UNSOLVED
graphics card problem need help please
ok i was playing everquest 2 last night when all of a sudden my screen picture got all warped and stretched out...nothing was visable.after exiting out i noticed that the shortcut icons on my desktop were also having problems...such as skinny black lines through them...1 icon is half missing...does anyone know what the problem is...i talked to dell over the phone but the person wasnt to helpfull
Dale Nihiser
2 Intern
•
2030 Posts
267
0
Posted December 10th, 2005 04:00
vegeta75
Here are some "easy-check" areas to try:
Check the connection between the monitor and your pc.
If you have a firm connection, then you may want to switch out monitors.
Excessive over-heating can cause on-screen artifacting. Remove/open the side panel from your pc. Is the case interior relatively free from dust & dust bunnies? Visually observe that the cooling fan on your 9800pro is operating and while you're at it, check your case fans too. No harm in making sure the heat-sink fan on your CPU is plugged-in and working too. The 9800pro also requires an additional power source besides what it gets through the AGP slot it sits in. Verify the four pin power connector is firmly attached on the end of the card and attached to the powersupply connector. Also make certain the 9800pro is firmly seated in the AGP slot. If you have a pci card in the slot next to your 9800pro, you may not be getting adequate ventilation between the cards. You may have to move the pci card to the next pci slot to allow for better cooling.
Try placing a small fan nearby and let it blow inside the open case. See if that solves the problem.
If the issues aren't monitor or heat related, (I don't know your comfort level for fiddling around inside your computer) do you have another video card you can switch out with your 9800pro in the event your card is bad?
Good luck,
Dale
Cool Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 Mid tower case
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ SanDiego 1GHz fsb
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 ATX motherboard
1GHz Cosair ValueSelect PC 3200 DDR 400 SDRAM
EVGA GeForce 6800GS 256Mb GDDR3 PCI Express
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200Gb 7200rpm SATA 150 HD
Plextor 708A 8x burner
Thermaltake TR W0070 ATX 430W PSU
Logitech Optical Mouse MX310
Logitech Wingman Rumblepad
Altec-Lansing headphones w/mic
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Windows XP Home Sp2(all updates)
D-Link 524 Wireless Ethernet Broadband RouterDimension 4550
Intel P4 2.53GHz
A08 Bios
768Mb DDR 333MHz RAM
533Mhz fsb
Sapphire OEM Radeon 9800Pro w/128Mb
SoundBlaster Live
LG-DT-ST CDRW ROM 848-1b
WD 600BB 60Gb Ultra ATA 100 7200rpm HD
WD 1200JB SE 120Gb ATA 100 7200rpm HD
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Win XP SP2 (all updates)Dimension 4100
866Mhz Pent III----->1.2GHz Tualatin Cele----->1.6GHz
LinLin 370 socket adapter (Geekverter)
Intel A10 Bios
256 Mb SDRAM 133Mhz fsb
Ati Radeon 7500 64 Mb DDR Ram
SoundBlaster Live Value
BenQ FP71G+ LCD monitor
30Gb Seagate 7200rpm HD
WinME (all updates)
No Name CDRW
No Name CDROMMessage Edited by Dale Nihiser on 12-10-2005 09:53 AM
The recommendations above are good ones--just an additional thing to check...
I had somewhat similar symptoms with the 9800 Pro in my 4600. The card lasted about 1.5 years. In my case, the screen would "break up" on startup and eventually freeze. When these symptoms first happened to me, I noticed that the heatsink had come loose on the card, so it was overheating/shutting itself off. It is sort of subtle--just a little bit of play--worth checking if you havent already. There is a pin that you can push in to snap it back down--kind of a design flaw, imo. Once i figured that out, it lasted a few months longer, but kept popping off and overheating--if you try this and find that it is indeed loose, i would recommend getting some thermal paste or something to glue it down, because it kept popping off on me and eventually died completely.
Maybe (hopefully) your situation is something simpler that you can cure, but it may be worth a look--if it does turn out to be that, and the card doesnt come back, here is another post on what i eventually did to replace it if it comes down to that)
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_video&message.id=124659
VoiS2
1 Rookie
•
481 Posts
267
0
Posted December 10th, 2005 03:00