is it software or hardware?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
J

John

hello. i am running windows xp home on a custom built (UN-overclocked)
computer. my question i think seems to be related to either my video card, or
drivers inside windows. i have done what tests i can so far, and have
discounted the problem being my monitor. my video card is an ati radeon 9800
pro, 128MB AGP. i purchased it new, from the store, about 5 years ago or so,
though i dont really remember how long. i use it about 8 hours or so a day,
about 5-6 days a week. occasionally less. i have never updated the drivers
since the ones that came with the card. i have also checked my computer for
viri as well and turned up short there.

the problem you see, is most prominent, within the windows environment.
after a minute or so, i begin to see tiny bits of streaking on the display.
when i move the mouse pointer around, type, or drag windows around the
screen, most local graphics, seem to streak or 'smear', leaving a sort of
trail, as if they were painting something. nothing i do, seems to clear the
screen entirely. then, while trying to run dxdiagnostics, the system freezes
at the last, 3d tests. ive also noticed this issue, during system POST. this
all started to appear about three days ago. even my pc games are showing
distorted graphics and similar streaking. prior to this occurrance,
everything was as normal.

i have checked on MTBF numbers for my video card, and while they are close,
it is still a few hundred to a thousand hours from statistical failure.

i have not switched out the card to try another one, so i dont know if its
the card, or a corrupted video or windows file. i know this newsgroup is
specifically not an ati tech support sort of 'forum', but i am merely asking
if these symptoms seem software related or are really hardware. while i have
had my card a long while, dont overclock it, go crazy running high res
graphics, and dont tend to get viri often; i dont really see that my card
would finally be sputtering out by now. i would expect better performance
from such great model card as this one, even though it is the slightly older
AGP style.

so, any suggestions?? --thanks.
 
A PC's hardware can fail at any time, from being DOA to many years down the
line, statisical failure is just that.
It sound more hardware
Visit ATI site update the video drivers
Visit your mobo site & update the drivers
Do NOT use winupdate for drivers
Try running the sys in safe mode, problems still occur? if yes you have
failing HW
 
DL said:
A PC's hardware can fail at any time, from being DOA to many years down the
line, statisical failure is just that.
It sound more hardware
Visit ATI site update the video drivers
Visit your mobo site & update the drivers
Do NOT use winupdate for drivers
Try running the sys in safe mode, problems still occur? if yes you have
failing HW
Click to expand...

If you have the ability to move the monitor to another PC, some friends,
then try that. You don't need to change drivers to do this, so its non
destructive. Might help make you feel better on buying a new card and
not monitor.
 
John said:
hello. i am running windows xp home on a custom built (UN-overclocked)
computer. my question i think seems to be related to either my video card, or
drivers inside windows. i have done what tests i can so far, and have
discounted the problem being my monitor. my video card is an ati radeon 9800
pro, 128MB AGP. i purchased it new, from the store, about 5 years ago or so,
though i dont really remember how long. i use it about 8 hours or so a day,
about 5-6 days a week. occasionally less. i have never updated the drivers
since the ones that came with the card. i have also checked my computer for
viri as well and turned up short there.

the problem you see, is most prominent, within the windows environment.
after a minute or so, i begin to see tiny bits of streaking on the display.
when i move the mouse pointer around, type, or drag windows around the
screen, most local graphics, seem to streak or 'smear', leaving a sort of
trail, as if they were painting something. nothing i do, seems to clear the
screen entirely. then, while trying to run dxdiagnostics, the system freezes
at the last, 3d tests. ive also noticed this issue, during system POST. this
all started to appear about three days ago. even my pc games are showing
distorted graphics and similar streaking. prior to this occurrance,
everything was as normal.

i have checked on MTBF numbers for my video card, and while they are close,
it is still a few hundred to a thousand hours from statistical failure.

i have not switched out the card to try another one, so i dont know if its
the card, or a corrupted video or windows file. i know this newsgroup is
specifically not an ati tech support sort of 'forum', but i am merely asking
if these symptoms seem software related or are really hardware. while i have
had my card a long while, dont overclock it, go crazy running high res
graphics, and dont tend to get viri often; i dont really see that my card
would finally be sputtering out by now. i would expect better performance
from such great model card as this one, even though it is the slightly older
AGP style.

so, any suggestions?? --thanks.
Click to expand...

Have you checked the fan on the video card? My 9700 Pro ran hot, but I
don't know about the 9800. You can also check to make sure that all the
other fans are working and that the case is not getting too hot. I
recently purchased a 3750 HD that had the same artifacts and it was
either a defective card, or the fan was not spinning fast enough. I
RMA'ed the card and by then Diamond tech support recommended using
RivaTuner to adjust the fan speed. Since both were done at the same
time I don't know which fixed the problem.
 
Back
Top