Artifacts after new XP install

[mike45450]

I've run into a problem which is really quite frustrating. Yesterday I 'obtained' WinXP Pro Corporate w/ SP2 integrated (March 07 edition). It installed fine, or so I thought. Everything was going well, and then I started to install all the drivers and stuff and the problems started when I installed the 7.4 Catalyst drivers for my 9800 Pro. When I installed them, the computer wouldn't even get to the login screen. So I went to safe mode, uninstalled them (and used Driver Cleaner Pro) and tried 7.3 instead. It worked fine once, but after about 20 minutes I saw artifacts all over the screen as I moved the curser around more, and then it eventually froze. Now i'm seeing artifacts eventually everytime I use the computer, and with no graphics drivers installed.

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the situation? Could it be a software problem, or is it my graphics card is buggered? When I get home i'm gonna install my 5200FX (lol...it's the only spare card I got) and see if it is my graphics card. In the mean time i'd greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks guys

[lynx]

It is unlikely to be a problem with the drivers.

Have you overclocked the graphics card?
That and other hardware related problems are usually the only reasons to get artefacts.

Have a look in the event log and see if there are any entries related to the times when it crashed.

[Appzalien]

The motherboard has a video chip that communicates with the card, did you install your motherboard vga drivers before the card drivers?

[mike45450]

Yeah, I think I did.

Anyway, I think it may be fixed...sorta. Just as I was preparing to switch in my old 5200, I decided to try the 7.3 drivers one more time, and it worked! No artifacts, though it has crashed a few times tonight...

Still, it's usable in it's current state so hopefully it won't explode anytime too soon.

[peat moss]

Yeah, I think I did.

Anyway, I think it may be fixed...sorta. Just as I was preparing to switch in my old 5200, I decided to try the 7.3 drivers one more time, and it worked! No artifacts, though it has crashed a few times tonight...

Still, it's usable in it's current state so hopefully it won't explode anytime too soon.


But are n't you curious why it's crashing ? Well friend at lest you have a spare vid card to swap out , have you tried that . ? I'd delete drivers with a clean up tool like Driver Cleaner then start fresh with updated drivers.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Secure-cleaning/Driver-Cleaner.shtml

In my limited experience its one of three things , Heat , Drivers , Psu .

[DemonicFire]

When I switched from my onboard video to my x300 card whicc is PCI-E, in the booklet, it said to change the main video imput in the bios to the PCI-E slot as you can change it to different settings like PCI, PCI-E, and onboard. And because of that, your 9800 Pro might be messing with the onboard video, hence the reason why it might be crashing and the computer screwing up.

[clocker]

Yeah, I think I did.

Anyway, I think it may be fixed...sorta. Just as I was preparing to switch in my old 5200, I decided to try the 7.3 drivers one more time, and it worked! No artifacts, though it has crashed a few times tonight...

Still, it's usable in it's current state so hopefully it won't explode anytime too soon.
"Sorta" is the operative word here.
If you're running a fresh load of Windows and the PC crashes "a few times", then something is wrong...seriously.

Obviously, you and I differ on the definition of "usable in it's current state".
Mine doesn't include crashing- ever.