Curse

Sword Liger · May 07, 2007, 08:58 AM // 08:58

Hi guys, Im not quite sure what the problem with my card at the moment. I mostly get these funny artifact lines when I run Guild Wars (havent tried any other game yet). But I think its an overheating problem. My grphx card fan burnt out and ive replaced it but I still have these lines that come up when I load up serious exe. files like GW. Ive posted an image of what I get sometimes and my specs. Thanks in advance.

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP/MP/4 2126MHz
Display Card: ATI RADEON 9800
Memory: 512MB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
Free Disk Space: 85.26GB
Display Card Memory: 128MB
Display Driver Version: 6.14.10.6575
DirectX Version: 9.0c

Monk Gsb · May 07, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43

thats just strange.

i think you should format ur pc and re-install windows and your graphs card drivers

eremos · May 07, 2007, 11:29 AM // 11:29

Tend to agree with Monk.

If this happens the moment you start the game it's not heat, but if it happens after you've been playing for a while, it's likely a temperature issue.

If the former, it's more likely to be driver related so I'd try to upgrade those.

eightyfour-onesevenfive · May 07, 2007, 02:33 PM // 14:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sword Liger

My grphx card fan burnt out and ive replaced it

Can you elaborate on that part? Did you replace the fan only or also the heatsink? I assume heatsink too, as that is how GPU coolers are usually sold. Did you install the heat sink properly? As in removing residue of the old thermal compound and applying new thermal compound? Did you use thermal compound at all? Or was there a thermal pad with the new heatsink? Did you remove the protective film from the pad?

Please excuse those stupid questions, but I've seen it happen too often. You may indeed suffer from an overheating issue due to exceptionally bad cooling, which may be caused by a faulty installed heatsink.

Sword Liger · May 07, 2007, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by eightyfour-onesevenfive

Can you elaborate on that part? Did you replace the fan only or also the heatsink? I assume heatsink too, as that is how GPU coolers are usually sold. Did you install the heat sink properly? As in removing residue of the old thermal compound and applying new thermal compound? Did you use thermal compound at all? Or was there a thermal pad with the new heatsink? Did you remove the protective film from the pad?

Please excuse those stupid questions, but I've seen it happen too often. You may indeed suffer from an overheating issue due to exceptionally bad cooling, which may be caused by a faulty installed heatsink.

sorry, what I meant to say was that the fan had burnt out so i replaced it. But I still have these problems (typing through them as we speak so apologies for spelling. Ive only just started my computor and I'm already getting these lines so I'm guessing its driver related maybe. I'll probably end up buying a new card.

eremos · May 07, 2007, 04:23 PM // 16:23

The card could also have been damaged in whatever event caused the fan to die. Trying the card in another PC might be a good bet.

FlameoutAlchemist · May 07, 2007, 07:58 PM // 19:58

I'd recommend replacing the card as processors tend to die or suffer severe damage within seconds if not constantly cooled. Not only that, if you did replace the fan, you'd also likely need some replacement thermal paste to put on the bottom of the fan.

Long story short - Replace your card. I'd safely call it dead.

cannonfodder · May 07, 2007, 09:25 PM // 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monk Gsb

thats just strange.

i think you should format ur pc and re-install windows and your graphs card drivers

You DO NOT need to re-format and reinstall windows, that is just a pointless waste of time

First off remove your graphics card and clean the copper contacts, unistall the drivers and update with new ones. If that does not correct it then your card is dying and beyond repair.

cannonfodder

Lurid · May 07, 2007, 10:12 PM // 22:12

Assuming you (usually pay) find a program that removes all traces of drivers, and are able to 100% remove your drivers then yes, reformatting can be silly. However reformatting is a) free (assuming you have your disc) and b) easier than going through all that annoyance. Any and all valuable data should be kept backed up anyway, so reformatting is quite painless.

FlameoutAlchemist · May 08, 2007, 12:23 AM // 00:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurid

Assuming you (usually pay) find a program that removes all traces of drivers, and are able to 100% remove your drivers then yes, reformatting can be silly. However reformatting is a) free (assuming you have your disc) and b) easier than going through all that annoyance. Any and all valuable data should be kept backed up anyway, so reformatting is quite painless.

While you do have good points there, dying hardware could cause the Windows installer to crash to BSOD. He can try it, but in my professional opinion I don't think it'll solve this particular problem.

OT: Regular reformatting and reinstallation of software, however, is sound computer practice. This gets rid of oprhaned files, screwed up registry keys, annoying little programs that won't go away, etc. Doing this in the above case, in conjuction with replacing the video card, would likely leave the OP in a much better position to get back into the game.

MegaMouse · May 08, 2007, 12:34 AM // 00:34

Several good points here but I do think that your video card has bitten the dust. Time to replace it with a new one. You realy do not have to upgrade (although that would be a good investment). Just make sure to remove everything from your computer pertaining to the original video card before installing the new one. Most of the time when teh fans on the video cards go out it causes irrepariable damage to the processor on the card. One other thing that you can do is to install a fan in the side of your case to direct air directly onto the top of your video card assisting to cool it. Hope this helps

Mega Mouse

cebalrai · May 08, 2007, 04:45 AM // 04:45

I'm a professional computer consultant and I have two degrees in the field...

No no no, wiping your hard drive/reformatting/reinstalling windows is a bad idea. It should never, ever be your first plan of action. People on this thread are calling it painless, which seems kind of silly to me since it takes a very long time to do, especially when you count the time spent reinstalling all your programs and updating windows. On the contrary, it's a royal pain, and your problem is almost certainly not due to some sort of windows corruption. If you reinstall, you'll be right back to where you're at now.

Flameout in the post above says that regular reformatting and reinstalling everything is sound computer practice - he's completely wrong. In the case of registry problems, the solution is repairing the registry. In the case of annoying little programs that won't go away, the solution is deleting them properly.

For the average user, running Ccleaner (www.ccleaner.com) is just fine. The registry repair utility in this program is excellent, and it will let you uninstall stubborn programs.

cebalrai · May 08, 2007, 04:51 AM // 04:51

... With that being said, I'd bet your problem damage to your graphics card from your broken fan. Do you have access to an old graphics card of any sort? It you do, pop it in to see if you still have this problem.

Also, how hot is your card getting at idle and when you load those .exes?

Dex · May 08, 2007, 11:38 PM // 23:38

Quote: