A freak phenomenon

[Samsonid]

Hi all,

This is on a Window2000 station with an ASUS A8V-Deluxe and ATI 9800pro.
This workstation has been on (running 24/7) for four years straight and without problems (it only rebooted during installation of patches and the like)

Lately, I have been experiencing some weird behavior.
After a reboot, the PC is working perfectly for a few days straight and then ... when opening an application (it could be any application such as AutoCad or Illustrator ... something with graphic viewports) the screen becomes scrambled. Literally. Parts of the task bar jump to another location of the screen, the system tray goes somewhere else (the clock is still ticking on it) any open windows blink when trying to click them ... but I still retain mouse / cursor control. The system overall becomes unusable and have to force reboot by using the physical reset button ... then the system works ok again for a few days.

-I have uploaded new drivers for the video card.
-Have uploaded new drivers for the chipset.
-Also, I have backed up all data ... formated the drive and reinstalled Win2k clean. -Re-imported all data and I still get the glitch now on a fresh windows installation.

I am beginning to suspect that the video card is acting up ? or maybe the motherboard is showing wear ?

Do you think it is an imminent mechanical failure ? ... or have you seen something similar ? ... maybe one of the Microsoft patches destabilized some deep system files ? maybe something else ?

 

[Specop 007]

You could do a format and reinstall and not apply the patches and fixes to Windows and see what that does if you suspect a MS patch.

 

[nCred]

Could be the RAM, I had weird things like that happen when one of the RAM-sticks malfunctioned. Sometimes the picture would be upside down, lol..

 

[rbV5]

Sounds like a heat issue. Make sure that the card is clean (dust) and verify that the fan is still spinning properly. I'd guess that the fan is dying if the card is clean. Replacement is cheap and easy.

 

[NicColt]

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like a heat issue. Make sure that the card is clean (dust) and verify that the fan is still spinning properly. I'd guess that the fan is dying if the card is clean. Replacement is cheap and easy.

Leave it to a pro to explain it

I had very similar issues with my X800XL I replaced the heat sink with an Artic Cooler Silencer 5 and everything came back to normal. Before replacing the fan make sure you take some compressed air to it and clean it. Also make sure you get the right replacement fan that will fit.

---
Hey RB remember me nice to see ya buddy.

 

[postmortemIA]

Sound like another 9800 bites the dust.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: NicColt

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like a heat issue. Make sure that the card is clean (dust) and verify that the fan is still spinning properly. I'd guess that the fan is dying if the card is clean. Replacement is cheap and easy.

Leave it to a pro to explain it

I had very similar issues with my X800XL I replaced the heat sink with an Artic Cooler Silencer 5 and everything came back to normal. Before replacing the fan make sure you take some compressed air to it and clean it. Also make sure you get the right replacement fan that will fit.

---
Hey RB remember me nice to see ya buddy.

That would be my first guess too except his system seems to run for a few days without a problem.

Still definitely worth checking though.

 

[NicColt]

Originally posted by: Specop 007
That would be my first guess too except his system seems to run for a few days without a problem. Still definitely worth checking though.

exactly what happened to me, at first my games were locking up after 30 minutes or so, after a while it would lock up within the minute, then my screen would start to artifact.

One thing you should check is that when it does happen try to see if your fan is still spinning, maybe your fan is just stopping. Then a reboot seems to start the fan again... and so on.

 

[Samsonid]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the suggestions !

I am reluctant to think it is heat issue due to sudden failure of its fan, because a few years ago, the very moment I bought the card, I immediately removed its own microscopic fan and replaced it with a huge Zalman fanless heatsink which also happened to be right next to the case 80mm side fan (receiving air from it).

The card has been working flawlessly for a few years like that.

In the end, it seems the card was dying a natural death for some reason. Possibly normal wear and tear ? Possibly the huge Zalman heatsink and the 80mm side fan was not keeping the card cool enough, over a prolonged period of time, and developed heat fatigue ?

In any case, now I have replaced this ATI with a new card.
There are no more artifacts.
Problem solved

 

[Denithor]

Well, I didn't look at the dates until I saw your followup but I was going to suggest exactly that--try a new/different card and see if the problem goes away.

By the way, if you are running Autocad and such wouldn't a FireGL or Quadro card do the job better than a "gaming" card? I know it's mostly optimized drivers and such, but how do the mainstream cards compare to the "true" workstation cards?

 

[xtknight]

never mind, guess you fixed it.

 

[Samsonid]

Darn !!

I spoke too soon (my big mouth). The issue is still with me.

So far, I have (in chronological sequence since the beginning):
-Reinstalled video drivers (new and old and some combinations in between)
-Since the issue persisted, I reinstalled/updated chipset drivers.
-Since the issue persisted, I downloaded all windows updates to bring the OS in sync with Microsoft
-The issue persisted, so I completely uninstalled windows, formated the drive and started from scratch. (Did not backup any windows settings only data ... so the registry was all fresh)
-The issue persisted, so bought a new video card.
-After a few days of trouble free operation the issue is still there. (it occurred again yesterday for the first time)

When it happens the screen looks like this:
http://img503.imageshack.us/my...mage=clipboard1ae8.png

I still have cursor control. If I can blindly grab the window taskbar and drag it around eventually I can mop the screen clean again and keep working a little more until it happenes again.

This motherboard has never been overclocked, but I am noticing some capacitors are bulging on top where the 'X' is and showing a little brown stuff (small leaks). Not sure if this is significant enough.

I am not sure what to troubleshoot next. Memory ? I did a stress test and it passed.
Power supply ? It is a PC power and cooling (one of the best) and I am behind a UPS which normalizes any current spikes even before they enter PSU.

Buy a new motherboard (in other words upgrade the system altogether ?)

...

 

[mruffin75]

If the capacitors are bulging then I would strongly suggest replacing the motherboard (brown stuff as well?? definately leakage..saw lots of that plugging in capacitors to power sockets in electronics class )

Whether that solves your problem is anyone's guess...but I'd guess it would...

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: NicColt

Originally posted by: rbV5
Sounds like a heat issue. Make sure that the card is clean (dust) and verify that the fan is still spinning properly. I'd guess that the fan is dying if the card is clean. Replacement is cheap and easy.

Leave it to a pro to explain it

I had very similar issues with my X800XL I replaced the heat sink with an Artic Cooler Silencer 5 and everything came back to normal. Before replacing the fan make sure you take some compressed air to it and clean it. Also make sure you get the right replacement fan that will fit.

---
Hey RB remember me nice to see ya buddy.

Sure I do, good to "see" ya The video forum appears to have been tamed somewhat, so I'm beginning to venture back occasionally.

This motherboard has never been overclocked, but I am noticing some capacitors are bulging on top where the 'X' is and showing a little brown stuff (small leaks). Not sure if this is significant enough.

I don't know if its related to your screen corruption, but that motherboard is about to let you down. Replacing that board would be my next step.

 

[xtknight]

I was going to suggest an L2 cache/memory/PSU problem.

When you say windows start flashing intermittently (notification, correct?) that is not a problem stemming from the GPU. The other problems could also be explained otherwise. Try running memtest86.

Likewise it could just be a software problem or a virus but it's doubtful since you said you already reinstalled. Leaning towards board/chipset now.

 

[Samsonid]

memtest86 passes with zero errors.

It seems the worst thing it could happen at this time is happening. Having to change a motherboard, implies an overhaul (new memory, new cpu, new video, new cpu coolers).

This was an Asus board (quite reputable) and it only lasted 3 years.

 

[Samsonid]

Originally posted by: xtknightLikewise it could just be a software problem or a virus but it's doubtful since you said you already reinstalled. Leaning towards board/chipset now.

Well, I wouldn't rule it out ... for example although windows is fresh, maybe the virus is in my data. Once I reinstall the executables (applications) and the data, I could be reinstalling the virus as well.

The problem is I would not know how to solve it since BitDefender cannot even sniff it (and BitDefender has one of the highest rates detection). I even did a virus scan by booting with an alternate drive which is completely clean and has no applications and no data in it (only a vanilla install of windows, Firefox and BitDefender)

 

[Samsonid]

--EDIT--