Funky screen display

[unnamedplayer]

Hey guys, I was hoping for a little help. Here's the deal:

I have this relatively new computer that was built not too long ago. Lately there has been these horizontal and vertical bars that just cover the screen, making it impossible to do any work and requiring a shutdown/reboot. Now I'm wondering what could be causing this?

I thought it was a heat issue at first. But, it seems to usually happen in the morning right when the computer is turned on for the first time of the day (it is off for the whole night) and it seems that throughout the rest of the day this doesn't happen.

Then I thought maybe its the video card. However, the video is integrated in the mobo so I'm doubting thats it.

My current thinking is perhaps its the monitor. It is a refurbed LCD. So, I have replaced it a working CRT.

My question is what do you guys think? Am I on the right track or should I be looking at something else?

One final note: I know that this computer has had its hard drive replaced not too long ago and this supposedly never happened with the old HD, but I don't see why a change in hard drive would affect the video if it was installed first and then got a clean install of Windows 2000 Pro.

 

[AdamSnow]

When you replaced the LCD monitor with the working CRT... are the lines still there?

Does it appear to be on the monitor, or does it look like it's a software problem? (I know that might be tough, but try and be more descriptive... does it cover text totally, does it flicker, etc.)

you could try re-seating your video card... make sure it's installed correctly if it appears to be hardware... or even change the drivers for the video card and make sure everything is okay at that end... Without a little more information it's hard to diagnose this without seeing it...

 

[unnamedplayer]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't had a chance to look at the computer yet today so I don't know how it is. I know at the end of the day yesterday that when I turned it on with the CRT it was fine (however, I also shut down and restarted with the LCD before replacing it to see if it would happen again and it was fine as well).

As for reseating the video card, I mentioned that it is part of the motherboard. That's why I'm doubting its a video card problem (I know it could be, but what are the odds of it being that if it is part of the mobo?) and as far as I know it does not flicker, just bars that cover the whole screen. I haven't actually seen this for myself as you can tell, I am going by what the user told me happens and trying to figure this out.

Thanks again and keep the replys coming!

 

[BadThad]

Did you try updating the video drivers? An easy thing to do would be to disable the onboard video and put a video card in there. That would at least tell you if it's the onboard video acting up.

 

[AdamSnow]

Originally posted by: BadThad
Did you try updating the video drivers? An easy thing to do would be to disable the onboard video and put a video card in there. That would at least tell you if it's the onboard video acting up.

Sorry unnamedplayer... I missed the part where you mentioned that the video card was on-board... In that case... try it with the CRT and see if that makes a difference, if not... update the drivers and see what that does...

BadThad brings up a very good point, that disabling the on-board video from the BIOS and adding a video card to the system... chances are this would fix the problem up right away, but there is a cost involved in that which you are probably looking to avoid.

Check the motherboard drivers and make sure you have all those installed as well before you go spending the money on a new card...

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: AdamSnow

Originally posted by: BadThad
Did you try updating the video drivers? An easy thing to do would be to disable the onboard video and put a video card in there. That would at least tell you if it's the onboard video acting up.

Sorry unnamedplayer... I missed the part where you mentioned that the video card was on-board... In that case... try it with the CRT and see if that makes a difference, if not... update the drivers and see what that does...

BadThad brings up a very good point, that disabling the on-board video from the BIOS and adding a video card to the system... chances are this would fix the problem up right away, but there is a cost involved in that which you are probably looking to avoid.

Check the motherboard drivers and make sure you have all those installed as well before you go spending the money on a new card...

Who said anything about a new card, just toss an old POS AGP or PCI card in there. I keep an inventory of old, working video cards just for this purpose.

 

[AdamSnow]

BadThad - 1
AdamSnow - 0

:thumbsup:

 

[unnamedplayer]

Well, it did it again with the CRT. I'm thinking maybe it is the mobo now and that is what caused the old HD to die?

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Well, it did it again with the CRT. I'm thinking maybe it is the mobo now and that is what caused the old HD to die?

This problem should be totally unrelated to the hard drive.

 

[AdamSnow]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Well, it did it again with the CRT. I'm thinking maybe it is the mobo now and that is what caused the old HD to die?

Updated the video drivers yet to try that?

Try everything free before you go assuming it's the board... it probably is, but what have you got to lose?

Then - Replace the board, or get a plug-in video card and use that... PCI, AGP, etc.

And no, a bad board should not cause your hard drive to fail.