Graphics is distorted somtimes

eeeboy

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Jul 28, 2011
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Hi !

Couple of days back I have upgraded my desktop little bit. Among them one is- I have started using PCI express card for the first time. Before that I was using built in graphics card of mother board. My specs are:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93 GHz

MotherBoard: Gigabyte EC941MFT-US2H (RAM Bus is 1066 ).

However for last one and half years I am using 2 GB DDR3 1333 Bus RAM without any problem.

I have just installed one PCI express card in my pc, ATI HD 5450 with 512 MB DDR3 RAM (Saphaire).

Now my problem is, sometimes I see that my display is distorted , i.e. dense scattered lines (multi color line/point) all over the screen. After 1/2 restart it gets normal.

What's the reason ? What should I do ?
 

Totempole

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Well, the problem could be related to a number of possibilities.

Obviously the best way to pinpoint the problem would be to try another PCI-E graphics card
in your PC, but that's not always possible.

So, assuming that you don't have this issue with your onboard graphics, all focus is on the
5450 for now.

The first thing I would try would be different drivers (you haven't stated which drivers you're
using) either update to the latest ATI Catalyst drivers , or if
you've already done that, uninstall them and load some older drivers.

Failing that, I would recommend you download GPU-Z "http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/"
or a similar application and check the temperature of your GPU when the fault occurs.

Another thing you could try is to test your GPU memory, using Video Memory Stress Test,
although this program is known to find faults where there aren't any.

Try these out and let us know the outcome. There are probably about 100 different things for you to try,
but let's start with this and see what happens.

Good Luck!
 

eeeboy

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Thanks for all the answers, you people are just great ! :)

However, I am not sure why I need to update the driver since I have installed it from the CD ROM came with the product.

I have tried Video memory stress testing tool... damn, this is too lengthy ! I gave it more than 3 hrs, still it showing that it will take more time, so I closed it. Report was quite good up to that.

Would you please suggest me, what else I could do ?

I am here also want to question about two points:

1) Reason behind buying this PCI express card is- I want to see the high res blue ray ripped movies (1080p mostly; both mkv and mp4 formats) without any distortion/stuck issue. I thought after installing this graphics card this will be solved, still the problem remains ! I am quite confused.. What should I do then to see this movies without any graphical distortion/interruption ?

For your convenience, my desktop RAM = 2 GB DDR 3 , 1333 Bus (though motherboard supports 1066 Bus, but still working fine so far).

2) Isn't there any tool like Hijackthis (for security cases), which can generate a output and analyzing that experts can point out easily that what has gone wrong ?

Thanks in advance again. You guys are awesome :)
 

Totempole

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Assuming the card is still under warranty, exchanging it would definitely be your best option, but it would of course be best if you're 100% certain that the card is faulty before returning it.

As for drivers, the one's included with the card would be severely outdated, and it's always a good idea to use the latest drivers where possible, for performance and compatibility reasons.

Theoretically, since your computer doesn't actually "know" that it's displaying a distorted picture, logging applications wouldn't be of any help here. If after 3 hours the Video Memory Stress test was 100% clean, it's most likely not a video memory issue.

It's also quite strange that you're having issues with HD video playback though. Which program do you use for HD video playback? It may be an issue with the decompressor, since distorted video shouldn't happen.

So, just to make sure, you haven't had any issues with your onboard vga, other than slow and distorted HD video right?

Have you monitored the temperature of GPU with GPU-Z when the fault occurs? What temps does it reach?

The other thing to check is, this may be a PCI-E bus issue. I couldn't find your motherboard details online, so I'm not sure if Gigabyte EC941MFT-US2H is in fact the model name of your board.

What's important to note, is that the 5450 is a PCI-E 2.0 card, and while it should be backward compatible with a PCI-E 1.1, there may be compatibility issues. If your motherboard chipset is G41, it may have a PCI-E 1.1 slot.

So, back to my first statement, if all else fails, get the card exchanged. However if that's not an option, back up your data, format your PC, download the latest drivers for everything inside your PC and see what happens.

Good luck! :)
 

eeeboy

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Jul 28, 2011
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My Graphics card seems to work when I start the desktop after a short gap. But If I start the desktop, say after 12 hrs, first few times distortion comes, and then it goes after a while.

I am just wondering, is there any issue with device heating i mean the card needs some sort of temperature to function properly !!! I know this sounds lamest, but honestly I dont find anything more logical :(
 

eeeboy

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Jul 28, 2011
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There is no reply yet :(

Any way, there's an additional piece of information I can add now: couple of times I have noticed that during startup when the distortion (multi colored lines/points scattered here and there) occurs, there's suddenly a blackout in entire screen and it shows a message box saying, Monitor out of frequency or something like this- below which there are some values of VF and HF. After one/two restart things turned into normal.

Any clue ?