[DocStrange]

I asked this in hardware, but I think it might do a bit better here instead of there, even though I doubt it has anything to do with my OS.

As i've mentioned before have a computer that runs Windows 2000, I don't know in particular which kind of computer - msinfo32 claims it is a Dell Optiplex GX150, but upon looking at Dell's support site, it physically resembles a a GX260 or GX260N. I suspect this computer is a custom built computer by my dad's computer nerd friend, who does some obscure job involving computers for some company. But i'm stuck with out of date computer with a too small hard-drive until at least Christmas.

Anyway, my problem is:
Around last Christmas, My dad gave me his Hannspree HF199H 1024 x 768 monitor to replace an older monitor that had begun to have very visible flicker problems (ones that had sound, too). He had used it on his machine for 2 years with no problems (he purchased himself a new monitor instead)

It's been a few months since then and I am now thinking i'm seeing some light flicker on this monitor, especially while typing, but on rare occasions just intermittently. My dad never saw any flicker on this monitor in the 2 years he had it.

I don't think the flicker on my old monitor and this flicker on this new monitor are related whatsoever. (Nor do I think it's because i'm hitting the keys too hard while typing and am causing the monitor to wobble)

Several months ago (sometime in either February or March), I tried to update my video card (using a .zip file on NVIDIA's website), but I did wound up not doing it and deleted the file that I put the stuff in the .zip in (I used the installer, and was confused by it and pressed cancel before the part with the actual installation took place). I don't think this is the problem because I did not have this current problem until about late April or so. I'm just mentioning this because I feel like I have to.

I'm running Windows 2000 SP4 on a Dell desktop (I don't know the model) with 522k of physical memory (I plan on either getting 1GB of memory or just getting a whole new computer when I get some money around Christmas) according to the Performance tab in Task Manager (although in the "mem usage:" thing in the bottom right in that window, it tells me 480k of 882k, I think that might just be my limit). I don't know any other way to find this stuff because i've never really had to before because I really haven't had that many problems or situations that demand it.

The most noticable other problem is whenever I change a tab in Firefox (or between two IE6 pages - remember, IE6 was the last version of IE to be supported by Windows 2000), if my cursor is somewhat inside the page field, a square the same color as the page I just tabbed out of will appear around my cursor for a split second. I have replaced my mouse since this started, so it's not my mouse. Unfortunately, since this involves my cursor, I cannot take a screen cap of this problem, but this box thing is probably the most annoying thing out of everything.

I really don't know if I should upgrade my video card (NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Pro), though. It seems a little too difficult for me (from the last time I tried it) and i'm prospectively getting a new, better computer around Christmas.

I do not think my flicker problems were caused by my earlier aborted attempt to upgrade my video card because I never actually got to the part of the wizard where the installation took place and these flickers while typing started (at the earliest) a month after that.

One possibility is in about March, when I was instructed by the Mozillazine forum to lower my hardware acceleration by one notch to fix a problem I was having with images in Firefox. This was the problem I did the aborted update of my video card to fix, but it turned out to fixable without it. As I said, these two things happened in early-to-mid March, and I don't remember seeing these flicker and gray square around my mouse problems until over a month later. I'm very sure I didn't go far enough into that update installation wizard that anything had been uninstalled or installed yet, and all the update files were in one new folder so when I had to delete them, no older files were even near them.

I'd love to fix these cosmetic problems with my system so I can get by with it until I get a new system in December.

[Byteman]

Have you tried letting the Dell support website identify your model?

http://support.dell.com/support/down...=19&l=en&s=dhs

Hit the "Find my service tag" button there..... If that does not work, the Service Tag is on the rear of the case on a label. It may or may not be the correct ST since your Dad's friend may have combined parts to make a usable computer, this happens all the time.


You type that Service Tag letters and numbers into the space......that will point you to the support pages for that specific model.


The Dell utility at the site should ID it by the motherboard info, that is "the computer" that we need to download the correct drivers.

See what you come up with.....

[DocStrange]

i couldn't figure out which of the various strings of numbers stickered on my tower is my service tag. There is that "Find Your Service Tag" option on the site, but it only works on IE and once I go onto IE6 for the first time in forever and copy pasted the address from Firefox, it asks if I want Dell to scan my computer to find my service tag. I clicked yes, and then I get a security warning if I want to let Dell do its thing and I click yes, And then I get a security warning asking if I want to install and run "Service Pack 6 for Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Cabinet" distrubuted by Microsoft. I click yes on that.

And then some waiting. The IE page field turns black (the background color of the Dell site) and there's some more waiting....

Finally, it gives me the Service Tag of 3PJSK01. The computer pictured is a
GX150 which as I mentioned looks nothing like my computer (which resembles a GX260 or GX260N. I'm repeating myself, huh)

So ok, what next?

[Byteman]

Do you find the same Service Tag on the outside of the case? It's a simple as that...... if Dell finds the same as the one on the case, then you have no issue.

The GX260 is a small form factor, quite a different machine from the big tower of a GX150

Which type of outside case do you have- small form factor, or big tower? The SFF can lay flat, but can also stand up.

If the Service Tag on the outside of a full tower matches what Dell tells you it is, you have a GX150.
If the motherboard was from a GX260 or similar the Dell utility would tell you that model.....

[DocStrange]

my outside case is an SFF.

yes, I see that same service tag outside of my case on the back of my tower: 3PJSK01. Huh. Should have seen that.

[Byteman]

Appears that Dell did make different varities of OptiPlex GX150

http://www2.dealtime.com/xPF-Dell-OptiPlex-GX150 <<small form factor PC

Is there more to the model ID, found on the front of your case......is there GX150SD?

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/ug/specs.htm

Scroll down through and you will see what I mean......there are sometimes 3 different models' infomation shown, for example, look in the "Drives" section...... there is a small form factor description of drives as well as other types.


I've not seen this before- I really don't see why Dell would do that! The main purpose of the Service Tags is to point specifically to a certain model....


Other than reinstalling the video drivers, I have no idea of why the display would be flickering....

Try to make sure the cable is plugged in securely.

Here's a comprehensive user guide /Manual that includes directions to work on any of the 3 types of OptiPlex's:

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...p.htm#overview

If you open the Device Manager by Right-clicking My Computer icon, what shows as the Video component?

[DocStrange]

I'll be! That small form factor GX150 is a dead ringer for my system, except my computer is black (I think I remember reading that this computer is from around the time that Dell was offering computers in both Black and Grey for some reason) and I have a 40GB drive instead of a 20GB drive (man, I don't think I could live with a 20GB hard drive now. 40GB is already way too small for me!), which makes sense since this hard drive was from a previous computer I had that died on me years ago and this was actually the secondary hard drive for that system. Nothing on my case says anything about "SD"...maybe i'm not looking hard enough though.

Also, right clicking My Computer>Manage>Device Manager shows me "sound, video and game controllers". The things that are in that part of the Device Manager are: Audio Codecs, Legacy Audio Codecs, Legacy Video Capture Codecs, Media Control Devices, SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio and Video Codecs. Opening "Video Codecs" tells me that the device is working properly, and properties shows me several .dll files

Of course, the big problem for me is the square showing around my cursor when I switch a tab. A simple explanation of this.

Lets say I have a tab with a red background and tab with a blue background. When I switch from the red background site's tab to the blue background site's tab, any part of my cursor that is in the page field itself will be surrounded by a red rectangle for a split second once I change to the tab with the blue background site.

my dad's friend actually has a spare copy of Windows XP, so once he fixes my CD-ROM drive, he'll install Windows XP on my system, which will hold me over until I get a new system later in the year.

Question though: Will upgrading operating systems (2000 to XP for instance) wipe my information (my files and music and whatnot). If its a yes or a maybe I might borrow/get an external hard drive from a friend to remidy that problem (which is good because right now I only have 10.6GB left on my system and i'm not going to delete any of my decade-old mp3 collection nor will I stop adding to it).

[Byteman]

RE: Upgrading to XP from Win 2k= Windows XP Professional Retail (Full) Version or,
Windows XP Professional Upgrade Version

That is, you cannot Upgrade from win2k to XP Home Edition, you'd have to get XP Professional.

I should have posted this> In Device Manager, look under "Display Adapter" and post what it says yours is, pleasse.

[DocStrange]

Inside Display Adapter, it tells me NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Pro. I'm 99% sure that's my video card, alright.

I suspect the version my dad's friend has of XP is XP Professional, though and I think he already knows that 2000 can't be updated to XP Home.

I'm actually not going to be near my computer for a few days after Tuesday morning though (its this summer thing involving housesitting my mother's home...its needlessly complicated)

[DocStrange]

Looks it might not be a video card problem after all. It seems that when I lowered my hardware acceleration by one notch to fix this problem, that might have caused this set of problems. Which is interesting since I did not notice any of these problems until about a month of so after lowering my hardware acceleration. I abandoned asking the question at MozillaZine once I discovered this problem (not that first problem, but the one this thread here is about) was not exclusive to Firefox, but the topic recently picked up again and then this connection to my original problem, which I mentioned in brief passing, was mentioned a possible cause for this problem.

Next time i'm on my computer, i'll return my hardware acceleration back to its original setting and see if that fixes anything. I'll still have that original problem, but maybe i'll try to get a second way to solve it (or I might just keep my current problem since my original problem was extremely annoying).

However, maybe this update thing Byteman is helping me with might fix both problems.

[Byteman]

http://www.hannspree.com/US/product_...ors&PID=HF199H

Site for downloads for the monitor, the user guide is there, and a setup guide, etc.


What the problem could be, and partly as a result of lowering hardware acceleration, is an incorrect refresh rate, perhaps some other settings on monitor.....the Hannsfree type is an LCD and I would think it has an AutoTune feature..... it may be on the OnScreendisplay menu.....there should be one of the buttons across the bottom usually that select things.... then you navigate through the items and press a button to activate that function. If you could find the monitor handbook that would help you a great deal. I can also locate a downloadable one for you so you can follow that. Just let me know if you cannot get your hands on the one for this monitor.

After we are sure the monitor is set right, we can try updating the video drivers.

[DocStrange]

OK, putting my hardware acceleration back to where it was before briefly fixed this problem, and my original problem in Firefox that caused me to lower my hardware acceleration did not come back.

However, after a while, after I restarted my computer the cursor problem came back again in about 15-20 minutes, but went away again once I lowered my hardware acceleration down one notch again and then put it back to max again, only to come back again in roughly the same amount of time or so. Now its seemingly coming and going - right now it's gone, but it's probably going come back. This is just all so confusing!

On the plus side, the problem I originally lowered my hardware acceleration for is gone entirely and might have been for a while. Maybe something in one of the several updates in Firefox since then fixed that problem?

Bizarre.

I suspect that updating my video card could help me with another on-topic display problem i've had for a while. Look at my system tray here:

That AVG symbol on other computers is a pure orange, not this weird x-rayish orange yellow. The symbol next to it is the system tray icon for the last.fm client. It should be red. My current color setting in Display Properties>Settings is True Color (32 bit). If I remember correctly the other choices (high color 16 bit and 256 colors) were no better or worse. Would continuing to do what we're doing here with my video card fix that coloration problem or is that common thing in Windows 2000?

someone on MozillaZine gave me these directions to update my video card:

1. Download the correct, updated driver file(s) from your manufacturers website (if you haven't already).
2. Locate/place the updated driver files in a new folder. (Un-zip if required.)
3. Start > Right-click on: My Computer > Properties > Hardware (tab) > open "Device Manager". (Control Panel > System > "Device Manager") [This progression is for "XP", but should be similar on yours.]
4. Double-click on your graphics device under "Display adapters"; it's "Property" page is then displayed.
5. Under "Driver" tab, click "Update driver". A wizard opens.
6. [Check-box] "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)". Click "Next".
7. [X] Search for the best driver in these locations". [Un-check] "Search removable media". [X] "Include this location in this search". "Browse" to the location where you placed the "updated driver files" in step 1; and enter it; Click "Next".
8. Windows then should install the updated driver files; whereupon it will then call for a system reboot for them to take effect.
9. If, after possibly having to set things up again (such as "Display" options), you are not satisfied with the new drivers, "Roll back" the drivers on the "Property" page to the old ones.

So, Byteman, what do I do next?
Should I follow that? Where do I download my video card stuff? That Dell website? Do I select the "All OptiPlex GX150" default file? Do I change it Windows 2000 in the operating system field of the search results?

[Byteman]

Please download this utility called AIDA32 to your Desktop or other download location......

http://majorgeeks.com/download181.html




It's a .zip compressed file, you have to RIGHT-click it, choose "Extract ALL" and have it extract files to a folder either you create, or let it create it's own which will be named by default, AIDA32 and will be in the same location you unzip the download from, like desktop, My Docs, etc.

To use AIDA32, open the new un-compressed folder and look for the file, aida32.exe and double click that, it starts and will open in a window with a list of hardware and software categories. You will find lots of information in that.....but, what I will need is the text report it can make, which you will attach to your thread and submit with your Reply to this post..

I need to review what it will show, so give me some time and I will get back to you.

After Aida32 does the intitial run, up at the top, you can see a Report button- hit that, and then in the drop down menu, you should see Quick Report>Plain Text use that one, it will bring up a text report which will only take a minute or less.....when done, you MUST save the file> name it something, I like aida.txt..... then use the Manage Attachments feature beneath the reply space...... if you need a detailed explanattion on using attachments, let me know. It's simple: browse to the location, click Open on the text file, then click on Upload....when you see the aida.txt file has finished uploading, Close the Manage Attachments window, and Submit the Reply.

[DocStrange]

actually, I use WinRAR instead of Winzip. It opens .zip files.
For me to extract stuff I do right click>Extract Files... (i saved it My Documents)

Anyways, I followed you direction and after Aida32 finished loading I did the text report and I attached it.

To be fully honest, I have little clue what you just made me do
some sort of diagnostics thing, right?

I hope it doesn't matter if I had Firefox and Winamp running when I did it (I needed the directions to do it, and I forgot to turn my music off when I did this.

It might mention something about a CD-ROM drive, but that doesn't work (neither does the floppy drive, but really, who cares about floppy drives anymore?)

[Byteman]

Hi, Thank you, I have the report.
Yes, it is only a report on the hardware and software on your computer, just to make sure of what video and other components you have.


I have un-attached it from your post since it does show some personal info and I don't need it anymore. Most people prefer to not have them left attached and I do, too,

You do have a space-saving Dell GX150 and you do have the NVIDIA 16MB video adapter so yes, at that Dell site you can try the download but, it looks to be the original and may not help at all.