think my video card has had it

[Marty]

so i've had my radeon 9800 for about a year and a half now. it has been a good run, not too many problems occured with it (most of which were common). Until yesterday i was playing a game and 5 minutes into it, squares began to flash on the screen and then more rapidly appeared until it became a garbled mess. soon enought the screen was chopped up and stretched and looked like satan himself raped my monitor.
i quickly ctrl-alt-del out of the game and realised windows was also a mess... then i asked myself is this already the day my card desides to f**k up and quit working?
my drivers are fairly recent and I've never experienced a problem like this. infact my friend said the same thing happend and he got rid of his card and got a cheaper one which will probably last longer. the game i was playing isnt the reason of the problem as i was playing it for hours the day before without any issues. but like i said, it happened after i got out of the game aswell. usually game graphics problems happen with texture screw ups etc, but not when the monitor itself begins to garble.
i havent investigated the problem or tried playing a game again becuase i dont want to perminantly screw up my graphics card as i really need this comp for work/projects etc that cant be delayed.

[Odin]

I find that running experiments with control variables works.

Do you have another computer you can get access to (that is similar to your computer)? Plug in the video card in that one, install the drivers, and try the same game. If you get the same problem, it's your video card. Chuck it. Or sell it on eBay. If you don't get a problem, investigate the other variables between your computer and the test one (e.g. You computer may have a 2.92 GHz cpu core while the test computer has 2.62 GHz cpu core) Post all the differences here.

[Cerberus_e]

Odin said:
Or sell it on eBay



that would be an evil thing to do

[Ecmaster76]

Is the cards fan still spinning?

Is there a crap load of dust in your case?

When was the last time you formatted?

Does it still work in windows after being restarted?

[NutWrench]

Maybe your card is overheating? Check the fan on it and make sure it's working.
Make sure there's no lint or dust buildup on the video cards heatsink.

Do these problems only happen in 3D games?
Try leaving the case open while you play. Do you have fewer (or no) crashes?

[Wamplet]

Young Marty, the card is dying. My card did the same thing,. I will try to dig up the thread in a sec. Go to the ATI website and fill out the RMA/return form. They will send a replacement if you can wait a week.

They replaced my 9500 with a 9800 a while back.

Found it:

Ye Olde Linke (http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=507433&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1)

[Cerberus_e]

Wamplet said:
Young Marty, the card is dying. My card did the same thing,. I will try to dig up the thread in a sec. Go to the ATI website and fill out the RMA/return form. They will send a replacement if you can wait a week.

They replaced my 9500 with a 9800 a while back.

Found it:

Ye Olde Linke (http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=507433&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1)



if I damage my card, would nvidia send me a 6800 in return? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Damien_Azreal]

Cerberus_e said:

Wamplet said:
Young Marty, the card is dying. My card did the same thing,. I will try to dig up the thread in a sec. Go to the ATI website and fill out the RMA/return form. They will send a replacement if you can wait a week.

They replaced my 9500 with a 9800 a while back.

Found it:

Ye Olde Linke (http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=507433&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1)



if I damage my card, would nvidia send me a 6800 in return? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



Doubtful. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Wamplet]

Cerberus_e said:


if I damage my card, would nvidia send me a 6800 in return? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



If you damage it, I doubt it. Same goes for ATI.

If they can see some obvious user-intervention caused damage, I doubt either company(ies) would send a replacement.

[Marty]

firstly, i do want to format my computer because it is full of crap at the moment. secondly, i havent checked the fan yet or dust problems but i sure will. and the computer started fine when i restarted it, i just dont want to start playing a game again to test the problem as it may screw up perminently... and nows not the time for that as i have important stuff due in a few weeks.

if it is the card, ill have a go at getting a new one like Wamplet, or get something else like Nvidia as i havent had problems with them in the past before.

[Ecmaster76]

Okay if it worked fine when you rebooted, than overheating definitely could be a culprit. It could also just be a nasty driver/game glitch.

Two suggestions that won't take much time (i swear)

1.Pop open your case and just make sure tha GPU fan is spinning and that the card isn't covered in dust. If it is dusty get some canned air or an air hose and let it have it. If the fan has stopped order a suitable replacement. While you are waiting, just unplug the old fan, leave the case open and point an AC powere fan at the video card (box fan, oscillating fan, etc). And don't use any graphically demanding applications

2. Completely unistall all your ATI drivers/utilities and maybe runn one of those ATI cleaner programs. Then, install the newest drivers. A format would probably be better, but it would take longer and might not be neccessary.

The above two won't hurt anything, but everything I suggest after this is under the assumptuion that the problem happens with mujltiple applications and isn't just a really bad crash from one game.

If the above doesn't fix it, formatting wouldn't be a bad idea. Also you might want to look into testing the card in another system and testing another card in yours (thats why you use similar hardware when you build a system for a friend http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ). If the card really is busted seek warranty, or barring that just shell out for a new one.

[Simon Charles]

I had what you're describing with a Radeon 9600XT, brand new, right out of the box. And then another Radeon. And another.

Save your money for a GFX 6600. Problem solved.

[Damien_Azreal]

Simon Charles said:
I had what you're describing with a Radeon 9600XT, brand new, right out of the box. And then another Radeon. And another.

Save your money for a GFX 6600. Problem solved.



It depends. I had nothign but problems with all three of my Nvidia cards. But not one problem with my current x800.

I'm not particular... I just go with what works for me. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Marty]

so what works for you?

(oh i hate the battle of the video cards http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

[Orochi Avlis]

My x700 has been working fine since I bought it in Feburary.

[Dash 9]

I recently changed my venerable 9700 Pro (which I bought when it came out) for a X800XL 256Mb w/GDDR3 memory for $350 CDN. I must say that the card is an absolute rocket. Far Cry, HL2 and BF2 never played so smooth and so well.

[Marty]

ok so i was just drawing on photoshop, listening to music then all of a sudden the glitches just dumped on me again and even froze the system (with the music stopping too).
so i restarted, and DOS was messed up too..
so i gave it a cold boot, it went into windows, but shortly after it became fuxored up again. i immediately got onto the phone to my mate and he said that was the same thing that happened to his Radeon.

so i dug our old Matrox video card and stuck that in, and here i am with the computer running again but with just a few graphic glitches (which i cant explain but doesnt matter). i would have never thought after all these years my Matrox card would save me.

anyway, im on the hunt to buy a video card now thats actually good value for money. im totally dissapointed in Radeon now. any suggestions? im considering a Nvidea

[NutWrench]

If you're still getting graphic glitches with a totally different video card, then the problem can't be with the card.

What does your Event Viewer show?

[Marty]

the graphic glitches are different. they dont flush out the whole screen. for example, they could be just some red lines over certain things like buttons. maybe theres some interference with the ati drivers which are still installed. i dunno, but hopefully ill get an opinion from my mate soon

event viewer?

[Marty]

oh f**ksticks!

i was just in photoshop and after awhile (this is with the old Matrox card in) the similar glitching came back, not as severe bad enough the freeze the computer.

that must mean it is the computer after all, or a combination.... damn im just not sure. i always have unidentified problems with my computers that no one knows how to fix. it shits me.

other previous problems have lead me to think it could possibly be a power issue. for one, the CD driver opens by itself when it wants to, sometimes more frequent than other times. the internet on this computer also drops out when it wants to when the connection is fine.
another problem I've had is sometimes when listening to music and drawing on photoshop. it has brief freezes that last for 1 second where the music and application freezes and then comes back to life, which sometimes can happen frequently or not at all.
so after all this, my only guess is that the computer isnt to healthy maybe becuase of the power supply? i aint too sure.

oh please God shed light onto this

[Descent]

Hmm, surely it must be those Radeon drivers, after all, those can't really be compatible with a Matrox video card? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I would strongly suggest Nvidia, but that depends on your economy. I am myself very happy with GeForce 6800GT *Golden Sample* 256 MB.

Buy that and you won't regret it! And even if you can save up a bit more, the 7800 GTX is there for ya!