Video Varies Between Blank and White Lines

[stampede96]

I have something I want to run by you all. I just received a refurbed Gigabyte (passive) 6800 from NewEgg today. I installed it in the computer (post-DriverCleaner) and started up. Right after I logged into Windows my screen started breaking up with white lines, unsure if it was my OC'ed CPU or the video card, I immediately shut down and returned the processor to stock speeds.

I booted up again into Windows. I downloaded the GeForce 81.98 drivers (I've been alternating between a Radeon 9600 and a GeForce 6600GT) and installed them. When I rebooted, I didn't even see a login screen, the screen was just blank, but the monitor was getting a signal.

I remotely logged in and took a peak. Windows did not recognize a video card (according to display properties). Under device manager my GeForce 6800 was listed under an unknown device. I uninstalled it and tried an older set of drivers (81.8x). Same thing. Even tried it again with a 77.x. Still no screen. However, if I uninstall all GeForce drivers, I can login into Windows on my desktop, Windows just doesn't recognize a video card. (Plug n Play monitor on )

Logged in on my desktop (so no drivers), I noticed after five minutes my screen was showing white lines again (like the old Nintendo cartridges). What would this be called anyways?

So I'm wondering, do you guys think I have a bad card?

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: stampede96
I have something I want to run by you all. I just received a refurbed Gigabyte (passive) 6800 from NewEgg today. I installed it in the computer (post-DriverCleaner) and started up. Right after I logged into Windows my screen started breaking up with white lines, unsure if it was my OC'ed CPU or the video card, I immediately shut down and returned the processor to stock speeds.

I booted up again into Windows. I downloaded the GeForce 81.98 drivers (I've been alternating between a Radeon 9600 and a GeForce 6600GT) and installed them. When I rebooted, I didn't even see a login screen, the screen was just blank, but the monitor was getting a signal.

I remotely logged in and took a peak. Windows did not recognize a video card (according to display properties). Under device manager my GeForce 6800 was listed under an unknown device. I uninstalled it and tried an older set of drivers (81.8x). Same thing. Even tried it again with a 77.x. Still no screen. However, if I uninstall all GeForce drivers, I can login into Windows on my desktop, Windows just doesn't recognize a video card. (Plug n Play monitor on )

Logged in on my desktop (so no drivers), I noticed after five minutes my screen was showing white lines again (like the old Nintendo cartridges). What would this be called anyways?

So I'm wondering, do you guys think I have a bad card?

One of two things, either the card is not getting enough power or it's bad. Does that plain 6800 have a molex power connector? What are your system specs, especially the power supply?

 

[stampede96]

Yeah, the 6800 has a molex, and it's hooked up. The system has held a Leadtek 6600GT and a X800GTO just fine (both with molex connectors). Here are the specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (stock)
MSI KT6 Delta
1GB (2 x 512MB) PC3200 Kingston ValueRAM
160GB Seagate Barracuda IDE
400W CoolMax PSU

The best part is, I never bothered to look at the reason for the yellow exclamation mark in device manager, but when I hooked my Radeon 9600 Pro back up, it now is under "Unknown Devices" as well, with an error code of "this device cannot start (code 10)". But at least I can still login to Windows with the Radeon on, even if it's not being recognized as a display adapter. No matter what I do with mobo chipset or ATI drivers that card is never recognized as a display adapter.

Not the issues I wanted to be dealing with a week before finals. Oh well, that's what I get for scratching the itch.

 

[BadThad]

Do you have any PCI cards in the system? Sounds like it could be an IRQ conflict. The video card MUST have it's own IRQ. Check the IRQ's in device mgr.

 

[stampede96]

Nope, no PCI cards. IRQs would be under the Resources tab of a device, right? (I haven't checked on those suckers since my 200mhz Cyrix ) If that's the case, the secondary display (also listed as unknown but with no problems) doesn't list any IRQs, and the primary display's resources tab is empty because the device has a problem.

But just to check, would IRQ conflicts cause the 6800 to distort the display? I really think it's just a bad card, at least last time that happened with a video card it was a bad card. That's my main concern at this point.

Mainly because I just loaded an old ghost image on my desktop mid-post and everything works fine (with the Radeon, took 8 minutes), so don't worry about the video card not recognized part at the moment. (not that I don't appreciate your help with getting the Radeon to work again, it's just more effecient to load the old image for me right now)

Thanks.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: stampede96
Nope, no PCI cards. IRQs would be under the Resources tab of a device, right? (I haven't checked on those suckers since my 200mhz Cyrix ) If that's the case, the secondary display (also listed as unknown but with no problems) doesn't list any IRQs, and the primary display's resources tab is empty because the device has a problem.

But just to check, would IRQ conflicts cause the 6800 to distort the display? I really think it's just a bad card, at least last time that happened with a video card it was a bad card. That's my main concern at this point.

Mainly because I just loaded an old ghost image on my desktop mid-post and everything works fine (with the Radeon, took 8 minutes), so don't worry about the video card not recognized part at the moment. (not that I don't appreciate your help with getting the Radeon to work again, it's just more effecient to load the old image for me right now)

Thanks.

OH! Well, you orginally said the old Radeon showed the same problem. You've just established the system is fine, no doubt you have a bad video card on your hands.

 

[stampede96]

Sorry about the confusion. The Radeon was an unknown device as well after the 6800 incident. The Radeon however, does not display the lines across the screen like the 6800 does. :-(

Time to RMA to NewEgg. Thanks again for the help.