| Author |
Message |
Katy Robbins
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 3:57 pm: | |
I am looking for help on solving a video problem on a machine. The problem is random, sometimes not appearing for days, sometimes not clearing up for days. It often starts with garbled characters at boot-up - misplaced letters, some bold. Then small vertical lines appear on the screen. At times it boots fine, then suddenly the lines appear, screen distortion occurs, and acts as a mouse trailer, corrupting the screen. At times the video reads "Please check your cable". Also, the video driver's keep disappearing, and the system resorts to 16 color. Most times the OS doesn't seem to notice a problem. There are no conflicts in the Device manager. System specs are as follows: K6-2 450 processor, 64mg ram, VooDoo 3dfx 3000 video AGP, Win98se. I have made the following changes to the system trying to correct the problem: Replaced video card (It was a Diamond card) Put a new 128mg DIMM from my personal machine in. Replaced the motherboard, tried a different monitor, tried different power cords, Reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled the entire operating system. The same problem has continued. The check video cable error has, to date, not reappeared, but the screen distortion & corruption continues. All advice I have heard to date has been to do the things I have already tried. I don't want to put any MORE new hardware in that I don't need to - It is my mother's machine. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 5:15 pm: | |
hi
with everything you've tried i wonder if there is some kind of electrical interference going on.
are there any electrical devices set up close by?fans or maybe speakers (are they properly shielded for computer use) are too close.they can cause electromagnetic fields
have you tried setting up in a different location away from everything in that particular area?with only your case, monitor,mouse and keyboard?
just some ideas |
Katy R
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 5:35 pm: | |
Thanks Vera, I was thinking the same thing. I had the machine running at my house with only mouse/keyboard/monitor at my childrens desk where their machine runs fine, and it did the same thing it does at my mother's, so if there is interference, it is coming from inside the machine. I may try swapping the power supply with one I have laying about (I am a computer part pack-rat) if they are the same power rating etc, to see if maybe her ps is going south before I spend more money. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 5:41 pm: | |
pc pack rat?
me too!  |
Katy R
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 4:43 pm: | |
Further testing done on the above system: I started the machine up "barebones" - only the keyboard, mouse & video (all 3 of these were eliminated as the culprit when I had the machine running at my home.) I completely removed all other cards, and disconnected both the ribbons and the power supplies for the floppy, CD and HD. I also removed the ribbons from the Mobo itself, I even tried disconnecting the heatsink until the initial boot info came on the screen, and it was still garbled. That leaves me looking at 1: the Power Supply or 2: the processor itself. Time to dig into that goodie box for the power supply. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Friday, January 26, 2001 - 4:11 pm: | |
so what happened? was it the ps after all? |
Katy R
| | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 3:15 am: | |
Still waiting for a new one. The one I had was not the right one I needed a 300watt. So I am still waiting.... Mom will have a new machine when I am done.. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 1:40 pm: | |
i just finished putting together a system.a soyo board, amdk62-500,128 meg ram and other odds and ends.got it all together.used a pci graphics card to install win98se. everything was great till i put in aztech riva tnt2 pro agp.it would boot up fine and work for a little while. then vertical lines and distortions would start. moving the mouse around caused more distortion.i tried numerous things. the only thing that helped was to set the graphics acceleration as low as possible.i didn't want to settle for that,so i took that card and swapped it with a voodoo3 2000 from my other pc.it's working great at highest acceleration in the new pc. the tnt card is in the other pc win95 working the way it should. why it was being temperamental, who knows. |
KatyR
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 3:33 pm: | |
Maybe I will try a PCI video card before I put a processor in, though why it would suddenly go phooey after working great for almost 2 years is beyond me. The power supply did not work. Same distortion problem. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 7:33 pm: | |
i spoke to soon. the tnt card was fine for a day and a half but now distortion has started up with the tnt card. only the lowest acceleration cures it. i e-mailed aztech tech support to find out whats up. hope they know cause i don't like to settle for less than i expected. |
Katy
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 3:26 am: | |
I guess I am going shopping for a processor. If THAT fails, I am out of ideas, as I have ran the machine with EVERYTHING but the necessities disconnected. Let me know what you come up with, since it sounds spookily familiar... |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 10:30 am: | |
did you try the pci card?
i got an automated response to let me know they received my inquiry and to be patient for a reply. so, hopefully within these next few days.
i've had good luck ordering from tigerdirect. their prices are good. k62's are really low in price.some deliveries are very quick. my 3dfx card came the very next day. some things 5-7 business days. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 - 1:53 pm: | |
you know eliminating everything above . that leaves the case. could the wiring be defective?you know like reset and atx power connector if it's an atx board. did the new power supply come with a new powerswitch as well? i don't know if these things could cause these kind of symptoms.do you happen to have a spare case in that goodie box of yours? move everything over to it? this is getting extreme isn't it? does your pc or your kids have a socket seven proccesor to try in your moms pc before you go and get another.could the board some how be coming into contact with metal from the case or screw? i know that can short things but could it cause screen distortion? just some more thoughts. hmmm |
KatyR
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 3:13 am: | |
I have been talking to the Techie Talk people, and they still feel the AGP is the culprit, and are suggesting turning the turbo off, etc. If the distortion occurs in the initial boot screen, and the video driver setting are access thru windows, isnt the distortion occurring before those drivers are even loaded? I DO have another case, but it is a true beater, with a MickeyMouse power switch, but I already thought of that. I honestly can't remember what Mobo is in the kids machine (So many computers, so little time!) But I do not think it is able to handle a 450 CPU. Mine is an Athlon, so it won't fit there. I bought my first bare bones from Tiger, and parts of it are still running about. They are great as long as what you want is in stock. I have had problems with things that we out of stock, when I opted for a different item. I think it is a case of needing better trained sales associates. Enough said LOL |
gabriel L.G.
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 5:35 am: | |
Try this, restart to the dosprompt (make sure to have only himem.sys loaded) and type [windows directory]\smartdrv.exe assuming you have win98se installed on your c-prompt, type:
c:\
cd\
attrib /s *.* -r -h
then restart to windows and reinstall your drivers, they should't dissapear again (I had the same problem, and it seems some 98se versions makes certain files readonly at random)
Gabriel L.G. |
Dave
| | Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 8:18 pm: | |
I was having a similar problem with a Diamond Viper 770D (TNT2)AGP in an LX chipset board. It would run fine for a while until I started asking it to do any serious work (Half-Life). Then I'd get a total lock. After searching through Diamond's and nVidia's sites, I finally found the problem: The TNT2 will not work with the LX chipset. The onboard voltage regulator simply won't keep up with the demands of the TNT2. Note that this is not a power supply problem, but a problem with the voltage regulator that comes with the LX chipset motherboards.
After about two weeks of struggling with this, I finally put the old Voodoo 3 2000 back in and everything worked fine. It strikes me as possible that there may be issues with the SIS Super 7 chipsets and the TNT2 and/or GeForce cards.
It looks to me like you've ruled everything else out... |
Katy
| | Posted on Friday, February 2, 2001 - 3:11 am: | |
The original video card was an AGP by Diamond. I do not know which one, as we tossed it into the box the VooDoo came in and I left it at my mother's. It had been in the machine for almost 2 years, running fine. We only replaced it when the distortion started because it was my first suspect. The distortion appears at boot-up, in the bios set-up, and basically anywhere else it feels like rearing its ugly head. I will try the DOS commands for setting the attributes, as the disappearing drivers may be an unrelated event, and it won't hurt. Whatever is causing the distortion, it is getting worse, as she used to sometimes get a day or so of use out of the machine, and now it rarely starts up. |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 10:35 am: | |
Well.. the new processor is installed, and the video distortion seems to have departed. Now I am faced with what I am hoping is software issues, though I have not personally examined the machine since I put the CPU in. She says it is "working funny" but it is "not the same thing as before".. I, of course, IMMEDIATELY diagnosed the problem based on her discription, and told her I would need to kidnap the machine for a few days to whip it into shape. I sure hope that I find that "escape" soon!!!! |
Bill Stripling
| | Posted on Sunday, February 4, 2001 - 6:42 pm: | |
Help....I too have a problem with my AMD/K6, 266MHZ, Windows 95. It will not boot and does not provide video input to the monitor. It of course, worked fine previously. The monitor is OK as I checked it on my laptop.
When I start the computer all lights flash, but the hard drive light does not continue to flash. I am at ends as to whether I should junk it or find a technician. I think it is either a hard drive crash or the video card. Any ideas?? |
Trish
| | Posted on Monday, February 5, 2001 - 6:39 am: | |
When was previously? Did you change or add something? Or just out of the blue? Is the motherboard by chance Amptron? (or PC Chips, Elpina, etc.) |
Bill Stripling
| | Posted on Monday, February 5, 2001 - 5:45 pm: | |
Trish, I have changed or added nothing. It quit just out of the blue. I added 128mb of ram a year ago and that worked fine. As far as the name of the motherboard, all I can find is that it is a M5ATA Pentium Super TX System Board!
Dean Morrell suggested removing and reinserting the video card and the same with the memory chips. Still nothing!! |
Trish
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 6, 2001 - 12:15 am: | |
Look at http://www.amptron.com/html/pm571.html and see if it looks like your board? If so, note the (a.k.a PM-9100) which I know from past experience helping a friend. Nothing but a piece of ----! The final problem, when I said get a new board or fix it yourself, was one that sounds very similar to your problem. This board had many spuratic problems, which are usually harder to figure out, since you can't necessarily duplicate the problem when you want to. Back to your original question of junking it or finding a technician...If this is the board...I'd say it's time for an upgrade anyway and junk that thing. Just an opinion. |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 6, 2001 - 4:08 am: | |
I have replaced, removed, reseated, re- EVERYTHING, to no avail. After almost 300.00 in new parts, I am embarrassed to say I think it is a 2.00 switch. (Dont tell mom, it was her money) Maybe it is another hopeful wish, but I located the correct switch, and will replace it as soon as it gets here. The new CPU seemed to do the trick for a day, then it started acting up again (I hope nothing has been damaged). Same exact problem (it started out different, but is the same now), but the patterns on the screen change if you shake or wiggle the front panel (which is currently hanging by the LED wires)and sometimes depart completely for a bit. This love/hate relationship with computers is so exhausting at times! |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 6, 2001 - 9:00 am: | |
well, with all the new parts you have it's almost enough to put together another pc. you can always do that and sell it.
ya really gotta enjoy it to have the patience.
i still haven't heard from aztech about my card yet. haven't had the time to get on it though. |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2001 - 3:55 pm: | |
aztech e-mailed me about the problem with my video card and said they feel it's a defective card. i'm getting a replacement for it. we'll see how it goes. |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2001 - 4:23 pm: | |
Wish that would have worked on Mom's machine. My switch is enroute, and then I have to install it. Then I have to turn the machine on Hope that your card is taken care of faster than moms machine! |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 10:48 am: | |
katy r
how have you made out? |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 1:22 pm: | |
I don't want to talk about it...... ANYWAY... the whole new case is on the way, I give up. How is the video card coming? |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2001 - 3:52 am: | |
it's supposed to be here monday. |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Friday, February 23, 2001 - 7:00 pm: | |
Whew! Something (I don't know what, but I hope I eliminated it) was causing AGP cards to short out in this system. First the original, then the new one. Possible the whole mother board was shorting. I have a new Mobo, in a new case, with a new HD, and a new processor, running on a PCI card, and everything looks fine so far. (Ok, so it is really a whole new computer, but I am using SOME of the old stuff) |
Vera (Vera)
| | Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2001 - 1:58 pm: | |
finally
now relax till the inevitable next episode
and my card came in and is running fine |
Katy R (Catsidea)
| | Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2001 - 2:54 pm: | |
Well thank goodness! I think I am reverting to a number 2 pencil for a bit. Much less stressful! Or maybe I will build a new PC from all the extra parts I now have..... |
greenborg
| | Posted on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 6:33 am: | |
help..... i too have garbled messages at bott when i startup and the card switches too agp.......... ploease read my post at top off this section and advise asap...... yours .. going slowley insane |
pawankumar
| | Posted on Monday, February 2, 2004 - 7:39 am: | |
The power supply from SMPS to Motherboard is OK. Everything like as hdd, CDROM Drive, Processor Fan are working properly but my computer don't bootup and there are no display on computer.
please solve this problem as soon as possible. |
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