Radeon R4850 dancing pixels

[leaningjowler]

Hello,

Having an issue with a MSI Radeon R4850 video card.

When I plug the monitor into DVI 1 I get dancing pixels on my monitor basically looks like a sparkling affect. If I move the cable to the other DVI port it goes away. I know the monitor is fine because it worked fine with my old video card.

Any ideas?

Thanks for help and sorry if this was posted somewhere else I didn't find it.

Monitor - Dell 24"
OS - Vista 64 bit
CPU - Intel Quad Core 2.8ghz
Motherboard - Asus P5QL-E
Ram - 8 gigs OCZ
Power Supply - PC Power and cooling 750W

Have the latest catalyst drivers and I tried going to an older version and reinstalling with no luck.

 

[soundefx]

the only thing I could say is to return the card for another one. you might have gotten a bad card.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

That's definitely a signal issue.

It could be the cable if it's over 15 ft, but since it works on the other output, it makes it less likely (although it is still about the analogue characteristics of the digital signal so every connection can affect it along the way). It might be cable length if it's excessive, but if it's under 6ft of cable, then it sounds like one of the TMDS may be a little weak and not keeping the rise and fall within acceptable levels (would show a distorted eye on a scope).

It's usually associated with long lengths of cable, and hence these things came up;

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/gefen-hdtv-repeater-10-2004.html

If it is cable length a better quality cable could help, but otheriwse I'd RMA the card if you plan on using both outputs.

 

[bosemannen]

Have a similar problem with a MSI RX2600PRO-T2D512Z/D2 (built on a Radeon HD 2600PRO) I bought yesterday. I needed a new card for my HP LP2475w screen that could display 1920x1200. I bought a new card since my old Geforce3 TI500 64MB from 2002 showed green pixels as well on the DVI-port. The D-sub worked ok though. (Was actually surprised that this old card could display 1920x1200 at all)

Just as you describe one DVI-port works great the other port gives green pixels. I also tried with the DVI-cable to my old dell-screen, and to my surprise I got perfect picture on the same DVI-port but no signal at all in the other port, screen was black. Both cables are ~2m/6 feet.
Ok I thought, card faulty so I returned it today and got a new one but the problem is still there which pretty much rules out the card as the problem. Unless it's a problem with the driver or bios of the card. (I have the latest ones installed btw.)

I can also mentioned that I have tried to disconnect everything else from the PC like wireless mouse, screen calibrator, network switch..., but without any change.
I have also tried to see if the flicker disappears if I try to adjust the card & cable slightly in the slot to see of it's a connection problem (the faulty DVI-port actually touched the PC-case a bit).
Also tried both DVI-ports on the display, same result.
Also tried tweaking "AGP Aperture" in the BIOS. No change. (Anyway, I don't think this will have any impact really on a 512MD card after I've been reading around a bit)

As I see it there a 4 things left to test:
1. Upgrade PSU. I see this as the most likely. MSI suggests 450W for my card and I only have 250W on my Dell Dimension 8200. However, I see you have 750W, which I think (don't know) should be enough for any card. On the other hand you got a lot of stuff on your PC needing a lot of power it looks like.
2. Test with dual-link DVI cable. Currently I only have a single-link (no 6 pins in the middle). Single-link should be enough for this resolution, I guess proven because it works on one port. So maybe this is a long shot but the card-specification states it supports dual-link and maybe you need to have in on order for the card to run stable?
3. Attach separate power to the card. There is a 4-pin power connector on the card but I have not dared to connect it because, a) normally I've only seen this type of connector on cards with a fan, this one has passive cooling, b) no power cable supplied by MSI in the carton, c) nothing about this in the installation or troubleshooting guides. d) a review of the card I read stated separate power wasn't needed (ok the last one is taken by a pinch of salt).
4. By a new PC if I desperately need the two DVi outputs.

Not sure if any of this helps but I think in my case it can be a matter of power. I end up short of power when using the MSI power calculator (http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=power).
What I'm curious about though is if a new PSU would be enough and I could still use my old Geforce3, hehe...

If you've found a/(your) solution, please post it.

Regards,
Tobias

 

[billeue]

I am experiencing the same problem with a new Dell T7400 Vista-64, Nvidia Quadro FX 570, dual Dell 2408WFP monitors.

Dell seems at a loss with this issue, replaced the video card twice. The problem is intmittent with "Dancing Pixels" and loss of sync to monitor attatched to port # 1.

The issue is always associated with port #1 on the video card, swapping cable and monitor moves the problem to monitor #2.

Power cycle clears up the issue, however it generally returns after some period of time and will occasionally correct itself.

Regards,

Bill