Display Problems

[kram 2.0]

Hello,

Recently, I've ran into some problems with my system. When I first booted my system this morning, my system stalled for a second (ie. blank screen) and then promptly returned me to my desktop in 16-bit color. After a few seconds, it stalled again. I then rebooted (reboot switch). A few seconds after I reached Windows, my computer stalled - my monitor's light was flashing on and off, meaning it was not receiving any signal.

I rebooted in safe mode and uninstalled my drivers (old Cat 5.11 drivers). I installed the newer Cat 6.2 drivers (drivers only) from ATI with the same result as before. Again, I hard rebooted into Safe Mode and uninstalled the drivers. I got my hands on the ATI Cat 5.12 drivers (drivers only) and installed them. Then, I rebooted into normal mode. My computer stayed in the Windows environment longer than it did previously, but after a few seconds, it once again blanked out.

I then shut down my system using the physical switch. I waited twenty seconds - no luck. Same result. I then let it alone for five minutes. Bingo - but after about ten minutes of MS Internet Explorer, the graphics again stalled having made little progress.

I'm stuck on this one. Any of you folks seen this before? Time to try Omega Drivers? This seems to be a software side problem to me...but then again, this is my only system with an AGP slot. My sys specs are in my signature and copied below:

Intel Pentium 4 2.8C
Corsair VSRAM 512x2 DDR400
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
MS WinXP Home SP2
Enlight 360W PSU (20-pin ATX)
Asus P4P800 DX

Thanks.
kram

[thefultonhow]

kram -- do you have access to another graphics card (maybe from a friend, or a PCI card)? My hunch is it's hardware (maybe the card is overheating).

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow kram -- do you have access to another graphics card (maybe from a friend, or a PCI card)? My hunch is it's hardware (maybe the card is overheating).

That crossed my mind. I know Radeon 9800 Pros naturally run very hot - I was able to touch the board and it wasn't much hotter than it usually is. In any case, I'll try to get my hands on another AGP/PCI card. I bought this ATI Radeon 9800 Pro on retail - if it went down, I'm pretty sure it's out of warranty.

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EDIT: Additionally, the computer started to freeze when in safe mode. I checked ATI's website and the 9800 Pro is indeed out of warranty. I could not, however, get ahold of another AGP card yet.

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EDIT2: I'm writing here from the computer. It's working fine now - apparantely, it wasn't a constant graphical problem. Something went wrong though - it took me four tries (hard boot and reboot) to actually get my system to show something on system startup.

Thanks TFH.
kram