What is causing this video problem? Dotted lines

[Rainman21]

I recently bought a used 7900gtx video card to upgrade from onboard 6150le graphics, I don't recall the dotted lines showing up when I first upgraded but just a while later and It don't happen all the time. Sometimes it will be in the start menu's all programs or on the desktop or on the web when looking at pics, they are not real bad or very many of them. I am just worried they will get worse. When they appear on the desktop I can refresh and they will disappear. I tried older nvidia drivers and still the same thing I ran a short artifact test but it found no errors. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's some screen caps.

 

[pt]

your card is artifacting, is it oc?
if so put at stock and see if it happens
if not oc, then lower your speeds, to speeds lower than stock and see if it stills happen

 

[von kain]

it might be from a high temperature too .. what temp you have(in Celsius please)

 

[Rainman21]

it's not overclocked and the guy I got i from said he never overcocked. The temp is showing 56 celcius with riva tuner but games run good and I don't see anything like this on them it just seems to be on still images sometimes or the desktop or internet pages.

 

[JrRacinFan]

It's a codec problem, try and find the latest and greatest codec pack on google. I would link it but I am not too sure if its legal to or not.

 

[Rainman21]

It's a codec problem, try and find the latest and greatest codec pack on google. I would link it but I am not too sure if its legal to or not.

Thanks. Is it a codec pack for xp or what?

 

[craigwhiteside]

try this

http://www.xpcodecpack.com/

 

[von kain]

it's not overclocked and the guy I got i from said he never overcocked. The temp is showing 56 celcius with riva tuner but games run good and I don't see anything like this on them it just seems to be on still images sometimes or the desktop or internet pages.

hmmmm just on pics right? it might other things i don;t thing codec..can say tough i have my hesitations

 

[newtekie1]

My guess is the generic 450w power supply.

 

[JrRacinFan]

If it was power supply he would notice artificating in-game.

Do you notice any random hiccups/slowdowns while gaming, Rainman?

 

[Rainman21]

It seems fine to me in games I usually play half life 2 and the mods thats made for it. I play it at 1280x1024 at high graphics but I can't really tell because of lag when I play online. Could the psu be the cause it says it has 24a on the +12v thats enough for this card isnt it?

 

[zCexVe]

No,Then in the games it would crash.Even while I'm typing this ,while browsing I get so like white dots,my VGA stucks due to a codec error.It has screwed CCC 7.11 drivers I think.(I usually am a video editor and a graphic designer,plays with lots of codecs).Remeber sometimes only reinstalling windows would fix codec errors.If everything goes bad uninstall codecs from device manager-->sound video and game controllers-->video codecs and try reinstalling them, each time with restarts after uninstalling and installing.It takes lot of time to find which codec is :S Or try Klite codec packs fix broken codecs and restore to default options.

 

[von kain]

those dots are static or moving? what i believe but im not certain is that might be an monitor vga (or drivers for vga ) problem like there is a compatibility prob

 

[Rainman21]

I was thinking of formating and doing a fresh install of windows anyway so I guess now would be a good time. It's not a hardware problem with the video card is it that was my fear?

 

[newtekie1]

If it was power supply he would notice artificating in-game.

Do you notice any random hiccups/slowdowns while gaming, Rainman?

Not necessarily, just because he doesn't notice them in games, doesn't mean they aren't there. Games are moving images, which can make artifacts harder to notice.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

I have had this error before was on a older x800xl. Only artifacts during 2d screens.

So this is what I found.
One of the pins is bent in the adapter. between motherboard and monitor
One of the Video Ram chips is bad.
Your card may switch from a 2d/3d mode depending on the application. Could be the clocks and voltages aren't high enough for 2d mode.

It has nothing to do with your OS install.

 

[Rainman21]

I checked the the dvi to vga adapter and I didn't see any bent pins. I ran an artifact test earlier for one hour and it didn't find any errors. Is there any more ways I can test the card to find out whats wrong. How can I tell if the video ram is bad?

 

[mrhuggles]

in your bios look for something like PCI express downstream pipeline setting, it should have enabled, dissabled, and auto, set it to auto.

 

[wiak]

overclocked ram, to hot ram can also be the problem, check the temps!
atitool will show you temp and meybe downclock you video memory to be sure

 

[mrhuggles]

overheating in firefox?

pci express downstream pipeline will give graphical corruption in programs in 2d, but 3d will be good, or if its enabled itl make 3d all broken, but set to auto should be fine

 

[Rainman21]

I didn't see anything like pci express downstream pipeline in the bios, maybe it's where it's a compaq. I've never overclocked the video ram or the gpu and the guy I got it from said he didn't either. Right now the idle core temp is 54c and the ambient temp is 47c using riva tuner.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

What sort of card did you have in before the upgrade to the 7900?

IF it was ATI did you uninstall all the ati drivers and settings?

I am almost sure you have a bad ram chip. One of them is either not getting cooled properly, or worse just ended up getting corrupted.

 

[DaMulta]

Turn off 2/d mode with ATi Tool and see what happens.

 

[Rainman21]

Where do I turn it off at in Ati Tool?

 

[mrhuggles]

i dont think you can turn it off?