O great tech-heads of Dasaria, heed my call

Octavius · Post by **Octavius** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:41 pm

I've got a big problem with the graphics on my computer, maybe you folk can help me out...in all my games and some web-based media players, the screen will be riddled with grainy flecks. Mostly white, but some are red or black...it can be better or worse, for reasons I can't figure out. How should I go about getting rid of them? I've tried reinstalling my vid drivers and my DirectX to no avail. Could it be that I don't have Service Pack 2 on this rig?

Kell · Post by **Kell** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:10 am

What card do you have?

Octavius · Post by **Octavius** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:12 am

Radeon 9800 Pro. Just cleaned it off the other day, so overheating shouldn't be an issue

skyde · Post by **skyde** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:20 am

I'd suggest posting a screenshot of the problem. If it was only movies and such I'd suspect codec problems...but since its related to games as well I have no idea.

~skyde

Octavius · Post by **Octavius** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:25 am

That's the weird part...I can't actually capture them. They're not in any of the screen caps I've taken.

Evelond Formos · Post by **Evelond Formos** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:30 am

Wash your screen.

Mon-da-oth · Post by **Mon-da-oth** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:32 am

Use Evelonds.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:20 am

Maybe it's your monitor.

dallbee · Post by **dallbee** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:57 am

Weird.

Yeah, it could be the monitor.
This might be a doltish kind of question, but the monitor is running at its native resolution, right (assuming this is a flatpanel we're talking about)?
Sometimes my monitor displays things very distorted and dithered if it's not at the prime resolution for this screen size.

Failing that, you might try firing up dxdiag in the Windows Run menu, and click the "Display" section. You'll want to test the DirectDraw and 3D acceleration options individually, then - provided neither fails - start disabling each of the other 3 display options one by one and try playing one of your games or videos again.
A little trial and error, and you might pinpoint the problem.

if DirectX yields no clues, my next guess would be to slowly throttle down the hardware acceleration in Windows.
You can get there via the Control Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced.
Click the "Troubleshoot" button, and start dragging the acceleration slider down from "full" toward "none", one notch at a time. After each adjustment, try running one of the problem apps and see if there are any changes for the better.

Lastly, if all else fails, grab a spare video card (or buy one from a local shop with no re-stock fee, 'cuz you might be taking it back after the tests!) and slap it in there.
It might be the hardware going South after all, even though you just cleaned it.
I've seen stranger coincidences in my day.

Hopefully you can get it working. Mystery display problems are one of the most annoying things that can happen to a computer.

--D

Stormknife · Post by **Stormknife** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:17 am

Change the color resolution. i.e. if you're at 32 bit, change it to 16 bit or some such. Sometimes that's all it is (especially if a game flipped a setting somewhere and didn't change it back).

Octavius · Post by **Octavius** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:25 am

I tried everything short of switching the video card(Don't have a spare handy), and nothing worked...this is gonna drive me crazy.

Eowade · Post by **Eowade** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:39 pm

Do you use a monitor extension cable by chance? Some monitors have problems when you go over their standard cord length but you can get some things that clip around the cord to help the signal. Also check the pins and connections to make sure they are clean and secure. After that I would suspect something on your card or monitor. Check the dxdiag then I would start with the cheap stuff like cords first then work my way up to the more expensive stuff. It can be hard to trouble shoot this stuff with out spare parts handy to test. I have a couple monitors several video cards and a few power supplies ram and motherboards laying around that I can swap out to test things but if I did not have that I would try to find a store that has a lax return policy.