Oh, great computer gurus -- on a daily basis, my monitor will start to display extremely garbled graphics accompanied by a metallic-sounding distortion in all sounds. I can tell things are about to go bad when my mouse pointer develops a faint square outline around it and then turns green or purple -- after this happens, all the graphics turn green or purple and then become extremely distorted -- I have saved a screen capture if you're interested in looking at it. I then restart my computer and everything is back to normal (for a while anyway).
What is your operating system? Is the fan working on your graphics card?
Perhaps run with the case open & try to notice heat issues.
Try going to start/run/dxdiag
Look under Display for any errors. Also what is your Display Device?
Also check the Device Manager: RT click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager or go to start/run/devmgmt.msc for any "!"
Also: look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id especially of errors that seem to coincide with this issue.
Okay, my original post was cut short, so here's the rest of the information I originally posted:
...This problem can happen at random, but I can force it to happen by visiting web pages that use Flash animation, by ripping MP3 files from CD, or by copying MP3 files to a portable player. I typically disable Flash so I can surf the web in peace, but it can still occur even with Flash disabled. The problem appears quicker and more frequently with Firefox than IE.
Another issue -- 2 or 3 times per day, my computer completely freezes -- no error message, no auto reboot, no BSOD, can't CTRL-ALT-DEL, mouse & keyboard freeze. I have to do a hard reboot (recycle power) to fix the hang up. Once rebooted, the computer works fine until the next random occurrence. This seems to happen most often when using Symantec WinFax PRO, but it also happens at other random times when working with regular routine programs like MS-Word or Excel.
About my system:
~3 yrs. old
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Winddows XP Home SP2
512MB RAM
100GB HD (50.3GB free)
S3 ProSavage8 (or ProSavageDDR) graphics
Vinyl AC'97 audio
*I have made sure that all audio & video drivers were up to date using Device Manager.
*No hardware conflicts in Device manager.
*Computer is virus free.
*I downloaded SpeedFan to monitor the temperature in my CPU, and I've never seen it climb above 43*C when I notice the display and sound problems.
*No DirectX error messages -- all diagnostic tests run fine.
*I copied all warnings & errors in Event Viewer & pasted them in the attached text files. I've noticed no correlation between these errors and the problem I am describing.
Please let me know if this helps anyone out there -- thanks for the initial suggestions jephree & Meckanix.
Go to start | search (type in) .dmp
Note the location of your latest .dmp file.
Then:
1) Download and install the Debugging Tools from Microsoft
2) Download and install this debugwiz
3) Open the Wiz & Browse to, or paste in the path to, your latest .dmp file.
4) After the Wiz creates a Text document attach it back to this thread.
Thanks for the interpretation of the dump files, jephree.
Modem is a Smart Link __________ (couldn't find exact model number under Device Manager) -- 56K internal v.92 PCI. I had Windows search for an updated modem driver -- it found one, so I installed the updated driver.
There are no hardware conflicts or "!" under Device Manager. Any other ideas for the garbled graphics and sound issue? This is issue I'm really concerned with.
VIA Hyperion drivers are suitable for any VIA chipset and all Microsoft Windows 32 bit Operating Systems. Please read the information about all VIA chipset driver choices, however, so that you chose the drivers that can best be recommended for your system.
I checked the manufacturer's website & found an updated VIA driver chipset for my particular PC (VIA 4-in-1 ver.4.43). After installing the updated drivers, I am still having the same problems. Should I use the drivers you recommended above even though the manufacturer's website linked directly to the updated drivers I installed?
Here are the relevant line items copied from the manufacturer's website. Only the modem and chipset had recommended updated drivers available.
Chipset Driver
Description: VIA Chipset 4 in 1 Driver
File Type: Updated Driver
Operating System: XP
Version: Service Pack V 4.43
Download File: Click here to download ( 1.13 MB )
Integrated Video Driver
Description: S3 ProSavageDDR
File Type: Original Driver
Operating System: XP
Version: 6.13.10.1083
Download File: Click here to download ( 4.42 MB )
Modem Driver
Description: Smartlink Modem Driver
File Type: Updated Driver
Operating System: XP
Version: 3.0.4.180
Read Me: Click here to download
Download File: Click here to download ( 2.67 MB )
Audio Driver
Description: Integrated AC '97 Audio Driver
File Type: Original Driver
Operating System: XP
Version: 5.10.0.3910
Download File: Click here to download ( 12.7 MB )
