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Specks in display

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6 replies

by louie.mayor

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My display constantly shows a lot of tiny, different colored specks. They move when I refresh or change resolutions (probably indicating that this isn't a phosphor or monitor problem). I have tried changing color depth, resolution, and refresh rates to no avail. Also, the specks seem to stick to a window and move along when a window is dragged. They, however, disappear and reappear in different locations when a window is resized.

I suspect this is related to video memory refresh problems; and the root cause could be heat or damage to my 3 yr old card. I doubt this can be resolved by a driver upgrade - I never had problems with my current driver. I really need more input on this before I decide to purchase new hardware. I could use tips from anyone who has encountered and resolved the same problem.

I am running the following:

32MB Geforce2 GTS
Windows XP SP1
Asus a7v8x-x
2 sticks of generic DDR266 (512mb total)
Trinitron-based CRT monitor

6 replies

by thechas

I concur with your diagnosis.

Heat is more apt to be an issue for the GPU itself and not the V-RAM though.

Have you tried running Direct X diagnostics?
(dxdiag from the run box)

That should provide a decent video system test.

Chas

by featherman

I agree that the GPU is probably at faoult here - how is the heat dissapation in your computer (ie: how many fans, blowing in/out cooling what areas of the interior...)

Try refreshing the drivers - it costs little or nothing, and may just save you the cost of a new video card; they may have become corrupted...

by black panther

First swap your monitor with another known good one just to discount the monitor. Also try your monitor on another PC. You could even swap Video Cards as well before you spend any money just to make sure.

by jmschattke9

As you note, the change in location of the pixels with resolution (and the color probably changes with depth changes) indicated it's a fixed error in the video RAM.

The first thing to do is remove the RAM, clean the contacts (with a rubber eraser) and reseat the RAM, just in case. If you can, put it in a computer and run a memory test on it. Also try running with each Module of RAM alone, to see if just one of the modules has developed an error. Chances are both have not failed.

by louie.mayor

> updated my drivers and still experiencing this problem.
> kept PC case open and still experienced this problem. Noticed that the GPU and video memory modules (solded to board) are quite hot, although I have no baseline.
> playing ZUMA causes XP to reboot, reporting an error in the nvidia driver; This is weird since 3D-heavy apps don't appear affected.
> i'm leaning towards the idea that there could be physical problems with my card (and that this is not a heat issue, but that the physical problems are causing the heat.)
> Dxdiag tests run successfully; also, reducing hardware acceleration in "advanced display properties" seem to mitigate this problem

by jw

I'm also receiving those tiny specks and I'm running
328MB Geforce 8800GTS
Windows Vista Business
2 Sticks of GSkill DDR26400 (2GB total)
Samsung Syncmaster 225BW LCD Monitor

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