TheJadedStoner

okay, so im a pretty avid gamer and aside from school thats what my PC is mostly used for. While im playing a game like World of Warcraft, City of hero's or Genesis Rising, for no apparent reason my entire screen seems to freak out. Lots of lines from the center to the edges of the screen, polygons of color and all of this is flashing really quickly. if i were some pill kiddie id think i was at a rave, but alas, i just want to game! i tried unistalling my ATI 9700 All-In-Wonder graphics drivers, and then renstalled the latest version, still getting this problem. It seems to happen at random, some days it works fine, some days it doesnt. The graphics card is pushing 5 years, so i know its kinda old. feel free to email me and i can send you a few screen shots i took while my screen was freaking out. i can also supply any other useful info on my machine. this issue is driving me crazy and im just not that savy enough to figure it out on my own.

thanks

TheJadedStoner

Attached Images

WoWScrnShot_021108_000718.jpg (571.7 KB, 11 views)

onewaylife4all

Is WOW the only game that has this problem?

MaianTrey

That looks extremely similar the problem I had with my GeForce 6800.

In my situation, the Video Card was 'going out' and it happened to me while playing CS:S. While playing, for some reason it would take a very tiny spot and stretch it to the edge of the screen. After the third time it happened, I got BSOD'd and then those lines that you have in your screenshot (the vertical ones) were visible 100% of the time. I ended up replacing mine with a GeForce 7600GT and now everything is perfectly normal (no permanent damage to anything like the monitor), just a little heads up if that ends up being the diagnosis in your scenario.

Computer_Doctor

Hi Jaded,

Hmmm....I would try a spare gaming video-card and see if the problem still persist. This could signal a failing video-card. I recommend try a spare video-card and see if that helps solve your problem.

TheJadedStoner

it Happens in WOW, City of Heros, Genisis Rising, and Fable will load all they way up, but as soon as it moves in gameplay mode, the whole computer restarts and windows "recovers from a serious error"

TheJadedStoner

fable is the only game that restarts the computer, all the other just bugg out

onewaylife4all

If your card is 5 years old, it may just be time to replace it. In my experience, the problems you are describing can come from video incompatibilities with games, I've had it with older games before. Make sure you have Directx9c as well as the latest drivers installed and working correctly. You can test some of the features on your graphics controller by using the Directx utility "dxdiag" by typing it into a run console and going to the "display" tab. Also, you may want to check the event log when your system says it recovered from a "serious error" and post the information if gives you here. Other than that, I'd say just replace the card.

zaknafein72

Yeah, sounds like the card is going bad to me. I might say that the psu would be having issues, but it sounds like you have had a stable system for quite a while, so sounds like a card on the way out.

TheJadedStoner

thanks guys, newegg has some awesome deals, im tryin to keep it under $100 budget wise, and mostly for WoW.... so anyy suggestions on a particular card?

thanks again

mattlock

We'll need to know your system specs, and what power supply you have. (Make, Model, Wattage, and amp rating of the 12v rail/rails)

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/...008/page6.html