Corrupted display with AGP AIW 9700-9800 card

Hello all:

I am currently having a problem with my video and display that has got
me ready to pull my hair out. About a month ago, I started having
trouble with my video becoming corrupted after a period of inactivity.
When I would come back to my computer (I usually leave it running) and
turn on the monitor, the display was just a mass of lines and colored
blocks.

After a re-boot, the problem would fix itself, but it would happen
again intermittently. There was no consistent pattern to the problem,
sometimes it would happen and sometimes not. That didn't last long,
however. Eventually, the problem got so bad that not even a re-boot
would fix it and the POST screens were also corrupted and unreadable.

Using my laptop, I went to the ATI support site and using the RMA
request form, described the problem and waited for my RMA number. After
receiving it, I sent the AGP AIW 9700 Pro card back to ATI. A week ago,
I received a new(?) AIW 9800 as a replacement. After installing the
card into my computer, the same problem occurred as soon as the
computer booted (but POST was readable, corruption didn't happen till
the switch to WIN XP boot).

I booted into Win XP VGA mode (which worked just fine!!) and downloaded
all the latest ATI drivers and software. After following the install
instructions to the letter, the card came back up after the last
re-boot working fine. For about a day. Now, I'm back to the same
corrupted display, but only in Win XP (POST is always readable so far)
and only AFTER a period of inactivity. It nevers happens when I am
actually *using* the computer and at least for now, re-booting clears
the problem.

I thought it might be the monitor not coming out of power down mode, so
I turned that off in Display properties. Didn't help. I also changed
monitors while the display was corrupted and it did the same thing on a
different monitor. The AIW card power connector is directly connected
to the secondary floppy connector with no splitter. One thing I have
noticed about the floppy is that every now and again on a soft re-boot,
I get a "floppy disk fail" error at POST, but a cold boot clears it up
and the floppy drive works fine.

I am not new to computer repair, but I have never come across this
particular problem. I have tried searching through the newsgroups, but
no one seems to be having this particular problem. The computer is two
years old and I built it myself (and it's not the first one, either).
This has only been happening lately, so it can't be a compatibility
issue, since the system has worked fine up to now. Also, I have added
nothing new to the computer, either.


Here are the specs of my system:

Win XP Pro service pack 1
Soyo SY-KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum mobo
AMD Athlon XP 2.1 Ghz proc
1 GB Samsung DDR ram
Two (2) Western Digital HDD in a RAID-0 array
Antec 430 watt True Power PSU
Audigy 2 soundcard
Lite-On 48x CDRW
Sony DRU500A Dvd multiformat burner
Viewsonic PS790 monitor
Two fans and one in side door (near video card) pulling air in
Two fans in back blowing air out plus the PSU has a fan in bottom and
in back

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated, since I am at
the end of my rope and out of ideas. Please respond here or via email
to (remove the second .com - got to foil the
spammers)

Thanks,
Mike

Power supply dying?
"Mike C" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all:

I am currently having a problem with my video and display that has got
me ready to pull my hair out. About a month ago, I started having
trouble with my video becoming corrupted after a period of inactivity.
When I would come back to my computer (I usually leave it running) and
turn on the monitor, the display was just a mass of lines and colored
blocks.

After a re-boot, the problem would fix itself, but it would happen
again intermittently. There was no consistent pattern to the problem,
sometimes it would happen and sometimes not. That didn't last long,
however. Eventually, the problem got so bad that not even a re-boot
would fix it and the POST screens were also corrupted and unreadable.

Using my laptop, I went to the ATI support site and using the RMA
request form, described the problem and waited for my RMA number. After
receiving it, I sent the AGP AIW 9700 Pro card back to ATI. A week ago,
I received a new(?) AIW 9800 as a replacement. After installing the
card into my computer, the same problem occurred as soon as the
computer booted (but POST was readable, corruption didn't happen till
the switch to WIN XP boot).

I booted into Win XP VGA mode (which worked just fine!!) and downloaded
all the latest ATI drivers and software. After following the install
instructions to the letter, the card came back up after the last
re-boot working fine. For about a day. Now, I'm back to the same
corrupted display, but only in Win XP (POST is always readable so far)
and only AFTER a period of inactivity. It nevers happens when I am
actually *using* the computer and at least for now, re-booting clears
the problem.

I thought it might be the monitor not coming out of power down mode, so
I turned that off in Display properties. Didn't help. I also changed
monitors while the display was corrupted and it did the same thing on a
different monitor. The AIW card power connector is directly connected
to the secondary floppy connector with no splitter. One thing I have
noticed about the floppy is that every now and again on a soft re-boot,
I get a "floppy disk fail" error at POST, but a cold boot clears it up
and the floppy drive works fine.

I am not new to computer repair, but I have never come across this
particular problem. I have tried searching through the newsgroups, but
no one seems to be having this particular problem. The computer is two
years old and I built it myself (and it's not the first one, either).
This has only been happening lately, so it can't be a compatibility
issue, since the system has worked fine up to now. Also, I have added
nothing new to the computer, either.


Here are the specs of my system:

Win XP Pro service pack 1
Soyo SY-KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum mobo
AMD Athlon XP 2.1 Ghz proc
1 GB Samsung DDR ram
Two (2) Western Digital HDD in a RAID-0 array
Antec 430 watt True Power PSU
Audigy 2 soundcard
Lite-On 48x CDRW
Sony DRU500A Dvd multiformat burner
Viewsonic PS790 monitor
Two fans and one in side door (near video card) pulling air in
Two fans in back blowing air out plus the PSU has a fan in bottom and
in back

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated, since I am at
the end of my rope and out of ideas. Please respond here or via email
to (remove the second .com - got to foil the
spammers)

Thanks,
Mike

Did you ever resolve this? I have the exact problem and can't figure it
out. -mike


"Mike C" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all:

I am currently having a problem with my video and display that has got
me ready to pull my hair out. About a month ago, I started having
trouble with my video becoming corrupted after a period of inactivity.
When I would come back to my computer (I usually leave it running) and
turn on the monitor, the display was just a mass of lines and colored
blocks.

After a re-boot, the problem would fix itself, but it would happen
again intermittently. There was no consistent pattern to the problem,
sometimes it would happen and sometimes not. That didn't last long,
however. Eventually, the problem got so bad that not even a re-boot
would fix it and the POST screens were also corrupted and unreadable.

Using my laptop, I went to the ATI support site and using the RMA
request form, described the problem and waited for my RMA number. After
receiving it, I sent the AGP AIW 9700 Pro card back to ATI. A week ago,
I received a new(?) AIW 9800 as a replacement. After installing the
card into my computer, the same problem occurred as soon as the
computer booted (but POST was readable, corruption didn't happen till
the switch to WIN XP boot).

I booted into Win XP VGA mode (which worked just fine!!) and downloaded
all the latest ATI drivers and software. After following the install
instructions to the letter, the card came back up after the last
re-boot working fine. For about a day. Now, I'm back to the same
corrupted display, but only in Win XP (POST is always readable so far)
and only AFTER a period of inactivity. It nevers happens when I am
actually *using* the computer and at least for now, re-booting clears
the problem.

I thought it might be the monitor not coming out of power down mode, so
I turned that off in Display properties. Didn't help. I also changed
monitors while the display was corrupted and it did the same thing on a
different monitor. The AIW card power connector is directly connected
to the secondary floppy connector with no splitter. One thing I have
noticed about the floppy is that every now and again on a soft re-boot,
I get a "floppy disk fail" error at POST, but a cold boot clears it up
and the floppy drive works fine.

I am not new to computer repair, but I have never come across this
particular problem. I have tried searching through the newsgroups, but
no one seems to be having this particular problem. The computer is two
years old and I built it myself (and it's not the first one, either).
This has only been happening lately, so it can't be a compatibility
issue, since the system has worked fine up to now. Also, I have added
nothing new to the computer, either.


Here are the specs of my system:

Win XP Pro service pack 1
Soyo SY-KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum mobo
AMD Athlon XP 2.1 Ghz proc
1 GB Samsung DDR ram
Two (2) Western Digital HDD in a RAID-0 array
Antec 430 watt True Power PSU
Audigy 2 soundcard
Lite-On 48x CDRW
Sony DRU500A Dvd multiformat burner
Viewsonic PS790 monitor
Two fans and one in side door (near video card) pulling air in
Two fans in back blowing air out plus the PSU has a fan in bottom and
in back

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated, since I am at
the end of my rope and out of ideas. Please respond here or via email
to (remove the second .com - got to foil the
spammers)

Thanks,
Mike