corrupted graphics??

[person]

When I play WC3 or Rise of Nations for aroung 20min or so, lines appear on my screen, and the colours also get messed up. When this happens, the only way I can solve the problem is to restart my computer. I haven't noticed this problem with Halo, or Civ3.

I don't know if it matters or not, but the graphics card I'm using is ATI Mobility/Radeon 9200 Saphire 128M

[Neo]

Your card might be overheating or your drivers are corrupt. Try reinstalling the drivers.

[person]

I already tried resinstalling my driver.
I don't think that it's overheating because after the screen gets all messed up, it gets fixed with a restart. I dont think 10 seconds is really enough time for it to cool down.

[Andy]

oh you'd be surprised.... the materials asics are made from are excellent conductors

[person]

So you think one of those $10 dollar fans would be enough to solve my problem?

[Andy]

I've actually seen what you're talking about happen to my laptop. It only happened three or four times, and i think my vpu was OCed, now that i'm at stock settings it hasnt occured for a while. But then again, i havent played games in a while either. What video card are you running?

[person]

Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE 128MB

[Andy]

Could it be that your videocard is dying? it's an RV280.. and it's an SE too... spare a hundred bux and get a decent card.

[[Gandalf]]

He already had his video card in the first post...

I don't think the case is the same for you, since it only happens for certain games, but I experienced a similar problem only because of my monitor. For you, I would assume it's somehow the drivers fault. Have you tried different drivers?

[person]

Well, I've tried the one ATI provides...and....do I have other options?

[codemage]

9000x series SEs run pretty hot. Some games will work the video card more than others; halo & civ are fairly easy on the card compared to more immersive games.

If it's not your card overheating, you might also not be getting enough power from the supply when your card is maxxed out. That'll cause your card to skip sequences & mangle bits when it isn't getting the power it needs.

My bet is on overheating, though. Try running with the cover off and with a house fan blowing across the system if you want to check (before investing in a unit fan).

There are also free utilities to monitor the heat in your case / on your card.

[Andy]

there was a tool that will monitor the temperature of all acpi devices, and will log it at given intervals. I would run that and crash your computer again and check the temprature of your videocard right before the crash

[[Gandalf]]

person wrote:

Well, I've tried the one ATI provides...and....do I have other options?

I've noticed that hacked drivers often work better than the official releases, also, you might try upgrading or downgrading your current official drivers.

[Blade]

[Gandalf] wrote:

person wrote:

Well, I've tried the one ATI provides...and....do I have other options?

I've noticed that hacked drivers often work better than the official releases, also, you might try upgrading or downgrading your current official drivers.

well for nvidia i've heard that Omega drivers are the best. i use them for my geforce 6800 and they seem to work much better. as for ati, i've heard that DNA drivers are the best. however both DNA and Omega release drivers for both manufacturers. but, both are alternatives to what you're using now.

[person]

I've tried the drivers, it still happens. And in Rome total war, it becomes something like when u go into photoshop and draw random colours in the center of the screen and then use radial blur a few extra times.