Black lines on screen on bootup

sometimes when I startup the screen is a mass of short black horizontal
lines and it isn't possible to do anything other than press the reset
button. The next time the pc always starts fine, however I really want to
know what is going on here before this develops into a terminal fault rather
than an occasional intermitant one.

My graphics card is a Radeon VE DDR powered by Ati. Any help would be
appreciated. TIA.

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 08:44:01 -0000, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "Bryan Henderson"
wrote :

sometimes when I startup the screen is a mass of short black horizontal
lines and it isn't possible to do anything other than press the reset
button. The next time the pc always starts fine, however I really want to
know what is going on here before this develops into a terminal fault rather
than an occasional intermitant one.

My graphics card is a Radeon VE DDR powered by Ati. Any help would be
appreciated. TIA.


Is this a,"Self-build" system.Even if not I'd have to suspect the
power supply.



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http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
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"Shep©" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 08:44:01 -0000, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "Bryan Henderson"
wrote :

sometimes when I startup the screen is a mass of short black horizontal
lines and it isn't possible to do anything other than press the reset
button. The next time the pc always starts fine, however I really want to
know what is going on here before this develops into a terminal fault
rather
than an occasional intermitant one.

My graphics card is a Radeon VE DDR powered by Ati. Any help would be
appreciated. TIA.


Is this a,"Self-build" system.Even if not I'd have to suspect the
power supply.


yes I built this system 2 years ago and this is the second power supply. I
replaced the original one with a 400 watt dual fan PSU about a year ago.

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 21:37:27 -0000, "Bryan Henderson"
wrote:


Is this a,"Self-build" system.Even if not I'd have to suspect the
power supply.


yes I built this system 2 years ago and this is the second power supply. I
replaced the original one with a 400 watt dual fan PSU about a year ago.


The new(er) PSU is a name-brand or generic, possibly junk?


Dave

Usually, this problem is due to the monitor and vid card being out of sync,
but not always.

I know the most recent catalyst drivers from ATI have blown a few monitors,
ATI says it's false but more and more complaints are coming in about claims
for lost monitors, however if it's on bootup this shouldn't be the problem
if drivers aren't loaded.

When you say bootup you mean when you turn it on? Or when you get into OS?
or what.
"Shep©" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 08:44:01 -0000, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "Bryan Henderson"
wrote :

sometimes when I startup the screen is a mass of short black horizontal
lines and it isn't possible to do anything other than press the reset
button. The next time the pc always starts fine, however I really want to
know what is going on here before this develops into a terminal fault
rather
than an occasional intermitant one.

My graphics card is a Radeon VE DDR powered by Ati. Any help would be
appreciated. TIA.


Is this a,"Self-build" system.Even if not I'd have to suspect the
power supply.



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

"anonsoc" wrote in message
...
Usually, this problem is due to the monitor and vid card being out of
sync,
but not always.

I know the most recent catalyst drivers from ATI have blown a few
monitors,
ATI says it's false but more and more complaints are coming in about
claims
for lost monitors, however if it's on bootup this shouldn't be the problem
if drivers aren't loaded.

When you say bootup you mean when you turn it on? Or when you get into
OS?
or what.

What I mean is when it gets into the OS. I can usually see the start button
and the mouse cursor but nothing else and the start button doesn't do
anything. The various screens with Windows logos as it boots are fine,
however this fault only happens about one time in 20 startups or even less.

The newer PSU is a Q-Tec PSU 400W Dual fan Gold see www.qtec.info

The drivers I am using are the ones that came with the unbranded Radeon
video card. I have dual monitors on this PC both show up as being AOC
Spectrum 7NIr although one is an AOC 7VIr and the other a very old
Gateway2000 1572 Crystalscan monitor.

"kony" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 21:37:27 -0000, "Bryan Henderson"
wrote:


Is this a,"Self-build" system.Even if not I'd have to suspect the
power supply.


yes I built this system 2 years ago and this is the second power supply.
I
replaced the original one with a 400 watt dual fan PSU about a year ago.


The new(er) PSU is a name-brand or generic, possibly junk?


The newer PSU is a Q-Tec PSU 400W Dual fan Gold see www.qtec.info I don't
believe it is junk. Most of the time this PC works fine. The fault is very
intermittent one startup in 20 or 30 perhaps.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 10:16:37 -0000, "Bryan Henderson"
wrote:


The new(er) PSU is a name-brand or generic, possibly junk?


The newer PSU is a Q-Tec PSU 400W Dual fan Gold see www.qtec.info I don't
believe it is junk. Most of the time this PC works fine. The fault is very
intermittent one startup in 20 or 30 perhaps.



It isn't the worst PSU out there, is pretty, dressed-up, but not a
very good PSU, even their 550W model is outperformed by a decent
name-brand 350W model. This doesn't mean we can assume the power
supply is the problem, but it might easily be. At the very least I
recommend you replace that power supply's rear fan NOW, before it
fails, as they are known to sieze and overheat/damage the unit,
because they use sleeve-bearing fans of low quality, like the rest of
the internals. At the very least I would lube the fan now, and again
at yearly intervals.


Dave


Dave

It isn't the worst PSU out there, is pretty, dressed-up, but not a
very good PSU, even their 550W model is outperformed by a decent
name-brand 350W model. This doesn't mean we can assume the power
supply is the problem, but it might easily be. At the very least I
recommend you replace that power supply's rear fan NOW, before it
fails, as they are known to sieze and overheat/damage the unit,
because they use sleeve-bearing fans of low quality, like the rest of
the internals. At the very least I would lube the fan now, and again
at yearly intervals.

Oh that's all dissapointing to hear - I was just about to purchase that
model!
What prompted you to suggest that the rear fan might need replacing? That
seems like a very acute perceptive diagnosis based on all the previous
info!?!

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:13:37 -0000, "ck26" wrote:

Oh that's all dissapointing to hear - I was just about to purchase that
model!
What prompted you to suggest that the rear fan might need replacing? That
seems like a very acute perceptive diagnosis based on all the previous
info!?!


I've owned and received PSU with same fans that siezed, they simply
aren't suited to a high-heat or long-term high RPM use. It's a shame
they can't spend the few cents more for a better fan, but a few cents
saved here, a few saved there, more profit for them.

Those siezed fans "might" work again after being lubed, but the PSU is
stressed from the heat if left running and it's low-spec parts
(especially the caps) start failing.


Dave