someguy519

Hey folks, thanks in advance for the help. I've searched through the forums, but haven't found anything related . . .

I built up my computer about 3 years ago. Specs:
Motherboard: Abit NF8
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2800+
Video Card: XFX GeForce 6800
Other stuff . . .

Anyhow, it's been working fine for the last 3 years, running XP, until one day I had the computer hibernating overnight, powered it on in the morning, and the screen was all buggy with video artifacts, the screens flashed on and off, gave a quick blue screen, and then the computer restarted. The closest example I could find of the artifacts is at http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifa...ardmemory3.gif

Anyhow, I couldn't get it to go away. I assumed it was some sort of virus, and it'd been a while since I reformatted XP, so I formatted the partition and reinstalled XP. I then made a 3rd partition and loaded Linux Ubuntu 8.04. In XP, I loaded the appropriate drivers from the CDs that came with the hardware, and everything ran swimmingly. Then, in Linux, I changed the Display Driver from the generic linux driver to the nvidia drivers. A couple days later, while in XP, the screen went nuts again with artifacts. I thought "oh well" and restarted into Ubuntu - same problem.

I can boot into Safe Mode in XP without problems. I can also use Ubuntu as long as I revert to the generic video drivers. I've tried updating the XP drivers with the latest version of the video drivers from the XFX website, but no help. I also tried slowing the AGP port to 4x, and also no help.

It would seem to me that, if it were a hardware failure, it would give problems regardless of safe mode, drivers, etc. And the boot screens/images are always perfect, too, which would indicate a software problem. But I don't know what else to do!

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks again!
Nick

dai

it usually indictes the video ram has gone on the card
try reinstalling the drivers first
in the device manager uninstall the video card
reboot tapping f8 and choose vga mode
when windows finishes rebooting
disable a/virus
install your drivers
reboot the computer

if no good can you try the card in another computer to check it

tecknomage

FIRST: Assuming your system is a desktop PC, why are you using Hibernate?! My advice, DON'T. It is really intended for laptops. In Power Options, in Control Panel, all should be NEVER; with the exception of turning off your monitor after a long period, and Hibernate UNCHECKED.

SECOND: Your post implies you leave your system on all the time. WARNING - If you leave your system on AND are online ALL the time, you are maximizing your exposure to malware (viruses, etc.). Even if you are ruining an antivirus and anti-spyware utilities, they cannot protect you from threats that arrive on your system BEFORE they know about it. It's ONLY after they know of the existence of a threat that the next update can provide protection.

FINALLY, your problem: Try this:

1. In Add/Remove Programs, see if your video driver is listed and remove it (don't reboot yet)
2. Use this to remove the card IF IT WAS NOT listed in Add/Remove Programs; Device Manager, under Display adapters, remove the card
3. SHUT DOWN YOUR SYSTEM and unplug AC power
4. Remove the card (if it's a PCI) or disable it in BIOS Setup if it's on-board
5. Power your system up and get to the desktop, Windows should have loaded the generic VGA
6. Shut down your system again
7. Reinstall the PCI or re-enable it in BIOS Setup as applies
8. Reboot to desktop
9. NOW install your card's drivers.

someguy519

Thanks for the help!

Since I literally cannot access XP in normal mode (it becomes nonresponsive and crashes long before I can do anything), I have to do everything in Safe Mode. To that end, I have tried removing the driver for the Display Adaptor in the Device Manager while in Safe Mode, and (IIRC) it doesn't allow me to do so. But I have updated the driver through the Device Manager to the newest driver that I downloaded from the manufacturer's website - since I can't access the internet while in Safe mode, I put it on a usb flash drive. The new driver didn't make a difference, but maybe I didn't do it right. It was the only way I could manage to update the driver, so please let me know if there's another method that can be used in Safe Mode.

I use the hibernate (or stand-by, not sure which) to save some energy when I'm away from the machine without having to close all my programs, etc. Plus the computer boots almost instantly when I return, instead of having to wait 1-2 mins for a full boot. What's the problem with Hibernate? Is it hard on the hardware, or perhaps cause video cards to fail :) ?

Thanks again!
Nick