Can anyone tell me what this is/ what's causing it?

  • Thread starter G.T
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G.T

G.T

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Paganisterr
Ak Paganister
Right, where do I start?

This PC has been doing this for years now, even when my Dad first bought it. The PC was originaly bought for my Dad's work so he didn't take much notice of it, until it was given to me a few years later. Because it was mine I started using games on it more so, the problem came up often. My Dad took a look at it and tried to sort it out. He's tried his very best, looking on forums, nothing, reinstalling windows and downloading the latest drivers, still nothing worked.

In every game, this odd checkered screen appears, all sorts of colours, blue, yellow, red, cream and even pink! It appears more often and less than others. For example, in Doom 3 it happens every 5 mins or so, Painkiller it has only happened in the menus and LFS is only happened every few hours or so (not anymore, now every 15 mins :mad: ). I installed this software called "I8kfanGUI" to see what temperature my hardware was running at after a gaming session. LFS the other day it said the GPU was running at 101 C! :eek: This might be the cause but I dont know, it's done the screen at much lower temperatures before, when I'd just started up a game. It's quite random.

Here is the pic of the screen, I was playing LFS in 1600x1200:




PC Specs:

Dell Inspiron 8600
Pentium M 1.4 GHz
512MB Ram
ATI Mobility 9600 Pro Turbo 128mb
40GB HD


Please help?

If anything involves opening up the PC, it's a no-no, and installing software I will have to show it to my Dad first.
 
Dodgy video card?

Most visual problems are usually either the video card or monitor.

Edit: Just read that your GPU got up to 100C. Those are obvious artifacts from overheating. I once overclocked my card and it reached around 80C during gaming. It started missing big blocks of pixels and it didn't look pretty. I presume the problem only gets worse as the temp increases...
 
It's a laptop right? And you're outputting the display to a CRT monitor? Kind of important if you are to mention it.

Does the mess happen when you're using the laptop's screen? Does it only happen when you're using the external screen? Need more info.

And yes it reeks of artifacts.
 
donbenni
It's a laptop right? And you're outputting the display to a CRT monitor? Kind of important if you are to mention it.

Does the mess happen when you're using the laptop's screen? Does it only happen when you're using the external screen? Need more info.

And yes it reeks of artifacts.
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That pic is of the Laptops screen, sorry the pic is a little too dark to notice.

Yeah, well, the overheating cannot be helped can it? I have a cooling mat with 2 fans in it, but that makes no difference.
 
How large is the laptop screen in inches? Are you sure it can actually handle 1600x1200? That's why i assumed an external monitor.
 
Another quick question, is it safe for the screen to appear over and over again? Am I damaging the PC more and more each time I play a game and it happens?
 
G.T I bet your tempted to throw your PC out of the window. But have you tryed using another monitor to see if your monitor acts up, when you play games.
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
G.T I bet your tempted to throw your PC out of the window. Have you checked for overheating.
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If you read my post above, it reaches over 100 C. So I suppose that is the reason (overheating).

Yes, with the amount of problems I've had, I do feel like thowing it out the window. :D
 
You could try underclocking your GPU see if that helps... 101C is not a very healthy GPU temperature...
 
Flerbizky
You could try underclocking your GPU see if that helps... 101C is not a very healthy GPU temperature...
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I could, but games will suck even more. :(

Edit: Oh yes, I forgot to tell you guys, about a year ago I overclocked it, and it ran at the same temperatures, no more, no less. I overclocked it because I thought games would run a little better, but there wasnt much difference and caused various other problems so I reverted back.
 
G.T
I could, but games will suck even more. :(
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I didn't say to keep it underclocked, I suggest you try it to see if it IS indeed overheating. And if it IS, I suggest you give Dell a call as it is not acceptable. They shouldn't put a half-decent for gaming GPU in a laptop and then don't expect people to play games...
 
Flerbizky
I didn't say to keep it underclocked, I suggest you try it to see if it IS indeed overheating. And if it IS, I suggest you give Dell a call as it is not acceptable. They shouldn't put a half-decent for gaming GPU in a laptop and then don't expect people to play games...
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This Laptop is known for overheating, and my Dad had heard people have had trouble getting the PC fixed because you were "gaming". This is the reason my Dad never wrung up about it. It just doesnt make sense, why sell the best Laptop GPU at the time in the PC then...
 
As soon as I read the Graphics card was running at 101 degrees centigrade I thought three things.

1: "Uh-oh, that's really not good"
2: "Surely that can't be right"

and...

3. "Why not suggest trying to underclock the card"

Well, as Flerbizky has already suggested, I'd try underclocking the card temporarily (say to about 75-85% of current clocks). See if that sorts the problem or not...
 
OK, I'll do that. I'll ask my Dad to do it (when he's not busy!), he has overclocked it before so there should be no problem with him underclocking it.
 
I'd agree with skip there. When i got my old toshiba cleaned out, the overheating problem simply vanished. I had that about 5 months when it got cleaned. Yours is what, 3 years old james? GET IT CLEANED OUT!!!
 
Jon.
I'd agree with skip there. When i got my old toshiba cleaned out, the overheating problem simply vanished. I had that about 5 months when it got cleaned. Yours is what, 3 years old james? GET IT CLEANED OUT!!!
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It did it when the PC was first bought, so cleaning it would make no difference whatsoever.

Just buy a Mac.

Fixed.
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Aye, but like amp88 said, alot of games arent compatible with it. Plus, I'd have to learn the ins and outs of the operating system. My Dad does have one, but I havent a clue how to use it! (my college lessons would go to waste a bit too).
 
G.T
It did it when the PC was first bought, so cleaning it would make no difference whatsoever.
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If you only cleaned it when it was first bough, you have 3 years of dust in your laptop my good man.
 
Jon.
If you only cleaned it when it was first bough, you have 3 years of dust in your laptop my good man.
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I fell into the same trap first time I read what G.T had said there too. What he said was that "It" did it when it was new (i.e. the graphics problems were happening when it was bought), not "I" did it when it was new (i.e. he cleaned it when he got it and hasn't since...).

@G.T: How's college going? I see you noticed it there but haven't seen you saying anything else about it lately. You getting on fine with it?
 
amp88
I fell into the same trap first time I read what G.T had said there too. What he said was that "It" did it when it was new (i.e. the graphics problems were happening when it was bought), not "I" did it when it was new (i.e. he cleaned it when he got it and hasn't since...).
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I'm glad you picked that up, I should have made myself clearer. :)

@G.T: How's college going? I see you noticed it there but haven't seen you saying anything else about it lately. You getting on fine with it?
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I'll reply in my College thread as soon as possible.
 
amp88
I fell into the same trap first time I read what G.T had said there too. What he said was that "It" did it when it was new (i.e. the graphics problems were happening when it was bought), not "I" did it when it was new (i.e. he cleaned it when he got it and hasn't since...).

@G.T: How's college going? I see you noticed it there but haven't seen you saying anything else about it lately. You getting on fine with it?
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Ahh, now i read it it makes sence :)

My mistake :)

Well, if it gets any hotter, get it cleaned out anyway :)
 

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