[Marz]

Windows Xp SP2
2x 512mb Kingston HyperX ram
Biostar Motherboard
AMD Athalon 64 2.4ghz
Artec 4x DVD Burner

I have been having graphical problems on my PC as of late. I think the graphics card is malfunctioning. Here are a few pictures of the symptoms.

[bonk]

It my be obvious to you the malfunctioning but could you explain what it is doing a little bit more please.

[Marz]

Absolutely, I had to post in a hurry because I wanted to install the new drivers for my graphics card. Windows tells me that I have no graphics card drivers installed so I cannot play 3d games. When I start up sometimes I get a message that states "Please attach the power supply to your graphics card" and it already is attached.

Picture 1
Do you see the red dots? Usually they are not there on a normal pc. They show up when I move files, download files, or run McAfee Virus Scanner.

Picture 2
Another example of the red dots. I outlined the the red dots in yellow and red.

Picture 3
In the ATI Control Center they have a 3d preview for your graphics card. I circled the problem in red. It happens all over the screen, but I decided to circle a portion of the car in the lower right hand corner. The graphics seem to tear or something and leave rectangles that have no graphics in them.



Picture 4 - the one above.
Once I installed the new drivers this message box popped up at start up.

[bonk]

Understood.....

Sounds like the wrong drivers....where are you getting them from?

Try uninstalling them in safemode and using Driver Cleaner Pro

Restart the PC and install the correct drivers for the card then restart PC.

[Frank4d]

If you are using a DVI cable, try a VGA cable. A bad DVI cable will cause spots and lines.

[Marz]

bonk, sorry if I am not making the problem clear. Go ahead and ask me some more questions , so you can properly diagnose the problem. I am using the ATI 7_3 drivers from their website.

Frank4d, I am using a DVI to VGA cable. Do you think that could cause a problem. I could use the ATI DVI adapter. I think the the AIW 9800 pro only has DVI out.

[bonk]

Yes I know what you are saying but clearing out old drivers can help sometimes and the last image you showed us tell you that the driver isn't installed or is incorrect.

Did the Video Card come with a driver...if so use that instead of the one from the website.


GO to Device Manager and look under Display adapters and see if you have any yellow warning signs.

go to Device Manager

To get to Device Manager click Start>>Run type devmgmt.msc click OK

Look down the list for Display Adapters
Click on the + sign to expand
Double click on your video card
Click on the Driver tab

[Frank4d]

I am using Catalyst 6.5 drivers with my AIW 9800 Pro. I had problems with some newer versions, though not red dots. I agree with bonk, it looks like the drivers aren't properly installed. Or you have a mix of old and new.

[Marz]

It does have the yellow exclamation point next to the Primary driver.
It says that the device cannot start.

So, should I use the registry cleaner then reinstall the drivers that came with my card?

Driver Date 3/2/2007
Driver Version 8.351.0.0

[Frank4d]

ATI has a driver uninstaller: http://support.ati.com/ics/support/d...uestionID=1447

Driver Cleaner Pro recommended above may also work (I haven't tried it).

[battlingpig]

it could be a drivers problem.. but on the otherhand it could be faulty. i bought a x800 last week off ebay as faulty and it showed the same kind of picture but a lot worse. So it could have been overclocked too much or not. i would take it to a shop so they can do some diagnostics.

[Marz]

I know that the BIOS has set the card at a specific clock speed, that could be a problem. How do I check the Specifications on my card?

I originally bought the card 2 years ago, so it is not overclocked. I'll clean out previous versions of the drivers tonight. I fear that the card will not start up though, because it has done this once before. The drivers crapped out and I couldn't get anything on screen without running safemode.

Could an old harddrive run the drivers ruin a graphics card?

[LyalinDotCom]

I had serious issues with red lines and dots flickering all over my screen. I decided to try Frank4d's idea and switch from my DVI cable to a VGA one and the problem went away!

Feel free to visit my blog to see all the details:
http://blog.lyalin.com/2007/12/red-l...d-monitor.html