screen goes blank with vertical lines

Discussion in 'Software' started by mgalvez1, Aug 11, 2009.

  1. mgalvez1

    mgalvez1 Private E-2

    Hello.. I hope to post it in the right place.. I have the following problem my monitor goes blan with vertical lines. It can go blank in one minute after booting or sometimes after hours and hours of working on. It is a ATI IXp 400 chip. How can I update to a new version to see if problem stop and where can i find the update version (free) is possible. Please advise.. I feel very frustated.
    thanks in advance for all your help.
    Sincerely,

    Marcia
     
  2. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    I think the problem is the video chip is overheating. If this goes on for awhile, the chip may fail completely. The problem could also be the video memory is faulty. A good way to test it would be to run a video stress test of some type. A good video memory test can be downloaded from this link. For a graphical stress test, either run the FurMark stability test, or run the Video Card Stability Test. FurMark is fairly famous for maxing out GPUs and quickly pointing out any problems. The Video Card Stability Test is older, but actually works really well when run for extended amounts of time, and will log a report if/when the GPU has an issue. The symptoms you describe do not usually indicate a driver issue. If the driver was at fault, the vertical lines would appear more-or-less at the same time or when doing the same thing. The fact that they appear irregularly tells me the hardware is at fault. Running a system memory test is also a good idea. I like using a bootable diagnostic, mainly this one. The download will let you create a bootable floppy, or an ISO image you'd burn to CD as an image. Then you'd boot to the diagnostic and press "T" to run the extended tests, and run at least 3-4 passes.... good luck!
     
  3. mgalvez1

    mgalvez1 Private E-2

    Hello DLB and thank you for your prompt response. i'll try all your suggestion and let you know later.
    Once more thanks.
    Marcia
    :)
     

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