Video Card Problem

[bull2003]

I woke up this morning and I have hundreds of different coloured lines/dashes throughout my screen. If I refresh they mostly disappear but when I scroll a web page they make it hard to read text etc. Is this a video card or RAM issue?

P4 3.0
Asus P4P800 mobo
Radeon 9700 pro
1.5 gig sdram

[Spongebob]

Originally Posted by bull2003

I woke up this morning and I have hundreds of different coloured lines/dashes throughout my screen. If I refresh they mostly disappear but when I scroll a web page they make it hard to read text etc. Is this a video card or RAM issue?

P4 3.0
Asus P4P800 mobo
Radeon 9700 pro
1.5 gig sdram

It might be your power suppy. I've seen stuff like that happen when they become unstable or overheat.
Try testing your card in anoyher system if you have one just incase it is the video card, also download and install the latest drivers.

[Yawgm0th]

The wattage and brand of your PSU would be nice to know, though I wouldn't point to that for sure...

What you're getting sounds like basic artifacts, which are basically visual anomalies usually caused by the video card overheating. Make sure it's fan is still plugged in and working.

This can also be cause by graphics driver settings that don't work. If you changed anything in the Catalyst Control Panel recently, that could be it, too.

[wayout44]

Is the room getting warmer?
When was the last time that you cleaned the dust out of your system?
Did you make any hardware changes just before this problem?

[matm347]

What happens with a cold boot?

Do as stated above, make sure all fans(even psu) are still working fine, and just because they turn, doesn't mean they turn as fast as they should be.

How long has the system been running with out problems?

artifacts such as these(ones that don't move and stay) are usually assiciated with the video RAM.

If they show up BEFORE the OS loads, this is strictly a hardware issue, and would take any software problem out of the question.