HD4870 problem: flickering pixels

[illuminatus42]

I recently purchased a Asus Radeon HD4870 512Mb graphics card. I first installed it today, and much to my dismay, flickering green pixels appear on the screen. They seem to appear mainly on black backgrounds, both on my desktop and in games.

I have not overclocked the card, or changed anything in BIOS. I've also tried installing the latest drivers - and nothing changed.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this a hardware problem or can I fix this somehow? Because I'd rather not have to return it and pray that I'll get a refund.

 

[coozie7]

Can you post a photo?
Does this problem occur on the POST screen as well?
This is an old article but still valid:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html

 

[illuminatus42]

Sadly I do not own a camera. But like I said - flickering green pixels. Everything looks normal except that in some areas there are flickering green pixels.
It only happens after I log in on my account.
I'll try out some methods in the article and see if it helps.

 

[kyosho]

Wasn't there a class action lawsuit against ATI concerning a similar problem? I may just remember wrong but you might contact Asus and see what they say either way. Good luck.

 

[illuminatus42]

So, I tried updating the chipset drivers and reinstalling the latest drivers for the graphics card - but no luck there. Underclocking is going to be a problem since ATITool refuses to work. I'm starting to suspect that the card is overheated, but that doesn't seem probable since I keep the side of the case open and right now I've even moved my sound card a few slots to give the GC some breathing room and I've also pointed a table fan at the card. And if it is an overheating problem, then I'm pretty much screwed, since the only PCI-E 2.0 slots I have are at the very bottom of the motherboard and the fan on the GC is about a centimeter from the bottom of the upper "room" in the case.

I'm out of ideas now. If anyone has any more tips, please tell me. Meanwhile I'll be poking around in the ASUS forums to see if a similar problem has been reported there.

@kyosho
I've never heard of such a lawsuit.
Yeah, hopefully the 3-year warranty will save me. Thanks.

 

[illuminatus42]

Well, well, well. It seems like there might be some sort of compatability issue between the graphics card and my TFT monitor. I tried plugging in an old CRT monitor and so far I haven't seen a single flickering pixel.

I'm gonna try switching back to my TFT and plugging in my old graphics card to see if I'm onto something.

 

[megamanx00]

Are you using a DVI-VGA or DVI-HDMI converter? Some board partners provide pretty crappy ones (Visiontek) so that can cause problems. ASUS usually provides decent ones, but very rarely you get one that has loose pins or some other problem. If you are connecting it with a DVI cable then be sure to check your DVI cable. If you can, try connecting your mointor to another system using that same cable. Also make sure to try both DVI ports on your Radeon and if only one of them is giving you trouble inspect it for the possibility of some kind of debris getting stuck in there or on the PCB side for any damaged leads.

 

[illuminatus42]

I just use a regular, run-of-the-mill Single-Link DVI cable to connect my monitor and my graphics card. No converter. I don't think there's a problem with the cable, since I just connected my old graphics card again and there's no problem now while I'm using the very same cable.

I also checked the list of graphics cards compatible with my monitor, and guess what? The HD4800 series isn't on it. But neither is the the HD4700 series or any other of the latest series. So I suppose it could be a incompatibility issue with the monitor, but then again - my CRT monitor is eight years old, so that doesn't seem... right.

 

[lion666]

Got the exact same problem (almost) got 2 asus 4870 512mb in crossfire. I recently bought a new monitor (benq G2412HD) and the problem started, before i had a Acer 22 wide and no problem at all. But now i got random green pixels almost only on black, that flicker from time to time.

Dunno what to do

EDIT: seems like i solved the problem (or at least think i did) I just changed the DVI port on the back of my gfx and rebooted, all green pixel flicker gone Oo