Question

Garbled display in DOS and Windows

Asked by: mtech

The graphics display on my son's PC has a problem. All OK yesterday and no system changes then booted today and the display is garbled. The Windows splash screen is broken into bits in different parts of the screen. My initial thought was that this was a driver issue so booted into Safe Mode but this was as bad as it looked like there were 3 or 4 verions of the display all out of alignment with each other. Next I booted and wnet in to setup on the PC (as this is a very basic display) and found that there were lots of other characters displayed on the screen jumbled in with the correct display. The graphics card has a separate power cable and I thought this could be loose but it was not, I even tried a different lead from the power supply. The only recent change to the system was adding a SATA2 drive a couple of weeks ago but it has run fine since then until today. Had thought it could be a lack of power from the PSU (as it has the extra drive now) so pulled power to CD/DVD and IDE drive but this made no difference.

Any suggestions or is it looking like a failed card?
Martin

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-09-22 at 00:46:32ID22845851
Tags

garbled

,

display

Topics

Video Cards

,

Hardware Components

Participating Experts
3
Points
125
Comments
13

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. DISPLAYING SPLASH SCREEN ???
    How to display a splash screen(dialog) just before display of the main screen(dialog) ?? i am using ms vc++ 4.0. thanks !
  2. Splash Window
    Can you show me a sample program in creating a simple splash window using C?
  3. to PSU or not to PSU
    Hi I just need an opinion I have a 300W PSU in my AMD XP 1800+ 512 DDR 266Mhz Gigabyte 7dx+ Motherboard SBLive!5.1 G-Force 4Ti 4400 128Mb (Leadtek) 8139 RTL 10/100 Nic 2 * Fujitsu HDD (40Gb + 6Gb) Creative Labs 6x DVD drive Aopen 48/32/12x CD-R/CD-RW 1x 80mm Fan 1x 80mm PC...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: garycasePosted on 2007-09-22 at 01:08:27ID: 19940942

Almost certainly power (which you have somewhat eliminated) or bad video memory (i.e. a bad card, since the memory on the video card isn't reasonably replaceable).

If the issue is a bad 12v bus on your PSU, however, the test you ran wouldn't necessarily eliminate the PSU ==> you MAY have been drawing too much power and blown a 12v bus on the PSU ... in which case removing load now won't help.   The best test, of course, is to try both a new PSU and a new video card ==> if you have a spare of either available I'd try that [perhaps try a video card from a different PC].

 

by: chilternPCPosted on 2007-09-22 at 01:32:35ID: 19940981

garble characters on the screen - especially in the BOIS setup screen indicate the memory on the graphics card is damaged  (if it were just when windows is running then it could have been a couple of things) - but if its like with with just the BOIS running then the card has over heated and the memory damaged. -
adding another piece of hardware would maybe have sent the power supply over the limit and caused  irratic fluxuations in the 12v rail and damaged it but I doubt it.  maybe a chassis fan was disconnected.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2007-09-22 at 02:09:19ID: 19941020

try first reseating the card, and inspect it for burns.
if this does not help, i agree with the others : bad card

 

by: mtechPosted on 2007-09-22 at 04:11:40ID: 19941165

I have removed and reseated the card but this makes no difference and no visible burns. I will try the same card in my PC tonight and if I get the same problem then it must be a faulty card but if it works I will need to look at the PSU.

Thanks
Martin

 

by: chilternPCPosted on 2007-09-22 at 05:31:23ID: 19941360

the power supply won't cause the graphics card to malfunction - most cards would operate in a low resolution mode instead when it can't draw enouigh power.
when you buy a new graphics card - check out the power supply - I just had to upgrade my son's power supply to 800W - as I had to take into account all the USB devices and drives and disc etc..

does the motherboard have built in video? that would be enabled once the graphics card is removed?


 

by: mtechPosted on 2007-09-22 at 06:35:36ID: 19941500

chilternPC
No it does not have a built in video so will test it in my PC.

How can I work out what the power consumption is for his PC?
At the moment he has 2xDVD-IDE, 2xHD-IDE, 1xHD-SATA (but 1 DVD and 1 IDE HD are coming out tonight), graphics card and USB wireless mouse/keyboard, also the PC case has 3 illuminated dials on the front giving case temp. volume and something else. There are the ocasional USB device connected but not permanantly (i.e. iPod and Digital Camera).  I am not sure of the rating of his current PSU but I know when it was bought it was above his requirements at that time.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2007-09-22 at 07:57:32ID: 19941664

 

by: mtechPosted on 2007-09-22 at 08:56:23ID: 19941826

nobus
Thanks for the link - it looks like we have capacity to spare in our PSU so it is more likely that it is the graphics card. I did read on another site that ATI Radeon seem to have a very high failure rate when compared to nVidia based cards. I don't know what the truth is in that but this card was only just out of warrantee :-(

Martin

 

by: chilternPCPosted on 2007-09-22 at 09:08:52ID: 19941878

I agree with ATi crapping out - I have replaced 3 over the last year from various clients  I support - packard bell and compaq.

 

by: garycasePosted on 2007-09-22 at 11:06:06ID: 19942181

The problem with the free power supply calculator at nobus' link is it doesn't show power by rail.   The newer high-wattage video cards tend to use a LOT of 12v power ==> so you can use well under the rated PSU wattage; but still be overloading the 12v rail.   There's a "Pro" version at that link that also shows the power requirements by rail => although I agree your problem is most likely the card; and you'll be easily be able to confirm that by trying it in your system (IF you have a large enough power supply for it).

 

by: nobusPosted on 2007-09-22 at 23:33:52ID: 19943647

it is no problem, you just have to pay for it

 

by: garycasePosted on 2007-09-23 at 00:16:20ID: 19943728

"... it is no problem, you just have to pay for it ..." ==> As I noted, "... the problem with the FREE ... calculator ..."  :-)   :-)

The paid version is fine --> that's what I meant when I then noted that "... there's a "Pro" version that also shows ... requirements by rail ..."

 

by: mtechPosted on 2007-09-23 at 00:26:53ID: 19943744

All
Thanks for your help - I tested the card in my PC and it gives the same error so we have ordered a new graphics card (NOT ATI Radeon!)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...