[Celacia]

I've been having a problem with my computer for several months now (since April), and I don't know what else I could try to fix it.

Originally, my problem was that the fan on my Nvidia 9500GT broke and I needed a new card. So I purchased an Nvidia 9800 GTX+ (Axle: http://www.axle3d.com/eng/productspec.php?id=105). I mainly play World of Warcraft and the problem occurred while playing. My screen will freeze up for up to 30 seconds, I won’t be able to hear anything, then when my computer comes back, either there is graphical corruption (as shown in the images below) or the driver stops working properly (nv4_disp.dll stops working properly and the resolution and colors are low and I need to reboot).

I sent this card back and got a replacement thinking it was just the card. Same identical problem occurred. I sent it back again and got an Nvidia 9800 GT (MSI: http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=pro...=&prod_no=1873). The same problem has been occurring ever since.

Now with 3 cards tried, I contacted Nvidia and asked them what could be wrong. They boldly stated within the first 5 minutes that something must be wrong with the Motherboard (Intel: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...pboards/dg31pr).

Pursuing this, I contacted Intel and told them that there must be a problem with the board. They asked me to send in the board and that they would replace it. Got the new board, still the same problem.

Truly stumped, I asked Intel about the CPU (Intel: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=36463) and whether or not it could be the problem. Sent that in, got a replacement, still the same issue. They also told me the RAM I had might not be compatible with the board (Corsair: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590), so I purchased a new ram stick which they told me was compatible (Kingston: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ef=oss_product), still the same issue.

Now changed the HDD to: (WDC: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=254)
Then I thought it might be the power supply.

Original (DTK: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000...ef=oss_product)
Changed to this one (LC Power: http://www.lc-power.de/index.php?id=213&L=1)

Still nothing. Different HDD? : (Seagate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-451-_-Product)

Nope. PSU not giving enough amperage to the card perhaps? Tried a new PSU again:
(OCZ: http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...s_power_supply)
Still nothing.

My fiancé and I are really at a loss of ideas and have gotten very frustrated over this problem going on 5 months now. Here is a summary of the current parts within the computer as well as an online image gallery of some of the corruption being documented within World of Warcraft:

Operating System: Windows XP Home Service Pack 3

CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7300 (3M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=36463

Motherboard: Intel® Desktop Board DG31PR
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...pboards/dg31pr

Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT
http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=pro...=&prod_no=1873

PSU: OCZ 550W Fatal1ty Series Power Supply
http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...s_power_supply

RAM: Kingston Technology 2GB 667MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL5 DIMM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ef=oss_product

Image Gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/carrylea...at=directlink#

Here are a couple of troubleshooting points we can rule out right now (because we've already tested/tried them):

-BIOS, up-to-date
-Windows, up-to-date
-Chipset for motherboard, up-to-date
-GPU and CPU, not overheating
-Memory tested, no errors occurred
-Graphics card drivers, up-to-date and tried rolling back to several different drivers (as early as August 17, 2009)
-Several tweaking techniques of WoW's config, (such as openGL mode)
-Power outlets/surge protectors, tried setting up the computer in a completely different room even and a different socket within the same room
-Settings within WoW have been adjusted, making no difference
-Also occurs with no addons active within the game
-Also occurred within Team Fortress 2 (to rule out that it is a "WoW-only" problem)
-Switched to the on-board graphics card, the problem was gone for a few days, then occurred again

Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[schang626]

im assuming u already tried reinstalling the OS since you've changed the hard drive.
base on the assumption, i think it's a hardware issue??

have u tried using another computer by using the same ports and outlets?
ur computer basically is a brand new machine since u've alrdy changed everything..
try a different monitor too...

[Celacia]

Thank you for your response. I re-installed Windows several times and I also bought a new monitor. I tried using the PC in another room, same result.

I just noticed that when I take a screenshot in the game, the screenshot that automatically saves to the wow screenshot folder is always corrupted even if I don't have corruption on my screen. And, that the image copied to the clipboard (via printscreen) and then pasted into MS Paint is exactly what I saw on my screen, no corruption. I don't know if this symptom helps to diagnose the problem or not. But I want to be thorough.

Let me know if you have any other ideas, thanks.

~Celacia

[schang626]

try disabling the onboard video in BIOS

[Celacia]

I can't really disable the omboard video in bios, I can just check which one it uses, either auto, pci, pci-e or onboard.

[schang626]

are u using pci-e or auto?

can u check device manager? u can probably disable it there

[Celacia]

I tried auto and pci-e, both same result. I am currently using pci-e. Where in the device manager would I find it?

[schang626]

probably under display adapters.

are there any ! or ? in the device manager?

[Celacia]

No ! or ? and I only see the graphics card.

[schang626]

check the cables??

make sure all cables are connected correctly..
better yet... unplug everything and start from scratch...

[Celacia]

Didn't help. But keep those ideas coming.

[Megabite]

Does it only happen on that game and do you play it Online?

[Celacia]

It also happened in Team Fortress 2 and yeah both games are played online.

[Megabite]

What about games you have played Offline...do they run OK?

[Celacia]

I haven't tried to play a game offline. I will look what I could do and get back to you. Oh and I also installed Windows 7 on my pc, I'm very new to it but maybe there is something I could do with it.