Strange: upper part of screen randomly streches over whole screen

[jackfreebale]

My computer randomly gets a small horizontal black bar (~80px) in the middle of the screen. It happens 0 to 3 times a day and after that you have to restart.
The computer doesn't freeze and you can still do everything, but the upper third of the screen is streched over the whole screen so can't really work and sometimes you are not even able to save your work because there are no shortcuts in the program...

It all happened after I upgraded my computer to a Core 2 Duo 6420 and Asrock 4COREDUAL-VSTA Motherboard with my old AGP 6800 and my Corsair 3200 DDR 1GB. Please help me.

I ve tried reinstalling graphic drivers, getting a new BIOS for the Motherboard, testing the RAM with Memtest but nothing showed any bad results. My graphic card worked fine until I got the new motherboard.

Before I always used Windows 2000 and since the new Vista is out I thought I should probably switch to Windows XP now.

I tried many different display drivers and now I use this one: 162.18_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe
Another thing I did was installing UXTheme Multi-Patcher 5.5.exe to be able to load other styles except for the windows styles, but I also deinstalled it and still had the same problems.

Is it due to same motherboard graphic card compatibility problems? The motherboard supports AGP and PCIe as well as DDR1 and DDR2 - could this cause the problem?
Have you ever seen anything like that? It also happens in games and other applications and if no extra applications are running. You find a description of my hardware and the running processes below.

Thanks a lot!! I really thankful for any helpful comment.

Jack


General Info
______________________________


Manufacturer : ZID - Standardsoftware
Mainboard : Unspecified 4CoreDual-VSTA
Chipset : VIA PT880 Pro
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2133 MHz
Physical Memory : 1024 MB (2 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )
Video Card : Nvidia Corp GeForce 6800 [NV40.1]
Hard Disk : HDS722516VLSA80 (165 GB)
Hard Disk : Hitachi (320 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4120B
DVD-Rom Drive : MX3217T SRT571N SCSI CdRom Device
Monitor Type : Idek Iiyama PLE431 - 17 inches
Network Card : VT82C570 MV IDE Controller VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2
DirectX : Version 9.0c (February 2006)

Display
______________________________

Number of monitor : 1
Monitor Type : Idek Iiyama PLE431
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Current Display : 1280x1024 pixels at 75 Hz in True Colors (32-bit)
OpenGL : Yes
GDI Plus : Yes

Memory
______________________________


General Information :
DIMM0 (RAS 1, RAS 0) : 512 (Double Bank)
DIMM1 (RAS 3, RAS 2) : 512 (Double Bank)

Information SPD EEPROM (DIMM1) :
Manufacturer : Corsair
Part Number : VS512MB400
Serial Number : Unspecified
Type : DDR-SDRAM PC-3200 (200 MHz) - [DDR-400]
Size : 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)
Module Buffered : No
Module Registered : No
Module EPP : No
Width : 64-bit
Error Correction Capability : No
Max. Burst Length : 8
Refresh : Reduced (.5x)7.8 µs, Self Refresh
Voltage : SSTL 2.5v
Prefetch Buffer : 2-bit
Manufacture : Week 0 of 2000
Supported Frequencies : 200 MHz
CAS Latency (tCL) : 2.5 clocks @200 MHz
RAS to CAS (tRCD) : 3 clocks @200 MHz
RAS Precharge (tRP) : 3 clocks @200 MHz
Cycle Time (tRAS) : 8 clocks @200 MHz

Information SPD EEPROM () :
Manufacturer : Corsair
Part Number : VS512MB400
Serial Number : Unspecified
Type : DDR-SDRAM PC-3200 (200 MHz) - [DDR-400]
Size : 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)
Module Buffered : No
Module Registered : No
Module EPP : No
Width : 64-bit
Error Correction Capability : No
Max. Burst Length : 8
Refresh : Reduced (.5x)7.8 µs, Self Refresh
Voltage : SSTL 2.5v
Prefetch Buffer : 2-bit
Manufacture : Week 0 of 2000
Supported Frequencies : 200 MHz
CAS Latency (tCL) : 2.5 clocks @200 MHz
RAS to CAS (tRCD) : 3 clocks @200 MHz
RAS Precharge (tRP) : 3 clocks @200 MHz
Cycle Time (tRAS) : 8 clocks @200 MHz

Memory Controller Information :
Memory Controller : DIMM, SDRAM
Number of connectors : 2
Max. Module Size : 0 MB
Supported Speed : 70ns, 60ns
Supported Voltages : 3.3v
Error Detection Method : 64-bit ECC
Error Correction Capability : None
Current/Supported Interleave : 1-way/1-way

Temperatures
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Monitoring Chip : Winbond W83697HF
Voltage CPU : 1.33 V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.39 V
+5V Voltage : 5.16 V
+12V Voltage : 11.49 V
Chassis Fan : 2311 rpm
Processor Fan : 1721 rpm
Processor Temperature : 33 °C
Processor Temperature (Core 1) : 28 °C
Processor Temperature (Core 2) : 25 °C
Mainboard Temperature : 32 °C


Running Processes
________________________________________

avgnt.exe C:\Programme\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avgnt.exe 32 Bit 844 KB 1468 KB
avguard.exe C:\Programme\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avguard.exe 32 Bit 11456 KB 64612 KB
ctfmon.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe 32 Bit 4060 KB 996 KB
em_exec.exe C:\Programme\Driver Programs\Logitech\MouseWare\system\em_exec.exe 32 Bit 4304 KB 1420 KB
everest.exe C:\Programme\Hardware-Test\EVEREST Ultimate Edition\everest.exe 32 Bit 15860 KB 13600 KB
Explorer.EXE C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE 32 Bit 21648 KB 13896 KB
firefox.exe C:\Programme\Internet\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe 32 Bit 18096 KB 9840 KB
fpdisp4.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\fpdisp4.exe 32 Bit 5052 KB 1800 KB
lsass.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe 32 Bit 6008 KB 3972 KB
mdm.exe C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\mdm.exe 32 Bit 2444 KB 796 KB
nvsvc32.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe 32 Bit 4100 KB 2516 KB
onlineeye.exe C:\programme\internet\onlineeye pro\onlineeye.exe 32 Bit 7676 KB 3060 KB
RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE 32 Bit 3916 KB 2356 KB
sched.exe C:\Programme\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\sched.exe 32 Bit 4480 KB 1748 KB
services.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe 32 Bit 4724 KB 2096 KB
SLEE503.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\SLEE503.exe 32 Bit 920 KB 268 KB
SmartDoctor.exe C:\Programme\Driver Programs\ASUS SmartDoctor\SmartDoctor.exe 32 Bit 13272 KB 9516 KB
smc.exe C:\Programme\Security\SygatePF\smc.exe 32 Bit 7904 KB 13264 KB
smss.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe 32 Bit 392 KB 164 KB
spoolsv.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe 32 Bit 5624 KB 3680 KB
svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe 32 Bit 5012 KB 3124 KB
svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe 32 Bit 25612 KB 17660 KB
taskmgr.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe 32 Bit 1652 KB 1396 KB
trap.exe C:\Programme\Programs\PC-Zeit\trap.exe 32 Bit 2304 KB 572 KB
type32.exe C:\Programme\Microsoft IntelliType Pro\type32.exe 32 Bit 4716 KB 2928 KB
winlogon.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe 32 Bit 3652 KB 6256 KB
wuauclt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe 32 Bit 9848 KB 7240 KB

 

[Creig]

The only time I've ever heard of problems like that, the monitor was faulty.

But you could try removing your video card, checking to make sure the heatsink is making good contact and reinserting it. After rebooting, double-check your video card to see that the fan is spinning properly.

Also, remove the cable from monitor/video card and swap ends (ie - the connector that was previously attached to the monitor is now attached to the video card). Are you using a DSUB connector or DVI? If your monitor/video card support both, try using the other connection.

 

[jackfreebale]

Thanks for the comment on the monitor - I will check that and try another one.

I will also remove the headsink but I think it should be ok because the temps are around 50 and they are measured on the gpu. The fan is also working fine.
I tried both DVI with and adapter and the D-Sub connector - same problem. Could it be the cable?

Oh yeah my graphic card is a Asus V9999/TD 128MB 6800 (if the manufacturer plays a role)

 

[Creig]

As long as your GPU temps are okay, you shouldn't need to remove your HSF. I guess I was more suggesting you simply look at it and maybe wiggle it a little just to make sure it isn't hanging loose on the GPU. Removing your HSF could void your warranty if your card is still covered by one.

It's possible the cable or connector is causing the problem if there is a weak pin or wire. Doesn't your Iiyama Pro Lite E431 have both a DSUB and DVI-D connector? If you have access to one, try using a DVI cable instead. Since you've already determined that the problem exists using both outputs on the video card, using a DVI cable will tell you whether or not it's your VGA cable causing the problem. If the problem still exists while using the DVI cable, you will have narrowed the problem down to the video card or the monitor.

 

[jackfreebale]

I have tried another monitor now and I connected it while the problem existed and it was the same on the other monitor. I used another VGA cable, so it can't be the cable.
Afew other infos: if it happens in games I can press ALT-SHIFT and switch to the windows environment and for some games it is okay afterwards. Also if I put the computer in a standby state it works afterwards.

Could it be the motherboard now or is this some problem of the video card memory? Because the graphic card was working fine before I assumed it's probably due to some incompatibility with the ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA and it's AGP/PCI-E architecture.

Please help me if anybody has experience with this board.