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How to troubleshoot video card problems When a display adapter is having problems it can have all kinds of
symptoms: crashes, hangs, freezes, graphics artifacts (display corruption), and
more. If your video card is displaying some things incorrectly then you may be
able to identify the problem by comparing your screen errors with examples
screenshots. This page contains some screenshots of video cards which are
showing different kinds of visual problems. But if your video card is crashing
or hanging then it's often difficult to find the cause because so many
different problems can result in the same symptoms. There's a standard set of
fixes which you can try out to see if the problem goes away. If none of the
standard fixes work then things get more complicated. If you're not sure what
to do then you should just run through all of them. If none of them solve the
problem or point out which hardware is malfunctioning then you can start making
support calls or go out onto the Internet and ask for help in the support
forums. Before trying these fixes it's a good idea to create a system
restore point as described here. A restore point allows you to undo software
changes you make while trying to solve your video card problem. Fix #1: install the latest motherboard chipset
drivers Your motherboard contains a CPU, some RAM, expansion slots, and
various devices. But it also contains some chips which make all those parts
work together. The most important of these chips are called the chipset. You
need to install the chipset drivers to make sure that everything on your
motherboard is working reliably and running at full speed. The chipset makers
from time to time put out new chipset drivers to improve compatibility and
solve stability problems. On occasion, installing display drivers or software
updates (noteably installing Windows XP SP2) have been known to cause problems
with chipset drivers which requires them to be reinstalled. Chipset driver
problems are often responsible for crashes of AGP video cards and can affect
stability of expansion slots. So if you are having any kind of problems with
your display card, you should always update your chipset drivers because bad or
missing chipset drivers can cause problems which have all kinds of symptoms.
People often advise that you "install the latest drivers" but many
forget to do it for their chipset drivers. It's relatively easy and it may
solve your problem. Full instructions on how to install your chipset drivers
are here. Fix #2: uninstall your old display drivers and
then install the latest display drivers Your video card must have a display driver installed in order to do
anything but the most basic drawing to the screen. If you're having any
problems with your video card, one of the first things you should do is
download the latest display driver, uninstall the current display driver, and
then install the new driver you downloaded. This can make lots of problems
disappear. There is no point in spending time trying to trace down the cause of
video card problems until you've completed this initial step. Removing your old
driver and installing a new one gets you all the latest bug fixes. It can also
solve problems with damaged display driver installations. Even if you are
already running the latest driver then you should uninstall it and then
reinstall it. That assures that your display driver is installed properly and
that none of it has been damaged. On occasion, you may find that your problem
is solved by running an older driver rather than the latest one. Rolling back
to a previous driver is more likely to help if you have an older video card,
but if you want to be thorough you can also try this for newer video cards.
Always remember to uninstall your current display driver before installing one.
If you don't uninstall first then you can sometimes cause some pretty obscure
problems. Full instructions on how to uninstall your display drivers are here
and full installation instructions are here. Fix #3: disable your sound system When people's computers are crashing only while playing games, they
tend to blame their video cards. Most of the time they're right. But one of the
things that changes when you're playing games is how your sound hardware is
used. When you're not running a game, the sound hardware only uses a very basic
sound interface which is simple and reliable. But once you fire up a game, the
sound is often generated using lots of complex calculations running on the
sound hardware. It's not uncommon for the advanced part of the sound drivers to
be a bit buggy and to cause system crashes. So if you're having crashes during
games, it's a good idea to temporarily disable your sound hardware while you're
troubleshooting. That way you know for sure that it's not the sound system
which is responsible for your problems. If you're running Windows 2000 or XP, you
can disable your sound hardware by going into the Device Manager,
right-clicking on the sound hardware, and selecting "Disable". If
you're running Windows 95, 98, or ME, you can disable it by going into the
Device Manager, right-clicking on the sound hardware, selecting
"Properties", and then selecting "Disable in this hardware
profile". If your crashes stop after the sound is disabled, then you
should update your sound drivers. New drivers are put out to fix bugs and
compatibility problems so getting the latest drivers may solve the problem. If
you have a sound card then the drivers can be downloaded from the web site of
the company which made the card. If your sound is integrated into the
motherboard, then the drivers can be downloaded from the company which
manufactured the motherboard or from the maker of your computer. Fix #4: slow down your AGP port AGP stands for accelerated graphics port. An AGP expansion slot is
a very common way to connect a video card to the motherboard. AGP moves data to
and from the video card at very high speed. AGP also has a reputation for being
a bit flakey on some computers. AGP instability can cause crashes, hangs,
stutters, and video data corruption. Sometimes the problem is caused by the
motherboard. Sometimes it's caused by the video card. Other times it's just the
combination of certain video cards and motherboards which have problems. You
can see if AGP instability is giving you trouble by slowing down the AGP port.
There are many AGP parameters which you can modify but the two which are most
likely to solve the problem are the AGP speed multiplier and fast writes. AGP
can support speed multipliers of 8X (eight times), 4X, 2X, and 1X. The higher
the multiplier, the faster it transfers data. You can try to fix AGP instability
by using a slower multiplier. If you're running at 8X then try to turn it down
to 4X or even slower. The other AGP parameter worth modifying is fast writes.
Fast writes provide a faster way for the CPU to write data to the video card.
You can disable fast writes to see if your video card becomes more stable. If
you are using an ATI video card, then you can use SMARTGART to modify the speed
multiplier and fast writes. If you have an NVIDIA card, then you can try
CoolBits or RivaTuner. For other kinds of video cards you can use PowerStrip.
Detailed instructions on slowing down AGP ports are here. Fix #5: rig a desk fan to blow into your
computer If your video card crashes, hangs, stutters, or gets display
corruption a few minutes after you start a game, it may be overheating. It may
also be a chip on the motherboard or the power supply which is overheating. If
games fail pretty consistently after a longer period like twenty or thirty
minutes, then the inside of your case may be overheating. You can tell by
opening up the machine and aiming a desk fan at the inside of the machine. If
the games stop failing or take longer before problems occur, then you have an
overheating problem. You may be able to fix the problem by underclocking as
shown in fix #6 or you may have a mechanical problem which you can handle as
shown in fix #7. Fix #6: underclock your video card Some video cards are unstable if you run them at full speed.
Slowing them down can make them work properly. When you slow down the video
card, you are also cooling it down and reducing its power consumption. If your
video card crashes, hangs, stutters, or gets display corruption a few minutes
after you start a game, it may be overheating. The same thing can happen when a
power supply is overloaded and it overheats. Occasionally you'll run into bad
chips which cannot run reliably at full speed. Your video card has two values
which can be slowed down: the GPU clock rate, and the video RAM clock rate. You
can underclock both of those values to see if your video card problems go away.
If your problems disappear, then it usually means the video card is overheating
although it can also be a weak chip or an overtaxed power supply. Underclocking
can be done by using programs which are normally used to overclock. If you are
using an ATI video card and are running Windows 2000 or XP, then you can use
ATITool to underclock. If you have an NVIDIA card, then you can try CoolBits or
RivaTuner. For other kinds of video cards you can use PowerStrip. Detailed
instructions on underclocking your video card are here. Fix #7: do physical checks If you're having a problem with your video card, it's a good idea
to open the machine up and take a look at it. Usually the problem is software
or hardware related but occasionally it's just a mechanical problem. Sometimes
removing and then reseating the video card in its expansion slot or
disconnecting and reconnecting auxiliary power cables can get it to start
working properly. That's especially likely to solve your problem if your
computer has just been moved or you just built it and haven't gotten it to work
yet. If you don't feel confident fiddling around inside your computer then take
a look at this page. It's actually about installing a video card but that
includes detailed explanations of how to avoid zapping components with static
electricity, open a computer, remove a video card, and insert a video card.
Once you've got the video card out, take a thorough look at it. If there is a
lot of dust in the heatsink then you can poke it out or blow it out with a can
of compressed air. Look at the capacitors to see if they're bulging or leaking
as explained on this page. Check the heatsinks to make sure they are snug and
not wobbling around. Loosely fitting heatsinks are the cause of many
overheating problems. If everything appears to be in order, then plug it back
into the motherboard and make sure to reconnect any auxiliary power cables.
Make sure you push the card fully into the slot. Look at the top of the
motherboard connector where the video card plugs in and make sure that you only
see the tops of the golden fingers on the bottom of the video card sticking out
of the connector. If your slot has a latch, then make sure that it is fully
latched down. That helps make sure that the card is seated properly. You'd be
surprised how often a card which appears to be dead is actually just not pushed
fully into the slot. Fix #8: test your CPU and RAM Flakey CPU and RAM can cause all kinds of problems. Some of the
symptoms may only appear when the computer is under a lot of stress like when
you're playing a game. If you're having a hard time tracing down your problem,
then it's worth your time to exclude the RAM and CPU as possible causes. You
can run MemTest86 as explained here to test your RAM. It requires you to build
a bootable test disk because you cannot test RAM properly from within Windows.
You can test that your CPU is reliable under load by running Prime95 as
described here. If your computer can run both of those programs without errors,
then you can exclude your CPU and RAM as causes of your problem. Fix #9: check your power supply An overtaxed power supply can cause many different video card
problems. Unfortunately, power supply problems can also be extremely difficult
to diagnose. The best way to be sure that the power supply is not causing
problems is to swap in a known-good high-end power supply. For most folks
that's not a realistic option. You may also be able to recognize a power supply
problem by checking whether the voltages are in range. The easy way to check
voltages is using a motherboard monitoring utility which came with your
computer or motherboard. These utilities can check things like the power supply
voltages, internal temperatures, and fan speeds. If you have such a utility
then check that the voltages are where they belong. If you don't have a
motherboard utility then you can try SpeedFan, SensorsView, or Motherboard
Monitor. Unfortunately, some motherboards don't measure their own voltages very
accurately. To get an accurate voltage reading on those motherboards requires
opening up the computer and checking the voltages with a voltmeter. If you
happen to be enough of an electronics geek to own one then you can get an
accurate reading that way. Otherwise you can resort to using the motherboard
utilities. There are three main voltage values to check: 3.3 volts, 5 volts,
and 12 volts. According to the official specification all three of those
voltages must be within 5 percent. But in real life it's better if they are closer
than that. So 3.3 volts should be between 3.2 to 3.4 volts. 5 volts should be
from about 4.8 to 5.2 and 12 volts should be from 11.6 to 12.4. If the voltages
are outside of that range, it's not proof of a power supply problem but it's
not good. Some video cards tolerate voltages which are off better than others.
With most new video cards, the 12 volt value is the one which is most likely to
cause problems. If the 12 volt value suddenly drops when you start up a 3D
game, that's a bad sign. But ultimately, the only way to know for sure that a
power supply is the cause of your problems is to have the problems disappear
after swapping in a better supply. Reference: |
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