In December of 2002, we purchased a gateway 700XL computer, got it January 2003 (yea yea, I shoulda built one, but I didn't really know as much about computer then).... fvking $3500 computer.
For the most part, the computer was good to us, until one day (earlier this year), I started getting horizontal and vertical lines on the screen. I wasn't too sure if it was the graphics card (9700 Pro) or the monitor... just my luck that both were having problems.
The 9700 pro was the cause of the lines on the screen. I took out the 9700 pro and put in an old Rage 128 Pro my friend gave me, and everything was fine. No lines across the screen at all. But the Rage 128 Pro sucks :-\. I couldn't even play Serious Sam on it with 640x480 resoultion. This is a P4 3ghz, 512MB RDRAM btw, so I know the system is more than powerful enough, I used to play it just fine on my 9700 Pro at 1280x1024.
So one day, I decided to throw the old 9700 Pro back in just to see if I could fix it, or maybe if reinstalling the drivers would fix it. Nope, same results. So I reach into my computer to take it out, and I feel that it's burning hot. I took and oscilating fan, pointed it at the 9700 Pro and then turned on my computer and lo and behold, there were no lines at all. But why after two years, would the video card just start overheating by itself? And can anyone recommend a good, but CHEAP cooler I could use for my 9700 pro? I'd really like to take out that Rage 128 Pro...
A few days later, the monitor would start flickering and turn off, or turn off whenever there was a vibration on the desk (if I dropped a stack of CD's from like an inch or two off the desk, the monitor would turn off, or if something bumped the monitor, it would turn off). I managed to get around this for a while by gradually decreasing the brightness and contrast of the monitor, until there was none. Sometimes I can still use the display, but it's horribly dark and still flickers and turns off sometimes. I did a bit of googling and found out that it might be the backlight inverter..... does anyone know if this is fixable? If it is, could there be any local stores that carry the parts needed? I prefer to buy things locally.
TIA.
For the most part, the computer was good to us, until one day (earlier this year), I started getting horizontal and vertical lines on the screen. I wasn't too sure if it was the graphics card (9700 Pro) or the monitor... just my luck that both were having problems.
The 9700 pro was the cause of the lines on the screen. I took out the 9700 pro and put in an old Rage 128 Pro my friend gave me, and everything was fine. No lines across the screen at all. But the Rage 128 Pro sucks :-\. I couldn't even play Serious Sam on it with 640x480 resoultion. This is a P4 3ghz, 512MB RDRAM btw, so I know the system is more than powerful enough, I used to play it just fine on my 9700 Pro at 1280x1024.
So one day, I decided to throw the old 9700 Pro back in just to see if I could fix it, or maybe if reinstalling the drivers would fix it. Nope, same results. So I reach into my computer to take it out, and I feel that it's burning hot. I took and oscilating fan, pointed it at the 9700 Pro and then turned on my computer and lo and behold, there were no lines at all. But why after two years, would the video card just start overheating by itself? And can anyone recommend a good, but CHEAP cooler I could use for my 9700 pro? I'd really like to take out that Rage 128 Pro...
A few days later, the monitor would start flickering and turn off, or turn off whenever there was a vibration on the desk (if I dropped a stack of CD's from like an inch or two off the desk, the monitor would turn off, or if something bumped the monitor, it would turn off). I managed to get around this for a while by gradually decreasing the brightness and contrast of the monitor, until there was none. Sometimes I can still use the display, but it's horribly dark and still flickers and turns off sometimes. I did a bit of googling and found out that it might be the backlight inverter..... does anyone know if this is fixable? If it is, could there be any local stores that carry the parts needed? I prefer to buy things locally.
TIA.
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