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Screen goes to snow when gaming

L

Lmbrjk

Junior Member
I'm new to the forums, so I'm gonna use this template to try to keep things well organized.
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Troubleshooting starter

  1. Overview of the problem
    I have a graphics issue that causes the screen to go to snow when gaming.

  2. Full description of the problem and symptoms

    I gifted my old machine to my younger brothers to game on. However, when gaming, periodically the screen will go to snow. Audio still works, and from what I am hearing, the game is playing as it should despite the visual corruption. Alt-tabbing out of the game and returning it will fix the issue, however it inevitably happens again. There have been no display problems outside of gaming (for example, videos play perfectly fine). This problem happens with every game they play. It happens more often with some games than others, but they?ve seen it in Fallout 3, Spore, Dawn of War 1 and 2, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Warcraft III, Oblivion.

    The snow is mottled colors and brightness, relative to the scene that should be displayed in the game. Here is an example of what I am seeing:

    IMG_0697.JPG

  3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?

    It used to work fine. The only thing I changed when I gave them the machine was remove one of the hard drives I wanted and do a clean windows install for them. It's in a different part of the house on a different breaker, but we checked the line and it looks like the power at the wall is good. I am always certain to ground myself when working inside computers, and I don't think it's likely that I could have caused any static damage. The problems started happening a few weeks after they had been using it.

  4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
    It happens every time they game, often immediately after a loading up the game, or a save, or a new area. After performing the alt-tab fix, it happens periodically, apparently at random. Again, I only see the problems when gaming, never had any display problems when using the machine for anything else.


  5. I already tried these steps:

    I immediately assumed the graphics card was failing and contacted eVGA?s tech support and RMA?d the card. Unfortunately, the replacement card exhibited the same symptoms.

    After that I started running all the diagnostics I could find to see if there was another problem. Memtest found errors in my RAM, I individually tested the modules and found that only one module was producing errors. Removing the faulty module DID NOT fix the problem. I do however think that it fixed some data corruption in file transfers that I assumed was just my cheap external HD. I reinstalled the graphics drivers and a couple games to ensure that bad RAM hadn?t corrupted either of them, however, the problem persists. I also tried Hot CPU and Prime95 to see if the problem was elsewhere in the machine, but it passed all the tests without any problem (after I took out that bad RAM module).

    I contacted eVGA again, and at their instruction, tried the card in another machine. It didn?t produce the exact same problem, but it still showed artifacts and sometimes a blank screen at higher resolutions (1680x1050). I tried three different PSU?s all of which had stable voltages, with no change. I get the problem from both outputs on the card. I also tried moving the card to the secondary PCI-e slot, but the problem persists. eVGA RMA?d the card again, but the second replacement (third card overall) shows the same problem.


  6. My software:
    • Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP3
    • Antivirus: ZoneAlarm
    • Firewall: ZoneAlarm
    • This happens with every graphics driver release I have tried, currently using 190.38


  7. My hardware
    • Motherboard brand & model: Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
    • CPU model: AMD Opteron 148 (stock 2.2GHz)
    • Video card brand & model: eVGA 7900GT 256MB (stock clocks on core and memory)
    • RAM modules brand & model: 1GB OCZ Platinum Edition DDR400 (1x1GB Module)(I never did anything with the voltage, it's set to "auto" in BIOS, and the specs listed for this RAM say 2.6-2.8V)
    • Power supply brand & model: Rosewill RG530-2 530W (Also Rosewill RV450 450W)

Click to expand...

I?m beyond my abilities right now, I don?t know if there?s something wrong with the motherboard that?s causing it to damage graphics cards or if it?s just failing. I?m afraid to risk trying another card in case it might be damaged. I don?t know what else to do short of replacing the motherboard. I?d like to try to be certain of the issue before spending any more money. I do find it odd that the problem has been EXACTLY the same on three different cards.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts anyone has on the matter. Thank you.
 
Is your case well cooled? I'd open the side panel, angle a household fan at it so that you know the graphics card is getting a ton of airflow, and try the games. Sounds like you've tried the other steps I'd suggest already. Your power supply claims to have 4x 12v rails at 20A each... even if that is a highly optimistic rating, it should be okay for a 7900GT, but have you tried any other more respected brands of power supply? (Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, OCZ, etc?)
 
I ran Fallout 3 for awhile last night to get the card nice and hot, measuring temps with eVGA's Precision utility. With the cover on, the max temp was 72C. Cover off and a box fan blasting the card gave me 66C. When initially corresponding with eVGA, they asked me to make sure the card wasn't going above 80c (measured with their utility). I should like to note, also, that I experience the problem immediately upon the successful loading of most games, before the card even has a chance to break 50C.

As far as power supply, I have tested the card in my other machine that is powered by an OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU, which runs my GTX 260 flawlessly. I threw the card in there again today to double check, and sure enough I was getting the same error (worse in fact, I had the same snow effect hit the desktop a couple of times). This leaves no doubt in my mind that the 7900GT is bad, but I don't know if I'm just having bad luck or if there is something wrong elsewhere in the system.

Thanks so much for the advice!
 
Well, the only thing I could think of to try then, would be to RMA the card yet again, only when you get a fresh one, install it in a different rig first to test it, then if it works okay stick it in the intended motherboard, and see what happens. If it starts snowing after that, I'd say the problem is likely in your motherboard somewhere.
 
Yeah, I'll see if evga will give me another RMA, and go that route. Hopefully I'll get a definite answer that way. I'll be sure to post either way.

Thanks a lot, man, I really appreciate your help!
 
Couple more things to consider:

1) Have you tried reinstalling the video driver? (For that matter, do you have the newest one?)

2) Could it be your monitor? Have you tried plugging that into another machine?
 
Thanks for the reply, TemjinGold.

The answer is yes to both your questions. The problem has manifested itself on 3 different driver releases, the latest being 190.38. I also have installed it in another machine, where it also showed the issue, in fact, I was unable to play any games at all with it, as I could only get the screen to display normally when showing the desktop.

The default machine is running XP pro with an analog monitor, and the other machine I put it on is running Vista ultimate 64bit with a digital monitor, so I'm convinced the card is bad.

eVGA granted me another RMA, so when that is processed, I'll be able to find out if it was always just the card, or if in fact there's a problem somewhere else in the system that's killing VGA cards.
 
Well, finally got the RMA delivered. Threw it in a different system that has no issues, and the same screen corruption occurred. So I'm thinking eVGA is just sending me questionably QC'd refurbs. After contacting customer service, they said they'd start another RMA with no shipping costs and flag it for more thorough testing. They haven't contacted me again since I sent them the needed info though, so we'll see how it goes.
 
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