Display Rooted Created 17 years ago2006-07-28 10:05:11 UTC by Strider

Seeing as i've had numerous problems associated with my video card, this comes as no surprise, but my display is now completely rooted.

My PC boots up with multi-coloured lines everywhere, and the view is all distorted/fragmented. As i'm writing this i can barely see what i'm typing, so excuse any spelling errors please.

It started when i restarted my PC, first it froze at the black startup screen when it was trying to detect IDE drives or something like that. So i turned it off, rebooted and the same thing happened, i've checked the wires and made sure everything that i think is supposed to be plugged in, is plugged in. With the exception of on group of wires, which i am somewhat sure is NOT supposed to be plugged in, that all meet in a small, black rectangle, that looks like it can be plugged into something. But as i said, i'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be plugged in, and has always hung loose among the many other wires like that.

My card is a Radeon 9800 Pro 128 bit, and i just want to know if anyone's had these problems themselfs, or knows if buggy visuals are related to something NOT being plugged in right. It's gotta be my video card, as what i see is happening to both my monitors, and also judging by the previous--although minor--problems i've had with my video card - problems that have been related to once loose wiring giving an error, and numerous software/driver errors that were hard to fix. I'm afraid this card is just falling apart on me, and i can't get another one, not for a very long time.

Again, if anyone knows what could be causing this, or if they've had the same type of problem, please let me know, i need this PC operational. I've cleaned out quite a bit of dust, and had a fairly good look at the wiring, it all seems ok, apart from that one line of cables i mentioned. I checked where they run from, it leads back to mainboard and has the two bunches of wires leading from two points, one labelled AUX-IN that goes leads to DVD drive, and one labelled CD-IN (the one that isn't plugged into anything). The loose line of wires has one black cable, one red cable and one white cable if that helps. And as i said they all meet in very small, flat black rectangle with holes on the opposite side. I'm not sure if i've ever seen in plugged into anything (it can be obviously), or whether it's always hung loose.

If i can, i'll post a picture of it sooner or later.

I'm going to boot down now, the visuals are starting to scare me. I'll check on my father's laptop tomorrow. Thanks in advance, ANY kind of help is appreciated.

I have a Radeon 9800 Pro too, and i had same problem with it as you describe.

The fan on the videocard has collected a lot of dust between de blades. So take out your videocard and get rid of the dust. That should fix it.

The heat generated by your GPU cannot escape because the dust is blocking it, so basically, your GPU overheats, causing strange colors and lines accros the screen.

If that doesn't fix it, then there's another problem.

I presently have a 9800 Pro too (my 7900 is arriving tomorrow :)) and it's, well, fucked. Always doing crazy stuff. I think I mis-installed the replacement cooler I slapped on it.

Try opening the case and blowing cool air at it with a desk fan. If it's still buggered after a while... well, it's more likely to be permanent.

Thanks, i'll try giving it a proper clean out, but i'm afraid it is well and truley fucked. Everything else seems to work fine though, so that's good news i suppose. ;P

I have a 9800 Pro also and this has ben troubling me...At first I thought it was the weather but it seems as though my fan isn't as efective as it used to be.

Games like Gmod crash if three players on my server do lots of stuff...Sounds normal but it never used to crash so much.

I often turn my cooling fan for hot days and place it next to the tower.

Sounds as though others are having a problem...Maybe I've got dust as well since I've never cleaned it since day one. We'll see because right now it seems fine (Plus today, it doesn't seem so hot.)

Hmmm..
I've taken the Radeon out and cleaned it thoroughly, there's barely any dust on it, just in little niggly bits i can't get too. I stuck it back in, booted it up and the problem is still there. I've tried disabling the Radeon through device manager to see if it IS infact the source of the problem. After rebooting, the problem is still there... does this mean my Radeon may not be causing it? I must've checked the wires a hundred times now.

I just want to clarrify to make sure you people know exactly what my screen looks like, right now there are huge pink bands running down my screen, withing the bands are short repeating lines of completely random colours. And everywhere else on my screen are random strokes of different colours. The effect is constantly flickering to different colours, sometimes i can see things somewhat clear, sometimes not at all.

I'm thinking now that it's not my Radeon causing this, games have always run as they're supposed to, this just seems to be a problem with the display itself... maybe, i'm don't quite know enough. I know it's not my monitors though as i've already said it's affecting both of them. And i'm also pretty sure now it's not to do with over-heating as i have a HUGE fan--as tall as the case--pointing at my computer, providing constant cool air to the entire interior of the case.

Alright, i've read up on artifacting errors and i'm pretty sure it's what i'm getting. What i want to know now is, why has this just popped up all of a sudden? I can imagine, due to the amount of dust i found around the GPU that my card was overheating rather nastily, and i have had some overheating problems in the past. But i've managed to come out of those problems quite well, the heatsink seemed to be baring most of the heat. It started yesterday, when i decided to restart my computer before playing a game, then shit hit the fan.

Try taking out your card and running with the crappy display stuff your motherboard comes with. That will tell you. Also turn down the display options in windows and see if that helps. Also turn down your refresh rate to check if that helps too.

EDIT:
If i only use 1 monitor, with the res down on 800x600, at 16-bit, with my Video Card disabled, it only artifacts during boot-up and in the login screen. So i'm just going to leave it like this.. no more gaming or any other high-impact work for me, atleast not until i fix this fucker up somehow.

try using ATITool to underclock your graphics card. then you will really find out if it is overheating. Using a massive fan isn't necessary a good idea, but you can also use ATITool to monitor temps. when under stress. Run the 3D motion, and watch the temps. rise.

[i] EDIT:

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I've got alot of things to check out now, so i'm hopeful i can finally get this bastard working the way it should. I'm going to try switching/replacing the power cables, as the Radeon's cables may be burnt out or damaged, and checking if everything is grounded properly, possibly be removing/re-inserting everything;

If a can sucessfully boot up and login then, regardless of artifacts (at the moment it just resets when i try logging in) i'm going to try using ATITool to underclock it 5-10%, disable some AGP properties or drop it down to 4x or even 2x I don't really want to experiment with this, but it's been recommended that i get into BIOS and up the voltage to the AGP +0.1V.

If after that it's still fucking up, i think i can safely say my card is ruined.
--- [/i]

Yeah sounds like it's worth checking out, (i already have ATITool and may have slightly overclocked it in the past, i think, though i'm sure i set it back). I've been reading alot of tech forums and there are alot of problems associated with Radeon cards and overheating, particular the 9000 series cards.

Some people have suggested removing the heatsink and fan and checking for damage, aswell as seeing if everything is grounded properly. I've read of cases where the motherboard itself was touching the case and shorting, sending increased electricity into the card or something like that. I've also read about the power cables leading into the Radeon may have become damaged resulting in electrical resistance fucking up my display..

The thing is, it could be ANY of many different problems that i just don't have the knowledge, nor trust myself to try and fix. I have a habit with some things to just make things worse.

I might try re-arranging and using some of the spare power cables, aswell. If that doesn't work, i may be forced to remove, clean, and re-insert EVERYTHING to try and isolate the problem. Otherwise... my card may just be permanently damaged, which is very bad considering i have no spare cards, and won't be getting a new one for a long time.

Pretty much exactly the same thing happened to me. I'm fairly sure the graphics card itself is damaged. Buy a new one.
If you don't have a PCI-E capable mobo, buy that too.

I can't afford a new one, and i really don't want a new one for this computer. I'm so sick and fucking tired of this computer failing on me, i'd rather buy an entirely new PC. But it's not going to happen for a long time.

Get a job, lazybones!

That's number 1 in my priority list right now. Even if i did have a job it'd be a while before i have enough for what i want.