onboard GeForce 6150 graphics: strange symptoms

Hello,

I just put together a computer for my parents, using an Asus M2NPV-MX,
Sempron 2800+, and 256MB of Transcend DDR2 533MHz CL4, running at standard
speeds. I'm using the onboard GeForce 6150 graphics with an analog screen,
but there's something strange going on with the graphics. I'll try to
explain in detail:

- Some text and borders around drop-down menus have a sort of green smear or
echo: vertical black lines with a lot of white to the left of them appear
blurred or greenish, the first few letters of every line of text appear
blurred, drop-down menus have a green echo to the right of them, 4 or 5
pixels wide.

- At first I thought the analog video signal was of low quality, but the
problems only appear with some programs, so it's definitely a problem in the
digital domain.

- In Word or Excel, when there is a file opened (either maximalised or in a
smaller window), the drop-down menus will appear normal. When no file is
opened, drop-down menus have the greenish echo. Simple one-window programs
like Notepad are always ok. The menu you get when right-clicking on the
desktop always has the greenish echo. Acrobat Reader always looks horrible.
I guess this indicates that there's a problem with programs that have
different graphics layers on top of each other.

Should I be looking at the memory as the source of trouble (it passes the
boot test, and otherwise the computer runs fine), the onboard graphics chip
(it would be inconvenient if I had to take the computer apart again and
return the mainboard), the drivers (they are the latest version), or driver
settings?
I have tried al kinds of options for the screen settings, but nothing seems
to change anything.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

Marc.

Me wrote:

Any help/suggestions appreciated!


How much memory have you allocated to graphics in the BIOS set-up menu?

Another Dave

--
change nospam to f2s in e-mail

:-)

"Another Dave" wrote:
How much memory have you allocated to graphics in the BIOS set-up menu?
Another Dave

I've tried different settings, but it doesn't seem to affect the problems
I'm having. And the computer is only used for office tools and e-mail
anyway, nothing 3D or game-related.

Marc.

it could be the graphics driver or the monitor.
You could also try changing the refresh rate and/or the screen size.


"Me" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I just put together a computer for my parents, using an Asus M2NPV-MX,
Sempron 2800+, and 256MB of Transcend DDR2 533MHz CL4, running at standard
speeds. I'm using the onboard GeForce 6150 graphics with an analog screen,
but there's something strange going on with the graphics. I'll try to
explain in detail:

- Some text and borders around drop-down menus have a sort of green smear
or
echo: vertical black lines with a lot of white to the left of them appear
blurred or greenish, the first few letters of every line of text appear
blurred, drop-down menus have a green echo to the right of them, 4 or 5
pixels wide.

- At first I thought the analog video signal was of low quality, but the
problems only appear with some programs, so it's definitely a problem in
the
digital domain.

- In Word or Excel, when there is a file opened (either maximalised or in
a
smaller window), the drop-down menus will appear normal. When no file is
opened, drop-down menus have the greenish echo. Simple one-window programs
like Notepad are always ok. The menu you get when right-clicking on the
desktop always has the greenish echo. Acrobat Reader always looks
horrible.
I guess this indicates that there's a problem with programs that have
different graphics layers on top of each other.

Should I be looking at the memory as the source of trouble (it passes the
boot test, and otherwise the computer runs fine), the onboard graphics
chip
(it would be inconvenient if I had to take the computer apart again and
return the mainboard), the drivers (they are the latest version), or
driver
settings?
I have tried al kinds of options for the screen settings, but nothing
seems
to change anything.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

Marc.

"BigJim" wrote:
it could be the graphics driver or the monitor.
You could also try changing the refresh rate and/or the screen size.

I don't think the problem lies in the analog side of things (cable,
interference, monitor, refresh rates...) because the problems arise only in
some programmes and not others. The symptoms look like analog interference
(horizontal colour smearing), but apparently they are the result of
something to do with layering images and transparency.

I forgot to mention that I managed to get rid of most of the symptoms by
switching off the fancy WinXP graphics effects for windows and menus; of
course, then the computer looks like an old Win98 machine :-)

I installed the drivers that came with the board, but I checked online and
they are still the current ones, so I can't upgrade. I haven't tried
downgrading yet...

Marc.

It sounds like corrupted GDI+ DLLs somewhere. You could try doing a repair
install of XP and then patch it back up to the latest level.

Do you have any other programs which add functionality to the Windows
desktop which could be interfering with the Windows desktop rendering (GDI)?


"Me" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I just put together a computer for my parents, using an Asus M2NPV-MX,
Sempron 2800+, and 256MB of Transcend DDR2 533MHz CL4, running at standard
speeds. I'm using the onboard GeForce 6150 graphics with an analog screen,
but there's something strange going on with the graphics. I'll try to
explain in detail:

- Some text and borders around drop-down menus have a sort of green smear
or
echo: vertical black lines with a lot of white to the left of them appear
blurred or greenish, the first few letters of every line of text appear
blurred, drop-down menus have a green echo to the right of them, 4 or 5
pixels wide.

- At first I thought the analog video signal was of low quality, but the
problems only appear with some programs, so it's definitely a problem in
the
digital domain.

- In Word or Excel, when there is a file opened (either maximalised or in
a
smaller window), the drop-down menus will appear normal. When no file is
opened, drop-down menus have the greenish echo. Simple one-window programs
like Notepad are always ok. The menu you get when right-clicking on the
desktop always has the greenish echo. Acrobat Reader always looks
horrible.
I guess this indicates that there's a problem with programs that have
different graphics layers on top of each other.

Should I be looking at the memory as the source of trouble (it passes the
boot test, and otherwise the computer runs fine), the onboard graphics
chip
(it would be inconvenient if I had to take the computer apart again and
return the mainboard), the drivers (they are the latest version), or
driver
settings?
I have tried al kinds of options for the screen settings, but nothing
seems
to change anything.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

Marc.

:-)

I did a clean install of WinXP after I added the new parts to the computer,
ran Windows Update, and installed the latest version of the graphics
drivers. I haven't installed anything special besides Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, Photoshop Elements, Acrobat Reader, Norton AV, Macromedia
plug-ins, QuickTime Player, Encarta Encyclopedia...

Marc.

"Sharanga Dayananda" wrote in message
...
It sounds like corrupted GDI+ DLLs somewhere. You could try doing a repair
install of XP and then patch it back up to the latest level.

Do you have any other programs which add functionality to the Windows
desktop which could be interfering with the Windows desktop rendering
(GDI)?


"Me" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I just put together a computer for my parents, using an Asus M2NPV-MX,
Sempron 2800+, and 256MB of Transcend DDR2 533MHz CL4, running at
standard
speeds. I'm using the onboard GeForce 6150 graphics with an analog
screen,
but there's something strange going on with the graphics. I'll try to
explain in detail:

- Some text and borders around drop-down menus have a sort of green
smear
or
echo: vertical black lines with a lot of white to the left of them
appear
blurred or greenish, the first few letters of every line of text appear
blurred, drop-down menus have a green echo to the right of them, 4 or 5
pixels wide.

- At first I thought the analog video signal was of low quality, but the
problems only appear with some programs, so it's definitely a problem in
the
digital domain.

- In Word or Excel, when there is a file opened (either maximalised or
in
a
smaller window), the drop-down menus will appear normal. When no file is
opened, drop-down menus have the greenish echo. Simple one-window
programs
like Notepad are always ok. The menu you get when right-clicking on the
desktop always has the greenish echo. Acrobat Reader always looks
horrible.
I guess this indicates that there's a problem with programs that have
different graphics layers on top of each other.

Should I be looking at the memory as the source of trouble (it passes
the
boot test, and otherwise the computer runs fine), the onboard graphics
chip
(it would be inconvenient if I had to take the computer apart again and
return the mainboard), the drivers (they are the latest version), or
driver
settings?
I have tried al kinds of options for the screen settings, but nothing
seems
to change anything.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

Marc.

Me wrote:
:-)

I did a clean install of WinXP after I added the new parts to the computer,
ran Windows Update, and installed the latest version of the graphics
drivers. I haven't installed anything special besides Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, Photoshop Elements, Acrobat Reader, Norton AV, Macromedia
plug-ins, QuickTime Player, Encarta Encyclopedia...

Marc.


That's weird. I've got that same onboard card in my HP Pavilion. You
could always try disabling the onboard video and get a separate card and
see if that fixes it. Speed might not matter much to your parents, but
when I installed a Nvidia 7300GT my score quintupled on graphics
benchmark tests. You can find these cards for less than a hundred bucks
if you're lucky. Making my computer 5 times faster playing games was a
good deal for that amount of money.

:-)

I've been thinking of adding a cheap Radeon X300 card, but the reason I
bought the M2NPV-MX in the first place was that its onboard graphics would
make the upgrade cheaper than if I bought a seperate graphics card, and I
thought the Asus name was synonymous with reliability :-)

Marc.

"spartacus" wrote in message
. ..
Me wrote:
:-)

I did a clean install of WinXP after I added the new parts to the
computer,
ran Windows Update, and installed the latest version of the graphics
drivers. I haven't installed anything special besides Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, Photoshop Elements, Acrobat Reader, Norton AV, Macromedia
plug-ins, QuickTime Player, Encarta Encyclopedia...

Marc.


That's weird. I've got that same onboard card in my HP Pavilion. You
could always try disabling the onboard video and get a separate card and
see if that fixes it. Speed might not matter much to your parents, but
when I installed a Nvidia 7300GT my score quintupled on graphics
benchmark tests. You can find these cards for less than a hundred bucks
if you're lucky. Making my computer 5 times faster playing games was a
good deal for that amount of money.

Me wrote:
:-)

I've been thinking of adding a cheap Radeon X300 card, but the reason I
bought the M2NPV-MX in the first place was that its onboard graphics would
make the upgrade cheaper than if I bought a seperate graphics card, and I
thought the Asus name was synonymous with reliability :-)

Well, as a general rule I think they are reliable. Hard to tell what the
problem is sometimes, but that's computers for you. Better to swap it
out and wonder why than get frustrated. Some guys seem to feel
differently, though.