Help with annoying video problem..

strebor

strebor

CAGiversary!
I don't know how to describe this, but several times every hour my screen will suddenly change (just flickers and changes) and become huge, overlapping, and unusable. I thought this was a video driver issue, so I updated the nvidia drivers and it still happens. It doesn't seem to happen with any one program, although it seems like the more things I'm doing, the more it happens. It can happen right after I start up or not come up all dy.

The only way I can find to get out of it is to restart. When it does this the computer is not frozen. My temps are fine, I know heat can do weird things.

Here's a picture. To get a sense of scale, it's a 17 inch monitor and I run at 1024x768 normally:

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4763/img01870wx.jpg

Relavent specs:
Windows XP Home (SP1)
GeForceFX 5600 Ultra w/ newest drivers
Generic Gateway branded monitor

Thanks.
 
My screen flickers when starting up and it flickers when I'm playing a game that has to be changed to a different screen size, but nothing like this. Did you try going to the Display area [Right click on desktop - Properties] of Windows when this happens to see if the screen size changes when this happens?
 
[quote name='.JPG']My screen flickers when starting up and it flickers when I'm playing a game that has to be changed to a different screen size, but nothing like this. Did you try going to the Display area [Right click on desktop - Properties] of Windows when this happens to see if the screen size changes when this happens?[/QUOTE]

I've tried that, and this is hard to explain but even though I can move the mouse, when I click it, it doesn't click where I want it to. I might click somewhere in the physical upper left, but something halfway down the screen on the other side might get selected. I tried for quite a while a week or so ago but could barely manage to get one window minimized.

[quote name='Mr.Answer'] Could you take a snapshot of your Windows Task Manager PROCESS tree?[/QUOTE]

Sure. This is when I'm only running Firefox with a couple sites and Winamp. I don't know what most of that stuff is.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/222/untitled4wn.jpg
 
[quote name='strebor']I've tried that, and this is hard to explain but even though I can move the mouse, when I click it, it doesn't click where I want it to. I might click somewhere in the physical upper left, but something halfway down the screen on the other side might get selected. I tried for quite a while a week or so ago but could barely manage to get one window minimized.



Sure. This is when I'm only running Firefox with a couple sites and Winamp. I don't know what most of that stuff is.

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/222/untitled4wn.jpg[/QUOTE]


edit cause of my dumbness.
 
[quote name='Mr.Answer']You list the APPLICATIONS programs from task manager not Process......[/QUOTE]

So, it's listed under Process, they had it correct. But I know what your talking about when trying to get the Properties open when that happens. How often does it happen? And does it happen at any specific time or when you open a certain program or do something? Anything to help figure out what might be causing it.
 
[quote name='.JPG'] How often does it happen? And does it happen at any specific time or when you open a certain program or do something? Anything to help figure out what might be causing it.[/QUOTE]

At worst, it happens so much I give up using the computer (less than 10 minutes after startup), sometimes it won't happen for a few days. I noticed that running p2p programs like Limewire or torrent programs sometimes causes it to happen more (either with or without downloads going).

It seems to happen way more with more programs open (of any type) but sometimes I'll be sitting typing in Word and listening to Winamp and it happens.

I honestly don't think it's a specific program, although I could be wrong.
 
Have you run spyware/virus scans yet? I'd try those. None of the programs showing in Task Manager appear to be suspicious immediately, but you might want to google a few, specifically. That's always a good place to start:

rundll32.exe: http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/rundll32/
csrss.exe: http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/csrss/

Generally anything that looks like it is trying to sound authentic really isn't, and normally ends up being a virus. system32.exe, runsystem32.exe, etc, all those variants usually end up being viruses.

I googled a bunch of other processes your pic showed, but most of them check out as legitimate processes. There's no gaurantee the above two are bad OR are the cause of the problem, but it is a good place to start.

I suggest you run Norton (I can tell you have it installed) and also Trend Micro's Online virus scan (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/). I suggest both because multiple scans are a better plan of attack, and Trend Micro is top of the line.

After scans, would be difficult to pinpoint the problem. The honestly best thing to do next would be a full reformat and see if the problem exists afterward. If it does, then most likely it is hardware based. Since you would have tried drivers, scans, and a reformat by that point, I'd rule out software problems entirely.

You could turn the computer off and switch the power supply to off (assuming it has a switch available for that) and leave it like that overnight. That would fully discharge it and give it a sort of starting point after we ruled out software issues.

You could try different drivers again, maybe even third party ones (I think they are called Omega drivers? Not sure....). It's always good to make sure Windows and all your other core programs are fully updated. SP2 perhaps?

It *might* be worthwhile to hook the computer up to another monitor for a week and see if it ever replicates - if not, then it's the monitor. But beyond that, really the only other option would be to replace parts. I'd suggest a bigger fan/more fans in your case - it could be heat on the video card itself, something I don't know if you are monitoring. After that, I'd try replacing the power supply. If it continued even after that, it would probably be motherboard related.

Unfortunately it's hard to tell how to continue on at this point.
 
Have you tried just power cycling your monitor (don't turn off the CPU) when this happens. Could be that the monitor is switching modes for some wierd reason.

Also, if your monitor has an info function, see what resolution and refresh rate the monitor thinks it is seeing when this happens.

The monitor is most likely not the problem, but it's good to eliminate the simple stuff as causes before ripping apart your system.

The other thing you could do is boot and run your system off of a Knoppix live linux CD for awhile. If it does the same thing under Knoppix, then it is most likely a hardware problem. If it doesn't, then it's something in software.
 
your video card might be dying... a friend of mine's video card started to die (the fan was shot, so it overheated) and bands started to form on the screen.

maybe try using another video card (a friends, perhaps) to test this.
 
I had a monitor that always started in some nonstandard resolution. No matter what computer I hooked up to it, the thing would start up like that. 99.5% of the time it would go away after the computer boot passed the bios selection, but eventually it started to do it all the time. Never could find a way to fix it and by the time it got real bad I had already replaced it as my main monitor.
 
[quote name='Strell']Have you run spyware/virus scans yet?
The honestly best thing to do next would be a full reformat and see if the problem exists afterward. If it does, then most likely it is hardware based. Since you would have tried drivers, scans, and a reformat by that point, I'd rule out software problems entirely.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, I ran both today and both checked out just fine. I was thinking about this today, I remembered I had this problem before on my old install (same hardwareI think, and still WinXP) but I never fixed it. It only happened every once in awhile, but I use a lot of the same software though.

[quote name='Strell']You could turn the computer off and switch the power supply to off (assuming it has a switch available for that) and leave it like that overnight. That would fully discharge it and give it a sort of starting point after we ruled out software issues.[/QUOTE]

I do have a PSU with a switch (it's a home build and the PSU is a Thermaltake 420W), and this morning around 6AM I switched it off (with the switch) and left it until about 5:30PM today. The problem came up again about 30 mins later, and has already done it twice since then.

[quote name='Strell']You could try different drivers again, maybe even third party ones (I think they are called Omega drivers? Not sure....). It's always good to make sure Windows and all your other core programs are fully updated. SP2 perhaps? [/QUOTE]

My Windows is fully updated without SP2 though, I was waiting to reformat before I put SP2 on to minimize issues with my currently installed software.

[quote name='Strell'] It *might* be worthwhile to hook the computer up to another monitor for a week and see if it ever replicates - if not, then it's the monitor. But beyond that, really the only other option would be to replace parts. I'd suggest a bigger fan/more fans in your case - it could be heat on the video card itself, something I don't know if you are monitoring. After that, I'd try replacing the power supply. If it continued even after that, it would probably be motherboard related.

Unfortunately it's hard to tell how to continue on at this point.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your ideas, I'm going to test the monitor itself (I don't have an extra one) by cloning my screen to my TV (with a S-video cable) and seeing what happens to the TV screen when this error happens. I haven't done it yet but I will post when I do try it.

My temps are fine, I used to have bad heat problems but my temps are good now. CPU is 44.5C (after about 4 hours uptime and moderate use), case is 30C. I have a good case for airflow (Centurion 5) and it's clean. I have a big 120mm Thermaltake fan in the back and a good HSF (Silent Boost or something) on the CPU. I don't think my vid card has a temp probe on it.

I don't really have the money to replace parts (which is why my computer is a bit outdated), so I'm hoping it's not the video card itself or the mobo. The mobo is a good one though (Abit NF7-S v2) so I'd be surprised if it was that.



To the rest ... I hope it really is just the monitor, it's sort of a crappy one anyway and I've been looking for an excuse to replace it with a sexy LCD when I get the money.

I've actually had a video card die (overheated as well) and this is a completely different problem, I know what the bands look like. I'll post when I test the monitor itself, thanks guys.
 
Try changing the monitor driver to a 'standard monitor 1024x768' or something similar. Should refuse to set any resolution lower than that. That screenshot looks like you are running a out of spec low res (like 320x200).
 
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