Video card or Monitor issue?

S

Snobok

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 18, 2004
Messages
1,432
Okay, here is the current situation:

1st, my system specifications:
C2d E6300 @ 2.8GHz
4gb DDR2-800
ATI HD 3850 256mb
HDD, DVDRW, etc
Corsair HX520W PSU
Acer AL2016W 20" LCD

Whats going on:
I noticed this only when surfing the internet on any browser. This same problem occurs in IE, Firefox, and Opera. While I am surfing the net, my screen will suddenly flash to black and say there is no signal. A few seconds later, the screen will regain signal and will continue to work as before. This event will occur every few minutes.

When this occurs:
This problem only seems to occur while I surf the internet. It does not seem to occur during gaming at all. It seems to happen more frequently in Firefox than in Opera.

What I have done so far:
I used to have an Nvidia 7800GTX in my rig. I used Driver Cleaner to get rid of the Nvidia drivers when I upgraded to the HD3850. When this issue started occuring, I used DC to remove all ATI drivers and installed the latest Catalyst 8.6 drivers. This seemed to fix the problem completely for a day or so, but I just noticed it happening again today, but not as frequently. I also checked the DVI cable connection to make sure the cable was secure.

What do you all suggest?
 
Since I did not have a spare DVI cable lying around, I figured I would try the analog input. The same problem seems to be happening still, but more frequently I might add. Also, the VGA cable I used is good far to my knowledge.

EDIT: I guess the best way for me to test and figure out which part is at fault is to switch out the HD3850 for a spare 7800gtx I have here and see if the problem goes away. If not, I would think the fault to be at the graphics card level. I hope its not the card since I was planning on selling the 3850 to a friend.

I can imagine the problem being the cable since I have been using the same DVI cable for ~11 months.
 
Well, I swapped out the HD3850 for an XFX 7800GTX that I had lying around, and that seems to have fixed the problem so far. I see how it goes in the next couple of days to verify.

Does anyone have any idea as to what might be causing this issue with the HD3850? I am thinking perhaps the card is overheating, and that I might need to apply some AS5.

I have to say it: Although I prefer AMD/ATI (I call them DAMMIT), Nvidia's drivers are much easier to work with.
 
Snobok said:
Well, I swapped out the HD3850 for an XFX 7800GTX that I had lying around, and that seems to have fixed the problem so far. I see how it goes in the next couple of days to verify.

Does anyone have any idea as to what might be causing this issue with the HD3850? I am thinking perhaps the card is overheating, and that I might need to apply some AS5.

I have to say it: Although I prefer AMD/ATI (I call them DAMMIT), Nvidia's drivers are much easier to work with.
Click to expand...

+1 to that man
 
probably a weird incompatibility. u would think using driver cleaner is enough but sometimes a fresh install is the way to go sadly.
 
A fresh install is what I'm thinking will be necessary. The HD3850 should work just fine in my friends new comp as I'll be doing a fresh install of WinXP.

It's been about 6 months since my last reinstall of Windows, perhaps its time to refresh again. I just noticed the screen flash black and then go back to normal a few minutes ago, so I am thinking fresh install. Going back and forth between Nvidia and ATI is a pain.
 
there should be no reason to "refresh" an os. rma the card if it doesnt work in another system. If it does work, you have a driver/resource issue.
 
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