GeForce 210 - dual display flickering/flashing issue

[thecrane]

I'm really at a loss on this one.

I have recently (as in yesterday) purchased a Galaxy GeForce 210 graphics card, purely so I can run my 17" Dell LCD beside my Samsung 24". I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit.

Everything seemed to be working fine - I installed the card, installed the drivers that came with it (which it says are Windows 7 compatible) and away we went. The 17" plugged into VGA and the Samsung into DVI.

However, after running for a little bit, I started to notice that every now and then (read about once or twice a minute) the Dell would flicker or flash a bit. The best way I can think to describe this is imagine you have made the Windows task bar about a third of the screen tall, and then suddenly shrunk it and your graphics card couldn't keep up - so you get a momentary flash of black before the desktop shows. That's what is happening to me.

It doesn't matter what application is running - or even if no application is running - and I can't reproduce it on demand. However, I've tried the following things:

1) upgraded the drivers from nVidia.com - now running 8.17.11.9745 - no change

2) rebooted my machine no end of times to make sure that's not the problem - no change

3) booted my machine back into Vista Ultimate 64-bit, loaded the same drivers from nVidia - the flickering doesn't seem to happen!

4) disabled the second screen in Windows 7 - the remaining single screen doesn't flicker.

5) re-enabled the second screen - now the Samsung screen is the one doing the flickering.

6) searched what seems to be the entire internets! - still can't find a solution!!!!!!.

Anyone out there got any ideas on how to solve this?

 

[thecrane]

Forgot to add that I changed the refresh to 60Hz on my Samsung, and 75Hz on my Dell - no change

 

[thecrane]

Tell a lie - I can now confirm the same (or similar) flickering in Vista 64-bit. Any help?!?

 

[EugeneU]

Hi,

I have the same problem exactly.
Any one knows what is the problem and how to fix it?

 

[EugeneU]

I found an interesting answer on
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143208

citing:

With multiple monitors enabled, your screens will flicker in Windows 7. You can mostly get rid of it by using a 'Basic' or 'Classic' theme, but then it looks like you're running a PC from 1999. Doesn't matter if you upgrade to the latest nVidia drivers, you'll always get the flicker when Aero Glass is turned on.

 

[candela]

I have the same problem with my PNY Geforce 210. By running Nvidia Inspector I have discovered that the flickering occurs when the Geforce 210 switches between the 2D and 3D performance level. This happens now and then during normal desktop usage, no 3D applications need to be running. Now it seems the flickering is caused by the difference in memory clock between these 2 levels (2D=405 MHz and 3D=400MHz). Using Nvidia Inspector to underclock the memory to 400MHz in the 2D level, the flickering issue disappears. Overclocking the memory to 405MHz in the 3D level also works but this causes video artefacts on my card. I now use Nvidia Inspector to underclock the memory every time Windows boots. I still see some flickering during startup but after that the issue is completely gone.

 

[EvilAaron]

@candela This was driving me crazy. Thank-you for the above fix. Underclocking 2D memory to 400Mhz solved all flickering. Maybe tomorrow I will try overclocking 3d memory see if I also get artifacts.