Problems with ati graphics card

Jilm

I have a 1 year old Dell Dimension 8400 (Pent4 3.4GHz, 2GB RAM) with an ati Radeon X800 XT card.

While playing Dark Messiah Might & Magic Demo, vertical coloured lined artifacts appeared, I rebooted, the lines were still there on the boot screen and windows.

I've tried installing ATIs catalyst drivers as well as the latest omega drivers, the lines still appear.

Any suggestions on how to fix the prob?

Cheers lads

PogMoThoin

Not a good sign when theyre on the boot screen as well. Try reseating the card. Go into the bios and see if you have artifacts........if you do possibly card is fecked.
bios is f2 on a dell. Press f2 while booting up.

CatInABox

Also, long shot tho, check to make sure the monitor cables are put in all the way. Just making sure.

Jilm

There are artifacts on the bios screen as well. I've already tried reseating the card. Windows keeps crashing anytime I try to do something, looks like a new card is in order.

How long does it usually take Dell to fix problems like this? (probably longer then usual as it is the holiday season)

Cheers

Anti

quite a while apparently, just spoke to a friend of mine steven who works in dell, and he said there is a high propability of the machine having to go to malysia, unless you have the onsite warenty.

Kiith

Jilm wrote:

How long does it usually take Dell to fix problems like this?

they called to me, and just replaced the graphics card when that happened to my 9800pro. i gave him the faulty one, and he gave me a new one. that was 3 years ago though.

Cuddlesworth

A freind of mine is on his 4th X800 in a silmilar speced dell. I wonder is this a more common problem then we think.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

exactly my prolemo (see "Monitor is crappin' out")
in a dell dimension 8300, also happened playing a game and is on boot up and windows

Im using it as an excuse for a new computer tho

DublinWriter

That's worrying because I've just replaced an 9800 AIW with a x900 AIW after the 9800 AIW starting having the exact same problems you mentioned.

I tried re-seating and 'poking' the card with the cover open, and it had some effect in that the lines changed everytime I prodded the card, so it definately was a hw problem.

I chalked it up to the RAM on the card failing. OP - is your place 'dusty' by any chance?

Jilm

DublinWriter wrote:

I chalked it up to the RAM on the card failing. OP - is your place 'dusty' by any chance?

Well, the vacuum cleaner is on the fritz, so it is dustier then normal

Though when I checked, the graphics card wasn't carrying too much dust and the inside of the case has had a couple of cleans in the last couple of months.

Dodgy video RAM sounds plausible, hopefully it doesn't get replaced with a similarly flawed card. Is it expensive to get the warrantee upgraded to onsite? If it is, I may just have to buy a new card myself.

DublinWriter

Jilm wrote:

Well, the vacuum cleaner is on the fritz, so it is dustier then normal

Though when I checked, the graphics card wasn't carrying too much dust and the inside of the case has had a couple of cleans in the last couple of months.

Dodgy video RAM sounds plausible, hopefully it doesn't get replaced with a similarly flawed card. Is it expensive to get the warrantee upgraded to onsite? If it is, I may just have to buy a new card myself.

I say that because my old 9800 AIW was dust-city. I took my uber-powerful 2kw household vacuum to it, but the problem remained and I was forced to buy an expensive AGP x9800 replacement from E-Bay.

Jilm

I'm in the market for a new graphics card for this Dell system.

It has a 350W power supply, what would be a good card around the €300 mark?

Cheers

g5hn710m4xpdwy

if it is AGP I would go for the 7800GS on komplett, and it seems they overclock ok
if its pci-e then a 7900 of some sort;)

Jilm

It's PCI-E.

Went with the GeForce 7900GT in the end. Hopefully, it won't be too much of a drain on the power supply.