Horizontal lines on monitor (Graphics Card Problem)

[Ty1980]

Hello,

Recently I purchased a Sparkle GeForce 8400GS PCI card (no express PCI just regular old PCI, because I didn't have any other open slots). Here is the rather uninformative amazon product page (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HA91NY/ref=oh_o06_s00_i00_details).

I bought the card so that I could use 3 monitors running at the same time. Unfortunately whenever I plug in my 3rd monitor to the new card I get these strange white horizontal lines (see picture) and then it usually just freezes after a minute or so. If I try starting the computer with just the new video card and not my other PCI E card it will get as far as the loading screen and then go blank. It isn't the monitor causing the problem because I can plug the monitor into my older working video card and it works fine.



I have seen people discuss either overheating or not having a large enough PSU. It doesn't seem to me like the video card would be overheating so quickly.

I have a 500 watt PSU which I think should be enough to power it, or at least I don't think adding a PCI video card would push it over the edge (maybe I'm wrong?)

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

Thanks a lot.

 

[DM186]

I was told just the other day and I had no idea that this was a true fact. The Nvidia card only supports 2 monitors only. I know I didn't belive it either but a few other people back that up. I am still having a hard time believing it. If I can find that thread I will link it.

 

[bystander]

Nvidia does limit you to 2 monitors for a single GPU. SLI or 2 cards are required for more than 2 monitors with Nvidia.

 

[DM186]

Nvidia does limit you to 2 monitors for a single GPU. SLI or 2 cards are required for more than 2 monitors with Nvidia.

^ Hey Thanks for backing me up. I tried to find that thread and it only goes so far back then you loose the blue flags.

 

[Ty1980]

Hi Guys thanks for the ideas. Perhaps I should have stated my question more clearly:

I have one graphics card that works fine that is controlling two monitors. I am having trouble with the second graphics card which is the one I'm having trouble with.

 

[esrever]

try switching which monitor plugs into which card?

 

[osijek1289]

Obviously some times has passed from when this was posted, but I too have 2 8400GS PCI cards installed in the only 2 PCI slots of my Asus M2A-VM. A Geforce 210 is in the only PCI-E slot, and a ATI2250 is in the funky small PCI slot. (PCI-EXpress x 1) I have been using all the cards to successfully run 8 monitors under XP for quite some time. If I boot back into that Win XP install, all is well.

All of the 4 8400GS 1280x1024 monitor outputs have the white lines in a similar layout to the pic of the original poster. This is a brand new Win 7 x64 install, and getting all monitors to line up into the right position in the display tab was a biatch: moving too many of them would give an immediate BSOD in nvlddmkm.sys. Moving the 'wrong' one would give that BSOD, and, ultimately I was able to rearrange the monitor layout by using a sequence of one-by-one-then-a-reboot-to-make-it-'hold'. But the white lines are still there, but I have had boots where the lines do NOT appear, perhaps 5% of the time that is the case. Also, going into the control panel or display drivers and selecting personalization, or changing themes, gives the nvlddmkm.sys about 90% of the time. Oddly, outside of that things are rather stable - I just can't tinker with anything screen related while I am expecting firm productivity from the Win 7 x64 install. And yes, I can flip to Win XP x64, and all is 100% well.

I would say if nVidia claims they can't run more than 2 monitors from 1 machine via nvlddmkm.sys, then it's only because they don't know how to fix the BSOD or probably don't want to. Sure I am running oldish stuff, but I only need 2D for business usage. Win 7's multi-monitor support for a variety of cards seems pretty bad, as I had other video cards in there, that would routinely BSOD as part of the install. I can kinda live with these white lines, and may even venture into buying a 21GGE4AM9EKP GeForce 210 (4-quad monitor output @ ~$100), but I'll do so with slight hesitation.

 

[DM186]

Do you have enough power to run all those cards and I have never herd of a card for the tiny pci slot. I am not saying they don't have one I just havn't seen one before. If you are running 8 monitors.

Why would you change OS. If it runs in XP without any problems then why win 7? You are not a gamer and you use it for work. AMD card can run more than two monitors just nVidia is limited to two. Good luck with your 8 monitors.

 

[osijek1289]

Do you have enough power to run all those cards and I have never herd of a card for the tiny pci slot. I am not saying they don't have one I just havn't seen one before. If you are running 8 monitors.

Why would you change OS. If it runs in XP without any problems then why win 7? You are not a gamer and you use it for work. AMD card can run more than two monitors just nVidia is limited to two. Good luck with your 8 monitors.

Thanks for the input. Yes, I am certain that PSU output is not the issue; as I noted, the system runs 5/24 in Windows XP without any issues.

The card is this ATI 100-505179 FireMV 2250 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3747450&CatId=3594 . There are a number of PCI-E x1 video cards on the market.

It is the trading application called Ninjatrader, it works atop of the MS Net framework, which from other users gives smoother and more responsive performance as a x64 app in Win 7 x64, over XP x64. I am noticing that as well, in comparison to XP x64.

I'd never had any BSODs due to video cards in XP hence I am certain it is either a video driver incompatability (amongst nVidia & ATI) or either/both not living well within the Win7 environment. The stability is reasonable in Win7 as long as I don't tinker with any screen related settings it seems. I will probably live with the white lines, as they aren't too impacting, until I pop in some other quad video card, perhaps going with a nVidia solution such as the Galaxy 56NGH6DH4TTX. Fairly soon, I'll step up to an i7 CPU + board, and we'll see what crop of issues appear then.

 

[bystander]

It's clear that something in the Win7 drivers or Win7 version of the Nvidia drivers for your PCI cards was not written quite right. Win7 and Nvidia work very well with multi monitor setups, but unfortunately it looks like they did not go back and do a good job updating the drivers of these extremely old hardware setups.

You really only have 2 choices. Update your system to modern hardware or stick with Win XP.

 

[DM186]

^^ Yeah I agree with bystander on this one. I also thought for the slot you were talking about was the one this is one inch long. I do know about the 3.0, 2.1, 2.0, and the 1.0. Anyway it is all good. Good luck to you.