[Tech] Graphical problems: Is it my Monitor or my Graphics card?

[Xarlaxas]

Hey there, I've been having a series of problems lately with my computer and I'm trying to figure out whether my monitor or my graphics card (or God forbid both!) are dying.

Basically what happens is that every so often my computer's resolution will change from the native 1680 x 1050 to 1028 x 768, it will do this without warning and inflict upon me using a small box in the centre of my 22" to do anything.

It will let me change the resolution back up to native if I try changing it maybe two or three times, though sometimes I have to restart first.

Also, when I was playing Mirror's Edge I've noticed some technical glitches and the colours being a bit off (like Faith having bright white arms (or sometimes even blue ones).

My monitor is a SyncMaster 2232BW, I've tried reinstalling the drivers a few times, and using a Generic Monitor setting on my OS (Windows 7, though the problems occurred in Vista too, all 32-Bit) but it hasn't seemed to help at all.

My graphics card is a PNY 8800 GTS 512MB with the latest Windows 7 drivers, though this problem as I've mentioned were still ocurring in Vista too....

Are there any tests I could do to help determine the source of the problem as it results in my games crashing when the resolution suddenly changes....

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Traxata]

Roll back to the standard release drivers for your 8800, but I think that's a monitor problem, have you got a flatmate or a spare monitor you can use to see if it does the same thing on that one?

I'd be very surprised if it was the GFX card, though if it is, I don't know what the PNY warranty is like... XFX have a double lifetime warranty, so my card's insured for life , and also who ever I sell it on to ^_^

 

[Xarlaxas]

Well, there is another monitor in the house, I might nick it briefly to check... Iro is going to come over on Sunday with some equipment to help diagnose the problem so I imagine we'll have a better idea then.

 

[Xarlaxas]

Well, after buying a new graphics card, motherboard, and CPU, the problems persisted, after reinstalling the OS and updating the drivers it seemed fine until I installed another update from Windows update, so I think the problem is really coming from the changes that Windows Update tries to force on me, so I'm going to avoid them and only get my drivers from ATI.

Also: This is probably good in the end as it means I've done an upgrade I wasn't going to do so my PC is really shiny now!

 

[[THN]Buffalo_Hunter]

I guess you have an ATI card now?

Given that Windows 7 is still in beta, it's no real surprise that there are still a lot of bugs in it.


(PS why is there no option to delete posts here?)

 

[Ronin Storm]

(PS why is there no option to delete posts here?)

If there was a way to allow deletion while there weren't any replies then I'd enable deletion for registered users. But, as there isn't, the impact of deletion is that it can break the view for a threaded view user as it breaks the tree of replies if a post is taken out part way down a tree.

Thus, if you need a deletion, just write "please delete me" in the post or drop a PM to a Mod and we'll sort it out.

 

[Traxata]

If there was a way to allow deletion while there weren't any replies then I'd enable deletion for registered users. But, as there isn't, the impact of deletion is that it can break the view for a threaded view user as it breaks the tree of replies if a post is taken out part way down a tree.

Thus, if you need a deletion, just write "please delete me" in the post or drop a PM to a Mod and we'll sort it out.

Or report youur message

 

[Ronin Storm]

Or report youur message

Report PMs all the Mods and other crazy madness. That said, if you really need attention then maybe that's okay.

 

[Xarlaxas]

I guess you have an ATI card now?

Given that Windows 7 is still in beta, it's no real surprise that there are still a lot of bugs in it.


(PS why is there no option to delete posts here?)

Yup, I was planning on moving over to ATI, I think that the real culprit of the problem was the fact that Windows 7 kept on trying to install its own drivers for my graphics card, which were out of date compared to what was actually on the Nvidia/ATI websites, so a complete reinstall, and stopping windows putting in its own silly drivers seems to have fixed all the problems, and my PC is now stupidly powerful!

Huzzah!

Also: Iro was a great help in the upgrading of my PC and was paid in a CPU, dying Motherboard (ASUS, bah!) and alcohol, which makes me happy I have so much lying around to pay techs in.