Possible AGP Chipset Issue?

[Somniferum]

Originally posted this in the Video forum, but now I'm thinking it's really a mobo issue.

Ever since I replaced my P4 mobo+CPU with the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 and AMD3500+, I have been experiencing random video resets. What I mean is, my monitor will "click" and lose the signal for a milisecond, and then come right back on as before -- just like when changing video resolutions. No damage done, but it can be quite annoying. This happens both in games and also just sitting at the desktop or surfing. Timing seems random ... sometimes it will happen several times in a row, sometimes not at all for several hours.

This happens whether I am overclocking the CPU and/or video card, or running both at stock speeds. I don't think it's the vid card because I never had this problem with my previous mobo + the same card. ASRock AGP chipset maybe?

When I first installed XP with the new mobo, I installed the ASRock AGP driver that comes on the CD with the mobo. Because of a different issue I was having (which turned out to be unrelated), I quickly uninstalled that and installed the ULi Integrated 2.1 driver instead, in this order:

1) Uninstall Forceware drivers
2) Uninstall ASRock AGP driver
3) Reboot
4) Install ULi Integrated AGP driver
5) Install Forceware drivers

Unfortunately Driver Cleaner does not clean out ASRock/ULi files, or I would try that. I'm running the Forceware 81.95 vid drivers btw.

I have a 21" CRT monitor, ViewSonic A110. I have had some problems getting ViewSonic's monitor driver to "stick", possibly because it's not WHQL Certified. Sometimes XP will sneakily revert to Default Monitor without telling me. Not sure if this is related to the above problem though, since the "resets" seem to occur regardless of which monitor driver is active at the moment.

Anyone ever seen this problem? Any troubleshooting ideas?

 

[OdiN]

I bet that it's the monitor going out. The "click" is the monitor losing power, coming back on, etc. This type of thing happening randomly is typical of a dying monitor.

Turn off your computer and leave it off. Turn on the monitor and let it run (I'm hoping it has a check signal cable test that will run for a while) and see if the monitor will do it there too.

 

[WT]

I bet that it's the monitor going out.

:beer:

Good call .... sad to say, but Odin is probably right.

 

[Somniferum]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I bet that it's the monitor going out. The "click" is the monitor losing power, coming back on, etc. This type of thing happening randomly is typical of a dying monitor.

Turn off your computer and leave it off. Turn on the monitor and let it run (I'm hoping it has a check signal cable test that will run for a while) and see if the monitor will do it there too.

Interesting ... I'll try that when I get home from work.

If it's actually the monitor, then I finally have a reason to buy an LCD display ... so all is not lost.

Thanks for the suggestion -- for some reason I never even considered the monitor. That's the great thing about these forums.

 

[Somniferum]

Well I tried turning off the computer and letting the monitor run, but unfortunately it just cuts off immediately without a signal. However, I do have an older monitor lying around, so I decided to hook that one up and see if I still had the problem.

Lo and behold, 6 hours later, the other monitor just did the "reset" thing. So I think we can conclude it wasn't the monitor.

Damn, and I almost had my LCD picked out.

Any other ideas?

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Somniferum
Well I tried turning off the computer and letting the monitor run, but unfortunately it just cuts off immediately without a signal. However, I do have an older monitor lying around, so I decided to hook that one up and see if I still had the problem.

Lo and behold, 6 hours later, the other monitor just did the "reset" thing. So I think we can conclude it wasn't the monitor.

Damn, and I almost had my LCD picked out.

Any other ideas?

Buy an LCD anyway

But...seriously...I have never seen that be caused by a video card. Do you have another video card you can test?

It could be a problem with your power cord or surge protector that it's plugged into.

Other than that I don't have much clue.

 

[ValJP]

I had a 19" CRT that randomly "reset" the video display, with a loud click each time.
It progressively got worse over time, happening more often.
It was a good CRT, no problems in 4 years... but put a 17" LCD in its place and havent had a refresh issue ever. The LCD does an auto adjust or two at bootup, once usually... then never flickers or does anything after that, just runs perfectly.

I would agree with Odin, but if youve tested a known good monitor, then Im not sure.
Also might want to check the power cord and change the wall outlet or surge protector slot...(plug it into a different outlet, use a different power cord).

If all of that still produces resets, then yes, it would have to be video card.... but im not sure what it would be on the card.