Bad Video Card?

[user]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

I have an old Dell Dimension XPS T700r, with an NVIDIA TNT2 M64 AGP
graphics card. The image on the sceen is screwed up -- dark smearing
across the screen on lines where there's a lot of text. Basically,
wherever there's a dark object on the screen, the darkness is smeared
all the way across the page. Definitely less noticeable within
images, but quite noticeable with text on a white background. The
problem is present at all resolutions and at all color depths.

I uninstalled then reinstalled my video driver. No effect. I took my
monitor (Dell P991) over to my neighbor's and plugged it into his
system. It's not the monitor. I pulled out the video card and
cleaned all the contacts and made sure it was seated. No effect.

I'm guessing it's a hardware problem in the video card. (Ideas?) What
modern bottom-end video card (I realize, just about anything moders
would be a step up from this 5 year-old hardware), would work?

Would the Champion GeForce2 MX400 Video Card, 4x AGP, 64MB SDRAM work?
It says it's backward compatible with AGP 2X. Would that work in my
machine?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

In addition to Phil's [remarkably thorough] answer, check for anything
remotely magnetic around the monitor. Objects like speakers or magnet-tipped
screwdrivers can cause distorted images.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"User" <user@email.address.here> wrote in message
news:43123280.1308215@netnews.att.net...
>I have an old Dell Dimension XPS T700r, with an NVIDIA TNT2 M64 AGP
> graphics card. The image on the sceen is screwed up -- dark smearing
> across the screen on lines where there's a lot of text. Basically,
> wherever there's a dark object on the screen, the darkness is smeared
> all the way across the page. Definitely less noticeable within
> images, but quite noticeable with text on a white background. The
> problem is present at all resolutions and at all color depths.
>
> I uninstalled then reinstalled my video driver. No effect. I took my
> monitor (Dell P991) over to my neighbor's and plugged it into his
> system. It's not the monitor. I pulled out the video card and
> cleaned all the contacts and made sure it was seated. No effect.
>
> I'm guessing it's a hardware problem in the video card. (Ideas?) What
> modern bottom-end video card (I realize, just about anything moders
> would be a step up from this 5 year-old hardware), would work?
>
> Would the Champion GeForce2 MX400 Video Card, 4x AGP, 64MB SDRAM work?
> It says it's backward compatible with AGP 2X. Would that work in my
> machine?
>
> Thanks.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

What you have is a frequency repsonse problem caused by one or more of the
following -

A. bad card (video output circuitry)
B. bad video connector
C. bad video cable
D. bad monitor.

You have eliminated B., C., and D (unless the problem is intermittent; a
break in a shield in the video cable to the monitor can be intermittent,
with changing stress in a bend causing such a problem to appear and
reappear.

Before buying a new card, try swaping your TNT2 into your friend's computer
and starting it in safe mode (DO NOT change the drivers.) This should
definitively identify whether the card is the problem.

Only Dell knows for sure (and I doubt you can get an answer from them, but
any older AGP 4X card should work.

Phil Weldon

"User" <user@email.address.here> wrote in message
news:43123280.1308215@netnews.att.net...
>I have an old Dell Dimension XPS T700r, with an NVIDIA TNT2 M64 AGP
> graphics card. The image on the sceen is screwed up -- dark smearing
> across the screen on lines where there's a lot of text. Basically,
> wherever there's a dark object on the screen, the darkness is smeared
> all the way across the page. Definitely less noticeable within
> images, but quite noticeable with text on a white background. The
> problem is present at all resolutions and at all color depths.
>
> I uninstalled then reinstalled my video driver. No effect. I took my
> monitor (Dell P991) over to my neighbor's and plugged it into his
> system. It's not the monitor. I pulled out the video card and
> cleaned all the contacts and made sure it was seated. No effect.
>
> I'm guessing it's a hardware problem in the video card. (Ideas?) What
> modern bottom-end video card (I realize, just about anything moders
> would be a step up from this 5 year-old hardware), would work?
>
> Would the Champion GeForce2 MX400 Video Card, 4x AGP, 64MB SDRAM work?
> It says it's backward compatible with AGP 2X. Would that work in my
> machine?
>
> Thanks.
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

User wrote:
> I'm guessing it's a hardware problem in the video card. (Ideas?) What
> modern bottom-end video card (I realize, just about anything moders
> would be a step up from this 5 year-old hardware), would work?

Likely something messed up in the DAC output circuitry, or maybe the RFI
filter..

>
> Would the Champion GeForce2 MX400 Video Card, 4x AGP, 64MB SDRAM work?
> It says it's backward compatible with AGP 2X. Would that work in my
> machine?

Most AGP video cards will still work on a BX-chipset motherboard like
that, though of course anything too powerful is a waste of money with
that CPU. That MX400 card should work..

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr@nospamshaw.ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

 

[trin33913]

I'm having exactly the same problem with the same machine and same old video card. I assumed for a long time that the monitor was dying, only to finally conclude (partly thanks to this thread!) that it's the video card. Presently searching for a compatible video card to replace it with. Only trouble has been getting the run-around about compatibility with AGP 2x... I've found that an 8x card won't work, so about to try another one.

The original card was only 32 MB; does anyone know how much that motherboard can take? I'd like to upgrade it as much as I can (64 MB? 128?).