Distorted, Jittery, Flickery Screen

[gringo]

Hi All

Hope someone can help with this as I've run out of things to try.

 

I have a Dell Dimension 530s which has been running fine for a year with Vista but has developed a fault. When I get to the desktop screen the screen goes all flickery, jumpy and distorted.

 

I have run the programme in safe mode and its fine. Have run hardware diagnostics and no errors or problems there. Have even done a restore to factory settings. Installed a driver for the integrated graphics card and still no good.

 

Whats really confusing is that if I run the PC thru Vista but using Windows ClassicTheme from the personalise options the desktop stops flickering but if I open a programme all goes bad till I shut down.

 

Dell have said its a software conflict and seem very uniterested.

 

Does anyone know what this might be or have any idea how to fix it.

 

Hope you can help

 

Thanks

Gringo

[Tootech]

Hi Gringo,

 

It is a bit of an odd fault.

 

Can you let us know what size monitor you use, and the video settings - for example 1024x768 x 16 bit colour.

 

Thanks

[gringo]

Mmmm very odd indeed.

 

Ok the screen is a Dell 20" widescreen 1680x1050 running in 32bit high colour. Refresh rate 59hz

 

Hope that helps

[Tootech]

Thanks for the info - all your monitor settings are exactly as Dell intended and are well within the spec of the video chip.

 

As you have run a factory restore and reinstalled the drivers with no change, we think that you have a board fault.

 

Your board will take a PCI-E video card. If you can lay your hands on one it may be worth a go before consigning the board to the bin.

 

If you have a good local repair shop, they will be able to check your board without running Windows, and tell you what is wrong.

[gringo]

Thanks

 

I'll go back to Dell and get them to resolve this if it's likely to be a hardware issue as the prob was reported but not resovled in warranty.

 

Thanks for help so far. Will let you know how I get on.

 

Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Gringo

[Tootech]

The main point is that if your machine is set back to factory standard, with none of your own software installed and is still giving you trouble, then there is a fault.

 

Once you start adding your own security and software, then it is debatable where the problem lies.

[Dalo Harkin]

You need to install the latest drivers for your GPU - if its flickering in Normal mode and not in safe mode - then the drivers are corrupt.

[gringo]

Ok I've reset to factory settings and have not installed any new software except the latest drivers for the Integrated motherboard / graphics card direct from Intel. Still the same problem persists when the desktop appears after login ie flickery, distorted image on screen.

 

Should I get Dell to take the machine back and sort it as it is now exactly as it was when I bought it a year ago!

 

Is anyone aware of this problem with Dell PC's or Vista? Maybe there's a patch if its a software problem? What about installing the latest BIOS?

 

HELLLLLP

[Dalo Harkin]

There is no need for a BIOS update -

I would uninstall the video driver (you will thenbe using the windows default one) and see how it is - is it still flickering?

if not then its a driver issue