Which is dying, my video card or monitor?

[Zamuri]

Hi, all...

My system is getting a bit long in the tooth but until now, no problems. This system has literally run every game I've installed on it.
The other day, I booted up and my video was screwey. The picture is a bit washed out and I have faint but noticable horizontal streaks running across the screen, which correspond with icons, windows, etc.
All was fine the day before and I had not changed anything.

P3-733
128
NVidiaGEForce2-32mb
Win 98se
Sony Trinitron CRT monitor

All drivers current. Thanks for any help!!

 

[Pillager]

I would have said the monitor, but others may be able to answer with more certainty. If not, the best thing to do is to try with a different monitor.

 

[Lucky]

Problems like this are best solved with exchanging one piece of the hardware or the other. The features you described can be cause by both devices.
Usually the monitor has a much longer lifespan than a videocard. And with the GF2 there have been several issues with overheating. Not overheating in a sense of sudden fan failure like in a CPU, overheating can also be caused by a long time of running it above the recommended temperature.

I think that a GF2 MX ships without fans, but other versions of this graphic card have fans, like the Pro or Ultra version.

Specify your graphic card information, check the fan if it has one, carefully "feel" the temperature after running it for a while.

But as said, the best thing is to exchange one piece of hardware.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Do the streaks tend to start in bright areas and run left to right? If so then it's the monitor. This happened to my old monitor, but it seems to be old age and doesn't necessarily mean it's about to fail: mine kept going for years. I just had to adjust the brightness/contrast a bit to get a better picture.

 

[CornMaster]

I think your just going blind.

But check a few basic things first.

1) Make sure the power and data cables for the monitor are secure.
2) Make sure the video card is properly seated in the computer.
3) Check the advanced settings in the Display Properties. And reset these.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

if the above doesn't work then hit the monitor. I'm not kidding either. Slapping the top of the monitor can tell you a lot. If the display goes back to normal, even temporarily, you've got a monitor issue. If it doesn't change then it's probably your card.

 

[Perfection]

Great advice gonzo! That works on so many occasions its scary

 

[Jeratain]

I suggest after checking all the connections and everything, make sure you have the most recent video card drivers, and make sure you havent messed with the refresh rates.

 

[Zamuri]

Originally posted by Crazy Eddie
Do the streaks tend to start in bright areas and run left to right? If so then it's the monitor. This happened to my old monitor, but it seems to be old age and doesn't necessarily mean it's about to fail: mine kept going for years. I just had to adjust the brightness/contrast a bit to get a better picture.

Actually, the streaks run both laft AND right, but they are dark. Example: Where ever there is text or dark areas on this screen, there are dark streaks running both directions.

Originally posted by gonzo_for_civ
if the above doesn't work then hit the monitor. I'm not kidding either. Slapping the top of the monitor can tell you a lot. If the display goes back to normal, even temporarily, you've got a monitor issue. If it doesn't change then it's probably your card.

This doesn't work...already tried that but thanks!

I'm leaning more toward the problem being the ancient (3+ year old) video card.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I edited your quote so it'd look proper(the coding was a bit off before)

I'm thinking it's a possibility the card is bad. It would be absolutely WONDERFUL if you could test the monitor with a working card and/or swap in a working monitor onto the machine w/the possibly bad card. That would help isolate the problem better

 

[Zamuri]

Thanks, Gonzo.

Well, I can still play CivIII, it's just annoying. I was thinking of going out and buying an old 32-MB card for $55 They're in the bagain bin with other unwantables at the local S-MART.

I guess I'll just put up with it for a couple of weeks until my new 3.06 ghz Alienware Area-51 is built and shipped.[dance]