Dimension 8400: Problem with monitor/video card

SINsazsun,

 

Try this... right click on the desktop. Click on Properties. Then click on Settings. On the bottom right you'll see "advanced". Click on that. Then click on "monitor" and set the "screen refresh rate" to 85MHz if you have a CRT or 60 MHz if you have an LCD. If you have a CRT, you may need lower than 85MHz depending on what you're using. You can try 80 or 75 if using 85 doesn't correct your problem. The H and V are probably referring to Horizontal and Vertical size, which may need to be adjusted after you change frequency.

 

Ken

Thanx for the help, but i tried all of that and still it says something about being "out of frequency range". and I dont know why, I did a diagnostic test, and I got a blue screen, and it said the file "ati2dvag.dll" or something like that was "looping", and I dunno if thats the driver of the actually video card itself, Its a Radeon 300. Id rather not have to visit GeekSquad or anything because i dont have that much money on tap. but I have a lot of imporant files and about 8000 songs on my computer and I cant get to any of them because i cant even use my computer now. So now what should I do? Id appreciate all and any help.

It sounds like a video driver. I don't think you'd see that error with a bad card. I suggest you go to the ATI website and download the latest driver. Uninstall your present one through the add/remove panel and then reboot and install the new one. Then make sure your freq is set as stated above. Good luck.

 

This is the site for the Radeon X300 series drivers...

 

http://ati.de/support/drivers/xp/radeonx-xp.html

 

Ken

I tried the link and the downloads, but it kept telling me that the download wasnt authorized. I hope that there is another way. I also tried reinstalling the driver, but i installed from my card instead of the windows xp cd. Should I use that cd or the disk with all the drivers on it? Or should I just take it to someone. It didnt say anything bout the frequency today, but the screen was extremely garbled and itd black out maybe every 10-15 seconds, then come back up fuzzy and garbled again.

 

Thanx.

 

Oh, should I delete the driver and then re-install it from the card or cd, or would that not be a good idea?

There is a technical glitch on the ATI driver download page that is preventing you from downloading the driver. Go to: http://ati.amd.com/online/403/leech.asp 

 

Click on Customer Care and follow the links to the driver you need for the x300. It will download ok then. I tried it by this route and there was no problem. Be sure to uninstall the old driver before doing the new install.

Ok, i uninstalled the driver for it and restarted, but the new hardware installer came up and i reinstalled it from that, and then i installed the driver update from the site that you gave me. Should I have just reinstalled it from the site. my screen is still acting up and I dunno what to do. Could it be the card itself or just the driver? I'll try uninstalling it again and just installing the catalyst suite insteal of the new hardware installer. I hope this works. I cant even get the screen to stay on long enough for me to even do anything, i normally have to restart it 3 or 4 times before i can even get past 1 step. Any oher information?

 

thanx

You should download the driver and save it to either your desktop or a folder you can access easily. Once you uninstall your current driver from the add/remove section and restart your computer, you should be in a VGA mode. If you still have the problem at that time, then your video card or the monitor itself is most likely bad.

 

If  the screen is ok when you boot up, then close out all attempts for windows or the hardware installer to update the driver and double click on it from where you saved it. It should install correctly. To check whether the video card is bad, you'll have to try using another monitor with your current setup. And if you can try the monitor you're having trouble with another computer, that will tell you whether that is the problem.

 

That's about all the help I can offer. Good luck.

 

Ken

Backing up your HD is never a bad idea, but I would think what you're encountering is either a bad monitor, video card or driver.

 

If it's working ok without any ATI drivers, that would lead one to suspect it's a driver issue. You say it's stable for now but only a matter of time before it acts up. Try it for a while without the new drivers. You need to eliminate one thing at a time. If you had the problem with a different monitor, that rules the monitor out.

 

If it does stay stable, then install the new driver as instructed. I don't know if it's possible, but maybe, and this is big maybe, your video card is bad. It may be capable of putting out an image but not with any features other than plain vanilla VGA.

 

You never said what kind of monitor you were using nor what frequency it was set at. Again, if it's an LCD, set the freq at 60 MHz. Start off with 70MHz if it's a CRT.

Ive tried it with a different monitor and it still did the same thing, i uninstalled the drivers, and i guess im in VGA mode, and its working fine for right now, but I guess its only a matter of time before it starts up again. I thought about just buying a new card and calling it a day. but yea, i backed everything up the day it started happening because i didnt know if someone used a virus to try and burn up my hard drive or what.

Its no special monitor, its a regular 15 inch CRT that came with the computer. I had the resolution set to I think 1240x1080, and i kept it at that. and I mean for i can say the last year its been fine, but just last week it started acting up, and I really think that someone put a virus or someting on my computer and it started sending everything out of sync. I already tried both the monitors and its not the monitor. and when i said earlier it was only a matter of time, I was still in VGA mode, and about 5 minutes after I typed that, it started acting up again, and that was before I even installed the catalyst suite and all from ATI's site. and then i had to wait about 4 hours, and it was acting up while I was installing the drivers, and still it did nothing. Now when the screen blacks out, the monitor ticks like every 5 seconds; but like I mentioned, my monitor is fine, and every time I do a diagnostic test, the file "ati2dvag" keeps comming up, so Im just thinking i need to buy a better graphics card. but even thats a bit out of budget.

I googled your ati2dvag.dll and here's what came it. Hopefully it will solve your problem.

 

http://www.sightsea.com/pghpchd/pages/infinite_loop.html

 

This is about ati2dvag.dll looping and how to fix it. This sounds like your problem??

I wonder if there is a way I can do this with the computer off. I read up on what was said on the other site, but I think that'll be nearly imposible to do when the monitor wont even come on at all. I went to the store and bought another video card i havent installed it yet, im trying persistantly to fix this, and just take the other back if I dont need it. But yea, It said something about the card being dusty as well, i'll take it out and clean it with a q-tip, and try again, but I hope this works, I havent tried since I posted last to turn on my PC, but I have another I went and borrowd from my mom. Do all cards from ATi eventually have these problems?