For the past week or so, I've been getting this bizarre problem with my video signal. I'll be using my computer just like normal, and all of a sudden it will look all garbled, like the attached picture. It looks like this until I restart. Here are the basic facts:

- this appears to happen randomly. each time I start my computer up it happens at a different time, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all.
- somehow, I was able to capture that image as a print screen. I'm not sure what that indicates
- I can still use my computer normally. Everything runs fine, I just can't see what's going on very well
- A while ago, this happened when I was in the middle of a game of GTA San Andreas. it happend several times. I could still play the game, but I couldn't see anything.
- I would blame the video card overheating, but I've got one these on it, and it never gets very warm when this happens.

Any ideas?

Other than bad hardware, the easiest test would be different drivers. You might try a slower refresh rate, or a lower resolution too. That picture kind of reminds me of a monitor that has the display settings to high. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is swapping the video card and monitor (one at a time) to test them.

- Bad video card RAM

- Video card has been overclocked and fried the RAM

- Video card needs to be reseated in socket

- Bad system RAM

- System RAM needs to be reseated into its socket

- System RAM needs to be switched to different socket


The very last thing is what cleared up a similar problem that I was having once.

If it were (just) the monitor, you wouldn't have been able to capture the corruption with a PrtScr.

I'm gonna say it seems like a video RAM issue. Try swapping out video cards. Heck, I'd just RMA the one you've got, if there's any warranty left on it.

I've had that exact same thing Dignan and unfortunately I had to replace my video card. I thought it was the monitor as well as it was a big ole 19" that had been lugged around all over the place. Not so.

I found one for nVidia cards called "TestVideoRAM", but that doesn't help in this situation.

I had the exact same thing happen on a new Dell Laptop. It would come and go, but even reformatting didn't have any effect. A nice lady named May came and installed a new motherboard and it was fine until the next time it needed a new motherboard for unrelated reasons. May and I have gotten to know each other pretty well.

Matthew

What kind/model video card do you have? How long ago did you buy it? How high is it clocked right now (engine/memory)?

You're definitely seeing memory corruption. It's not necessarily something permanent. What you describe (ok picture then bad) indicates possible thermal issue or driver issue. Check also your FastWrite settings using the control panel. You're using an ATI card right? Check that SMART-GART thing too.

Bruno

I have a similar thing going on with a Matrox G400 on my fileserver. If I compile my kernel with Framebuffer support, that garbleness happens. If I don't compile that in, its fine. Not tried running X, and it doesn't matter to me that much anyway.

I'm impressed that you managed to take a screenshot!

Yes, it's ATI. I have a 9700 AIW card. The only thing I've done to it is put this HSF on it, but I did that like...two years ago? I've had the card for about three or four years. How do I check how high the memory is clocked? I didn't change it, that's for sure.

I'm not sure I know what those FastWrite or SMART-GART settings are. It's possible that this could be another problem: I let Windows install the drivers for the card when I upgraded to XP. I did this because in the past, the Windows ATI drivers have caused more problems then they've solved.

I have the exact same problem (ATI AIW 9700pro). Unfortunately, I never got it fixed. The problem started with Windows XP service pack 2... they apparently changed how the UART memory manager worked and it seems to totally break systems with AMD processors + AGP based video cards. I tried getting linux to work and it had the same problem (with accellerated grafics). ATI and MS both suggest downloading the latest BIOS firmware and then applying the latest ATI grafic card drivers. It very well could be bad system memory (i've tried memory checks), but I blame Win SP2... I havn't bothered with swapping out the memory, with prices nowadays, it might be worth trying...

So, If you ever resolve this, let me know, I'd be interetsed... (because now I can't seem to get any AGP grafics card to work)

FYI, I have a ASUS Dragon Ultra motherboard...

Wow, I think we have similar systems! I've got an ASUS A7N8X, AMD 2100+, and ATI AIW 9700 running XP SP2. Given that this never happened once on Win2K, and started shortly after I installed XP, this also sounds like a possible cause. I've already updated my BIOS for something else, so I have the latest version of that. I'll try downloading the actual ATI drivers soon.

What's frustrating is that this error is completely at random. A couple days ago, it happened about 30 minutes after I booted my PC. At this moment, the machine has been on for a couple days with no problems. I've started feeling a little anxious when using my home PC, and that's not very fun...

CPUs can have their microcode updated but you need to reload it each time you power up the system. SP2 shouldn't be doing anything permanent...