Graphic Corruption, Is there a way to test the card without a second PC?

My PC has developed a graphics display problem. This is while running any
program including Word, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc. It will frequently
display a series of horizontal dashes and the screen keeps flickering and
turning black and then turning back on again. The dashes get worse if the
scroll bar is used. The left hand site of the screen is usually worse that
the right. The card is a Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 5700 Ultra and is not
overclocked. The monitor is OK as I have tried it with another PC. The
driver is not the problem as it no longer display the BIOS screen correctly
when it boots and does the same if booting a Linux live CD. It may be that
the card has gone bad but I would rather be sure before I buy another. Is
there a way that this can be tested? My other PC does not have an AGP slot
so I can't try it in there.
Thanks.

1. Wiggle the monitor cable.
2. Try the other port.
3. Reseat the card.

If 1-3 don't make a difference, then the card has gone bad. Dispose of it
responsibly.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"W" wrote in message
...
My PC has developed a graphics display problem. This is while running any
program including Word, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc. It will
frequently display a series of horizontal dashes and the screen keeps
flickering and turning black and then turning back on again. The dashes
get worse if the scroll bar is used. The left hand site of the screen is
usually worse that the right. The card is a Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 5700
Ultra and is not overclocked. The monitor is OK as I have tried it with
another PC. The driver is not the problem as it no longer display the
BIOS screen correctly when it boots and does the same if booting a Linux
live CD. It may be that the card has gone bad but I would rather be sure
before I buy another. Is there a way that this can be tested? My other
PC does not have an AGP slot so I can't try it in there.
Thanks.

First of One wrote:

Dispose of it responsibly.

Bwahah, such magnificent instruction!

Heed it on your way to the scrap heap!

First of One wrote:
1. Wiggle the monitor cable.
2. Try the other port.
3. Reseat the card.

If 1-3 don't make a difference, then the card has gone bad. Dispose of it
responsibly.


If you have an old crt monitor, make sure it isn't the monitor that's died.

Tom

'W' wrote:
| My PC has developed a graphics display problem. This is while running any
| program including Word, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc. It will
frequently
| display a series of horizontal dashes and the screen keeps flickering and
| turning black and then turning back on again. The dashes get worse if the
| scroll bar is used. The left hand site of the screen is usually worse
that
| the right. The card is a Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 5700 Ultra and is not
| overclocked. The monitor is OK as I have tried it with another PC. The
| driver is not the problem as it no longer display the BIOS screen
correctly
| when it boots and does the same if booting a Linux live CD. It may be
that
| the card has gone bad but I would rather be sure before I buy another. Is
| there a way that this can be tested? My other PC does not have an AGP
slot
| so I can't try it in there.
| Thanks.
_____

Intermittent problems are the most difficult to diagnose, especially without
a chance to swap components.
Suggestions:
1. When you turn the system on, does the problem appear soon after, or does
it take some time before it appears.
2. Does the problem ALWAYS occur at some time during a computing session of
at least several hours.
3 Does the problem seem to be related to system temperature?
4. Try safe mode. This will bypass the driver.
5. Try booting to the BIOS setting pages. Does the problem occur while
looking at various BIOS setting pages and changing settings (don't save the
changed settings.)
6. Borrow an AGP card know to be good.
7. Buy a cheap AGP card (a XFX GeForce 5200 128 MBytes is ~ $25 US.)

I would guess that from your description you give and the bad results when
displaying the BIOS screens that the memory on the video card is faulty (the
problem gets worse when scrolling and the problem is immediately apparent
when first booting. You don't mention gaming, Vista, gaming or professional
graphics programs, so you probably will be fine with an GeForce 5200 128
MByte video card. And your CPU might be the limiting factor anyway.

Phil Weldon

"W" wrote in message
...
| My PC has developed a graphics display problem. This is while running any
| program including Word, Internet Explorer, Firefox etc. It will
frequently
| display a series of horizontal dashes and the screen keeps flickering and
| turning black and then turning back on again. The dashes get worse if the
| scroll bar is used. The left hand site of the screen is usually worse
that
| the right. The card is a Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 5700 Ultra and is not
| overclocked. The monitor is OK as I have tried it with another PC. The
| driver is not the problem as it no longer display the BIOS screen
correctly
| when it boots and does the same if booting a Linux live CD. It may be
that
| the card has gone bad but I would rather be sure before I buy another. Is
| there a way that this can be tested? My other PC does not have an AGP
slot
| so I can't try it in there.
| Thanks.
|
|