenB]

I wonder why the computer is not connecting to my on board graphics any more?

Some video card software disables the on-board when you install it.

The reason for this is that the two software packages can possibly conflict.

 

You should be able to check in the BIOS to see.

Also - when connected to the card ....

start > Run > type in .......devmgmt.msc ....ENTER

You should be able to check here to see if your on-board drivers are still there.

 

Check in Device Manager anyway and see if there are any yellow exclamation marks against the actual card itself.

[mishmash]

I managed to capture an image of the problem in a slightly less problematic way before it went haywire.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1020.vB5-legacyid=1935[/ATTACH]

 

It seems it looked worse on contrast to a white background.

I did install the latest drivers but even when I was in the bios to check priority the same problem happened and the computer restarted. The only thing left was to actually remove the graphics card so there would be no conflict problem.

What I noticed when I removed it was the card seemed extremely warm considering I had only had the computer on for about 15mins. I didn't notice the same heat emitting from any other components.

Is it possible if something has burnt out on the card it could stop the card from overheating?

 

The picture quality now with on board seems perfect and not one pixel out of place. I will of course give it some time before I rule it out completely. It was problem free the first time I used on board. I guess the conflict was the only reason it stopped working.

I'm pretty confident to say the issue was indeed the graphics card and it certainly explains the whole host of problems.

Thanks Ken for all your advice, couldn't have done it on my own =)

[KenB]

Let it run with the on-board for a while to confirm that the problem was actually the video card.

 

It is a simple job to replace if you want to go down that route.

If you are not too bothered - you can leave it as it is with the on-board :)