[dllp117]

now when i take out the video card, the problems with my monitor stoops-when i put it back in, the monitor is back to it's 'messed-up' form. i also tried to change the voltage of the ram, but the bios won't let me-it displays the rams voltage, but it's in gray, and won't let me change it at all. i don't know whether this points to a video card problem or a ram problem that is having an effect on the graphics card. i also ran a memtest, but it didn't detect any errors.

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Does it display the current voltage for the RAM?
Do you have onboard video? Otherwise how do you know the problems with your motherboard stops? If you do have onboard please disable it.
Yes I have to agree with you it's beginning to look like the video card.
James

[james_8970]

Does it display the current voltage for the RAM?
Do you have onboard video? Otherwise how do you know the problems with your motherboard stops? If you do have onboard please disable it.
Yes I have to agree with you it's beginning to look like the video card.
James

[dllp117]

the BIOS does display the current voltage of the ram, but will not let me change it.
i do have onboard video, but i believe i have disabled it-in the BIOS, there is a selection for which display device you want to us, and i selected pci-e-the other choices were pci and onboard (or shared, maybe).
though it appears that the problem could be the video card, i did experience a crash after taking it out-rma's are still avaliable to me for both the ram and the video card, so i'm wondering if i should return both items, in case both the ram and the video card are faulty (that'd be pretty unlucky, though).
i'm also wondering if i got a new motherboard (i can still return the one i have, and it would be easier, as the shop is in town) that might fix the problem, as the the current motherboard might be causing the problem since it only runs the ram at 1.8 volts, and that, in turn may have some effect on the graphics card, in some way. i don't know if that could logically happen; it's just a theory, and if i could just change the ram voltage that would be easier, but tell me what you think...

[james_8970]

Whats your motherboard brand, and model number. If it's gigabyte you need to press Ctrl+F1 to change voltages. I highly doubt both are bad, is there any chance you can try the video card in another computer. Can you please double check that you have in fact disabled onboard video.
James

[dllp117]

my motherboard is a MSI K9AG Neo2
in a little less than a week i will be able to test my video card on my friends pc, i was just thinking about that.
and as far as i can tell, i have disabled onboard video. from what i have read in the manual (read:the whole thing) it sounds like i have disabled it; all it says to do is to select whichever device you want to use (again; pci-e, pci, or internal) but 'in-the-past' the manual hasn't been very good in explaining how to do things (it doesn't even mention how to change the ram voltages)

[dllp117]

after 'extensive' research on the web, i'm beginning to believe that i have actually NOT disabled the onboard video; i have found out that dual channel ram does not work properly if you have an onboard video card leeching from them-this would explain the crash-and then, since onbaord vid was still active, this would cause a crash/'collision' with my video card, which would explain the messed-up screen when i had my card plugged in. tell me what you think. (and i still can't find how to change the voltage's on MSI boards, so if you know, that'd be great!)

[dllp117]

okay, i managed to change the voltage! silly me; all i had to do to change it was Page Down...a lot of trouble for such a simple answer!
anywho, the dual core center is still making the alarm sound, now i'm focusing on why it's still doing that.
and for reference, my onboard video is an amd 690G.
i'm also going to give my graphics card another shot and see if it works!

[james_8970]

after 'extensive' research on the web, i'm beginning to believe that i have actually NOT disabled the onboard video; i have found out that dual channel ram does not work properly if you have an onboard video card leeching from them-this would explain the crash-and then, since onbaord vid was still active, this would cause a crash/'collision' with my video card, which would explain the messed-up screen when i had my card plugged in. tell me what you think. (and i still can't find how to change the voltage's on MSI boards, so if you know, that'd be great!)

Pull your graphics card out, run your computer on onboard, see what happends, try and game a little and see if you have any difficulties.
Good to hear you uped your voltages to the 1.9V it should be at, ruling that out as a possible problem.
James

[dllp117]

i ran my computer with onboard video (enabled via the BIOS) with my video card out and i experienced no crashes (which is good since i was on for about 2-3 hours). obviously, i couldn't play Oblivion with onboard video, so i played AOE 2 for a couple of hours and ran into now problems...so i'm guessing this points to the video card as the problem? or a clash between the video card and onboard video (supposing i hadn't fully disabled the onbaord video chip) but the Dual Core Center is still making that annoying noise...

[james_8970]

Lets do one thing at a time, now try fully disabling the onboard video and try the video card. If it crashes, you can double check on someone elses rig, but I think it's clear to say that the video card is finished. Did you by any chance install any drivers for the video card? Could you have installed the wrong set?
James

[dllp117]

after disabling the onboard video, i used my graphics card again and experienced the same messed up screen. i am almost positive it is not a drivers problem, as there are only two sets: the drivers for xp, and the drivers for Vist. i, of course, downloaded the xp drivers. before i get an rma, i still want to test the card on a friends pc (that'll probably be early next week) but, like you said, it does appear to be the video card that's messed up.

[dllp117]

sorry for the late response; before i sent for an rma, i wanted to test my video card at my friends house, and i couldn't do that until yesterday (tuesday the 7th). i'm glad i did this, because the graphics card worked with his computer (really well, in fact; he didn't want me to take it back out! ) anywho, on a whim, when i got home, i decided to re-install windows xp-and...guess what? it worked!!!! i've tested several games (Black and White 2, Oblivion, Just Cause) and totaled around 5 1/2 of gameplay (i wanted to make sure that there no problems whatsoever before posting) and, from what i can tell, it's completely fixed!!! i also want to thank you for all the help you provided; i couldn't of gotten anywhere without it-so thanks a ton!!! i really appreciated all of it!

[james_8970]

No problem, by the sounds of it you must have downloaded the wrong driver.
Glade I could help and happy to see that the issue is resolved. Good job for solving it yourself
James

Edited by james_8970, 09 August 2007 - 12:23 AM.