Hi! Desktop Speckles :(

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:43 pm

So I finally semi-upgraded to a GF 6600 with 256MB ram, and installed an additional 1gig ram stick, and a smallish 256 ramstick running at 266 (my system is at 266 though).

Ok, my desktop stinks because I see all these -'s that just pop up in random spots inside active windows.

They're all white and they come and go, and I've tried changing things and the results never seem to change.

What are the chances the RAM could be doing this? D3D and OpenGL games look fine.. just the desktop stinks. If it's the videocard I can still return it I think.

Thankj00s.

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:07 pm

Ok so I'm reading this problem is primarily due to overclocking.

I'm not overclocked though, and I've even underclocked 30mhz on core and memory and same thing happens.

Why would desktop incur symptoms but not games? Grr.

It's a Rosewill AGP GF 6600 BTW.
CPU running temp 37C and cool air is pulling directly onto the videocard as well from the side of the case.

Grr.

:icon28:

Post by **CheapAlert** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:10 pm

how about default clock

Post by **primaltheory** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:18 pm

Yea default clock, and conflicting memmory speeds might do that too...

also rebuild your icon cache...

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:32 pm

i know this is going to sound odd, but can you take a screenshot of the issue? ( press Prt scrn on your keyboard to capture it ) then paste to Mspaint and post a link to it.

Also, What other hardware are you running?

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:46 pm

Will do once I get home Amidy, gotta go to work now yay.

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:13 am

Well they aren't appearing in screen captures, but to sum it up - it's basically little dashes of white specks that come on go on active windows only. You can only notice it really when you're kinda close to the screen.

I'm of course looking closely all the time now and its noticeable.

But yeah that's pretty much it. Black specks in white windows, and white in everything else.

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:16 am

I might also mention I got a 19" LCD monitor... I was noticing color blotches in-between text every once in a while, but that seems to have disappeared.

But games look fine... interesting.

I got a new case and I've been using the power supply that came with it, and it resolved my AGP 8x problems I was having.

So at this point I'm thinking either the Videocard, or umm.. the motherboard maybe? I'm thinking videocard though. I can't think of a good way to determine what could be causing it, and I don't want to open my case to put my Gf2 in it, bleh.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:01 am

weird, so will the effect be there before, during, and after you press print screen?

Post by **SOAPboy** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:20 am

Um... Dead pixles on your LCD? possibly?

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:15 pm

I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it.. not static specks, kinda something like this:

Crappy gif but hopefully it describes my dilemma better than I can!

While I was making it I was unsure how it looked considering the amount of specks surrounding it during playback, sheesh. This is awful, it's gotta be the videocard. But why would the desktop be the only thing doing it?

If it was the videocard would it capture in an image?[/img]

Post by **4days** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:33 pm

what happens if you turn hardware acceleration all the way down?

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:13 pm

It's hard to tell because when I refresh the screen the problem disappears until it randomly starts up again.

Another question though, I have an Audigy and the left/right channels are reversed - another problem I'm unaware of how to fix. Sucks.

Another question: If you guys had one dead pixel on your LCD, would you exchange it for a new one? [EDIT: if you had to drive 40 minutes to get to the store]

Thankj00z :icon30:

Post by **Foo** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:23 pm

They probably wouldn't exchange it. Most LCD manufacturers have a policy regarding how many pixels, and where, must be defective for replacement.

Post by **obsidian** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:44 pm

I'm guessing it's a signal issue if you can't take a screenshot of it. What kind of connection are you using? DVI or VGA? I had a similar problem not long ago:

http://quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12663

As an update to that thread, I returned the DVI cable for a better quality one and I don't seem to have the problem anymore.

Post by **ppp** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:48 pm

Had the same problem with an old TI4200 with speckles both in Windows as well as games. Mine were random and sometimes in groups plus they got worse over a few weeks. A new card (Galaxy 6600GT) cured it - gave the TI away but they never had the same problem.

Have you got another graphics card you can try? the old one still maybe, just to verify it's that. If not pull out that smaller RAM stick and see if problem persists - just to rule that out.

My guess is that it's the card though, maybe RMA it - and get a 6800 instead

Good luck

Post by **SOAPboy** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:54 am

K-mart Shopper wrote:It's hard to tell because when I refresh the screen the problem disappears until it randomly starts up again.

Another question though, I have an Audigy and the left/right channels are reversed - another problem I'm unaware of how to fix. Sucks.

Another question: If you guys had one dead pixel on your LCD, would you exchange it for a new one? [EDIT: if you had to drive 40 minutes to get to the store]

Thankj00z :icon30:

Audigy.

Pick up speaker, Move to other side, repeat with other speaker..

Post by **primaltheory** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:05 am

What about the plugs? :icon32:

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:18 am

It's not a huge deal but I have an identical monitor in the other room that has no dead pixels and therefore mine is a letdown.

It's a "No questions asked" return policy so I'm good - I even verified it when I bought the thing.

I suppose I can check the hardware once I get the monitor replaced, though I wish I wouldn't have to open this thing anymore :icon27:

As far as the Audigy - I haven't had problems with it until recently; however I have installed the drivers multiple times because it was having problems.

Maybe I just need to do one final reformat to fix everything.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'd wind up packaging up the GF and waiting a week or so for the RMA process to finish up, meanwhile I'd be computerless. So that's pretty much something I can put up with if it is indeed the videocard.[/img]

Post by **SOAPboy** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:59 am

K-mart Shopper wrote:

It's not a huge deal but I have an identical monitor in the other room that has no dead pixels and therefore mine is a letdown.

It's a "No questions asked" return policy so I'm good - I even verified it when I bought the thing.

I suppose I can check the hardware once I get the monitor replaced, though I wish I wouldn't have to open this thing anymore :icon27:

As far as the Audigy - I haven't had problems with it until recently; however I have installed the drivers multiple times because it was having problems.

Maybe I just need to do one final reformat to fix everything.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'd wind up packaging up the GF and waiting a week or so for the RMA process to finish up, meanwhile I'd be computerless. So that's pretty much something I can put up with if it is indeed the videocard.[/img]

Looks like a dead pixel oddly.. O_o

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:21 am

Yup it sure was - exchanged it today for shiney new no-dead-pixel one.

Post by **K-mart Shopper** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 5:25 pm

Well the problem seems to have resolved itself, or it was indeed the LCD or the cable causing the problems.

Excellent!