Help! MS Win screen looks like swiss cheese, direct x problem?

Hi Tech Experts,

One day I was winning a Command and Conqueer game online and then the game graphics goes haywire. Next thing I know everytime I log onto windows xp the windows XP startup screen graphics looks like swiss cheese. Almost like someone took a machine gun to it. I also noticed that went I visit websites, not all the website graphics are rendered anymore. Another symptom is that my cursor appears ghostly (not solid rendering) and some of my windows icons disappeared even though the icon description remains. When I start the C and C game, it says that I need to install direct x 8.1. Well that wasn't a problem before but I tried. So, I read thru the tech help sites and tried reinstalling direct 8.1 x. I also tried deleting and reinstalling my graphics drivers. I also tried deleting and reinstalling the ddraw.dll but the system would not let me delete the ddraw file. None of these solns worked. Has nybody seen anything like this? Care to offer a solution as I am stumped at this point.

Thank you for the benefit of your experience,
Luc

 

I can't say the screen looked like swiss cheese, lol, but all the other sypmtons I experienced. After it got worse, we finally had to replace the video card. (It cleared everything up) Sounds like the video card is going. Another thing, what kind of protection do you have? And have yo scanned for malware?

 

Hi Helpful Friends,
I did scan for malware and just found some regular spyware. I use McAfee (purchased via Dell), Ad Aware (free version) and a purchased copy of Spy Sweeper. I don't think the problem is malware. I also run virus sweeps regularly. Forgot to mention, am able to watch dvds just fine. However, when I watch some saved video clips, they are somewhat corrupted and appear to have some video static.
Thanks,
Luc

 

DVD's play fine? That changes things a little... sounds like data is being corrupted. I'm not sure how though... when did this start? Do anything different with your rig before it started up? Making sure your components are sufficiently cooled is always important. Hope it's not faulty hardware, that would be a pain...

 

DX 8.1?

Try installing:

http://majorgeeks.com/DirectX_End-User_Redistributable_d2924.html

When you run this, it will extract to a folder. Within that folder will be the setup/installation program to run.

What resolution are ye running?
Try reseating the video card.
If possible, try a different video card (or onboard, if already onboard, try adding a card from a friend).