Display problems with Radeon 9800

Question

I recently developed some display problems on my XPS desktop (one of the original ones, with an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO, 128 MB Video Card, running Windows XP -- fully updated -- with a Dell 1900 flat screen monitor, functionally equivalent to the 1901 AFAIK). The problems started a few days ago, after logging in to Guild Wars (no idea if that was a cause or merely coincidental).

Symptoms include:

--- the windows start up splash screen has poor display quality with lots of smallish blue squares, either stationary or moving

--- poor and corrupted image quality on Guild Wars (small bars and corrupted colors, especially in a couple of wide vertical stripes on left and right of screen); haven't checked out other 3D applications.

--- while it's useable, and doesn't look too bad, under normal windows operation (with white background -- haven't checked others), there are small sets of black bars above and below the cursor, and some of the desktop icons are (somewhat randomly) missing, uncolored, or have bars over them too; menu's pop up a little more slowly than they should (though not by much); and some corruption of internet explorer display.

So far, I have messed around with display settings (device manager says my video card is working properly), run dxdiag, reinstalled the video drivers (the latest ones from ATI seemed to stop direct3D functionality altogether, but the ones from Dell more-or-less returned the system to its previous state), unistalled video drivers in safe mode and reinstalled them; also reinstalled the monitor drivers and the latest version of DirectX just to be safe. Checked that the video card fan is operational. Run spyware and virus scans...

I've run out of things to try --- I'm not even sure if I have a driver problem or a hardware problem or what. Where should I go from here?

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Thecla, Is the PC under warranty? It sounds like the video card is failing.

Thecla · Answer

ChrisM,   I was afraid of that --- and no it's not under warranty.   I ran the Dell Diagnostics, and got an error on the video memory test: __________________________________   VESA SVGA Video -- Video Memory Test   Error Code 5300:0119   Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: Dh(300x200x16). Address A0004h, expected to read FFFFFFFFh but read FF00FF00h instead. ____________________________________   Does this mean my card is fried?   If it is, I have a couple of questions: (a) are there any compatibility issues with putting in any new video cards in an older XPS? (b) do you happen to have any recommendation for what to replace it with that will, for example, handle Elder Scrolls Oblivion well and match the system specs below?   Thanks   Thecla   p.s I've had this XPS since June 2003, and it has run flawlessly. This is the first hint of hardware trouble I have ever had -- it's been great. :)   ___________________________________   Dimension XPS Desktop Windows XP Home (SP-2) 2.8 GHz P4 I Gb of some kind of RAM 120 Gb Hard drive Samsung DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW ATI Radeon 9800, 128 Mb

ObsidianOrder · Answer

Ok this is EXACTLY the same problem i am having right now, i just made a thread on it hours ago, so is a new video card definently the only solution?

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Thecla, I removed the Radeon 9800 Pro from my XPS Gen 1 and installed the AGP Radeon X850 XT PE. It runs great.

Thecla · Answer

I ended up replacing my 9800pro with a GeForce 7800 GS. It took 5 minutes to do, since it uses the same molex connector as the pro, has run perfectly (I used a non-OC'd eVGA 7800 GS card --- some problems seem to be reported with their OC'd version, but I've had none), fixed all my display problems, is no louder than the 9800pro, and given me a huge boost in graphics. Hopefully, it'll now be possible to keep this Gen 1 XPS for 5 years. ;)

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Display problems with Radeon 9800

Was this post helpful?