Hatrack River Forum: Computer Mayfly

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Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

Here, briefly, is the situation:

My monitor flashed blue briefly, then small red squiggles appeared all over my display. I'm running Windows 7 (32-bit) and my graphics card is a geforce 9800 gt.

I shut down the computer, and checked the connections. When I rebooted, my screen resolution had gone to 800x600. I reinstalled my graphics drivers, and was able to restore the resolution, but these damn red squiggles are still here.

O ye that are wise in the way of This Stuff, I beg but a moment of your time. Is my graphics card kaput?

Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :

Do you have any sort of graphics card temperature monitor? Maybe it's overheating and artifacting.

Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :

Update your antivirus program, then run a scan. Then use an updated version of Malwarebytes/Adaware/Spybot.

I've been reading complaints about a relatively new trojan being planted by careless ad farms onto usually safe sites (especially blogs) that messes up computers in various ways, forcing the user to reboot, which activates the trojan.

[ April 22, 2010, 06:58 AM: Message edited by: aspectre ]

Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

quote:
Do you have any sort of graphics card temperature monitor? Maybe it's overheating and artifacting.

Could overheating cause this effect permanently?

Posted by String (Member # 6435) on :

My roommate had something similar happen to his PC. Instead of squiggly the lines are straight. In his case the graphics card was shot.

Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Juxtapose:

quote:
Do you have any sort of graphics card temperature monitor? Maybe it's overheating and artifacting.
Could overheating cause this effect permanently?

I believe so.

Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

Well, I opened up my case to double-check the connections and now I get no picture at all. Guess a new card it is.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :

Did you try removing and reseating the card?

Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

I did. The no picture thing turned out to be a separate (but easily fixable) issue with my monitor. Reseating the card still leaves the artifacts.

I ended up calling the manufacturer this afternoon, and they're going to replace the card for me, so I won't need to buy a new one. Hooray, for that, at least. [Smile]

Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :

Nice!

Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

Indeed. Thanks again. [Smile]