Graphics problems after win reinstall

[madmad]

Hi guys,

I have a weird problem that I've never encountered before and I've exhausted all troubleshooting options I could think of so I came here to ask for your help.

Long story short - I reinstalled Win7 pro(64) the other day, as I do every few months to "refresh" things, nothing new - done that hundreds of times before. Unfortunately after installing all the drivers and such I noticed that something is not quite right with the picture quality on the screen - the colours are off and quite bleak, not as "juicy" as they used to be. I have also noticed drop in quality of video playback - there seems to be a lot of noticeable pixelation and bad colour reproduction.

What I have done so far - reinstalled gfx driver, installed earlier versions of gfx driver, reinstalled windows(again!), swapped gfx card, swapped monitor - no joy!

Now, it's a fairly old machine (q6600@3.2, asus P5Q PRO mobo, 8gb ram, Sapphire HD 7790, 470W coolermaster PSU) and it's quite plausible something might be dying, but would it manifest itself in such way? Other than the bad/weird colours and such it feels as quick as it always has been.

I will very much appreciate any sensible suggestions as to what to try next as it really is doing my nut in and I'm very close to chucking the damned thing out of a window.

MaD

 

[inachu]

But did you install the OEM driver for that video card?

Many times if it is lets say an NVIDIA card but rebranded by third party and sold as OVERCLOCKED then you MUST MUST MUST MUST us their drivers and not a pure NVIDIA driver.

I've been down that road and using a pure nvidia driver killed my overclocked nvidia card. I think it was the NFORCE brand who also tweak motherboards. #neveragain
#nforcesucks

 

[Ketchup]

Check your video cable, or swap it with another one. Make sure the pins on the card, cable, and monitor are good and straight.

Try another monitor.

Does the pixelation stay with the image if you move the Window, or does it stay at the same spot on the screen?

 

[C1]

I am assuming that you do no OS updates after the install (as with time there could be some OS update that is cause of the issue).


I bet there is no hardware problem, but instead a settings issue. Begin checking at the BIOS level (available related video settings) then work to device manager (eg, check ata controllers, drive settings/attributes and installed drivers; performance settings, etc) then go desktop appearance area and settings then thru to your video cards installed control panel settings.

Bench mark your systems performance before you begin then at various stages during your making any changes using the built in Windows performance monitoring/measuring feature.

Ive had cases (actually more times than I care to remember) where a driver was really problematic to install correctly. Try installing the video driver different ways (eg, manually from control panel).

Oh ya ! Immediately after freshly installing the OS, ensure to install the chipset stuff off the disk that came with your MB.

 

[madmad]

Hey all, thanks for your responses.

Inachu - I did not install the OEM driver, I've always used latest Catalyst with that card and never had any issues with it, I don't think its factory overclocked anyway. Also, when I swapped this card for the HD 4550 nothing's changed.

Ketchup - I've already tried a different monitor and different gfx card - nothing. I will try a different cable tomorrow if I can get hold of one. And pixelation moves with the window.

C1 - I did update the OS(critical updates only) but I've noticed the problem before I did the update. I've been playing with different settings for like 2 days now

 

[inachu]

Also when installing a new OS always install the motherboard drivers first.


If after a fresh os install and you install video card drivers first then you are just asking for problems.

 

[Steltek]

Were it my system, I'd take a half step back at this point. Download a bootable Linux ISO, burn it to CD (or create a bootable USB flash drive) and boot the system with it. Then, do the problems go away? If so, your Windows install itself may be defective. If the problems persist with the bootable ISO, that would be indicative of a hardware problem independent of the OS.

Another thing - I know you said you swapped the graphics card and monitor, but have you tried swapping the video cable?

 

[madmad]

Were it my system, I'd take a half step back at this point. Download a bootable Linux ISO, burn it to CD (or create a bootable USB flash drive) and boot the system with it. Then, do the problems go away? If so, your Windows install itself may be defective. If the problems persist with the bootable ISO, that would be indicative of a hardware problem independent of the OS.

Another thing - I know you said you swapped the graphics card and monitor, but have you tried swapping the video cable?

Hi Steltek, thanks for your input.

I'm gonna try and swap the video cable today(as I only brought another monitor, not thinking about the cable), and then play with different OS.

 

[madmad]

Quick update: different video cable + ubuntu - problem persists. Tomorrow I'm taking it apart and re-installing the OS one last time, if nothing changes then it's gonna receive a hammer treatment and I'll buy a new one.

 

[Steltek]

Quick update: different video cable + ubuntu - problem persists. Tomorrow I'm taking it apart and re-installing the OS one last time, if nothing changes then it's gonna receive a hammer treatment and I'll buy a new one.

If the problem persisted with the system being booted up while using a live boot Ubuntu media, you have a hardware problem that is totally unrelated to your Windows install. Were it me, I wouldn't waste time trying to install Windows again until you determine the cause of the hardware glitch.

I'd suspect either the power supply or motherboard, given what you have done so far.

If you have a spare power supply, you might try swapping it out to start (Cooler Master isn't a brand known for power supply longevity). You also need to carefully examine the motherboard for any swelled or blown capacitors. It might even be worth pulling the motherboard and trying to start it up on a piece of cardboard to eliminate any possible grounding issues.

 

[C1]

Before re-installing, pull the system back a bit and wipe off contacts with a wet Q-tip of DEOXIT then reseat. Pay particular attention to:
- HDD connectors
- Video Card contacts and MB socket contacts
- Video connector contacts (from MB)

 

[ArisVer]

I'd suspect either the power supply or motherboard, given what you have done so far.

+1

 

[madmad]

Right, I've stripped the whole thing down, cleaned and re-built it - for nothing :/

I've noticed some anomalies while stripping it down though - one of the wires from the cpu-power bunch is badly damaged(almost cut - not sure how that happened) and the radiator on the northbridge is VERY hot. I can't see how either of those things would affect video quality but maybe they are. Unfortunately I don't have a spare PSU or a mobo to test(or much more will for that matter), so I guess I'll just give up on it and treat myself to a new system, unless someone has one last idea how to pinpoint what may be malfunctioning?

 

[inachu]

Buy some cheap wire at rdio shack of same size and use wire cutter and some shrink tube and you may be able to reuse the same clip for the cpu. Heavy duty case modders do this without any sweat and should not take a newbie more than 15 minutes to cut and rewire. As for your northbridge being super hot then you may want to buy a $9 motherboard fan or something like these: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...10.0....0...1c.1.54.img..0.10.530.a26nEjQtUFM



The fact is the air movement inside your pc case sucks. THe good news is this is super cheap to fix.

I would think blowing air out through the back is more important than blowing cool air in because this will force air movement.

How many fans do you have for your case?
I think it is the video card that is making things hot inside your pc.

Does your side door have a air funnel on it to direct it over the cpu?
If not then I would upgrade the power supply to thermaltake.

If your power supply looks like this

Then no wonder your pc is running so hot!

You need a powersupply unit that can also move air as well like this:

 

[madmad]

Actually this machine runs quite cool, that's why very hot NB struck me as something out of norm.

Look man, I may come off as a total newb but I've been building and OCing PCs for years, there's no need to post pictures of PSUs, although I appreciate your effort.

As for

Does your side door have a air funnel on it to direct it over the cpu? If not then I would upgrade the power supply to thermaltake.

I mean, really?

 

[inachu]

Actually this machine runs quite cool, that's why very hot NB struck me as something out of norm.

Look man, I may come off as a total newb but I've been building and OCing PCs for years, there's no need to post pictures of PSUs, although I appreciate your effort.

As for
I mean, really?

Yep no idea if you're veteran or newb but also helps with readers.