PCA Forums

well, I've been having problems with my video lately. First off, all the icons on my desktop are using simple colours (even though the option to view the icons using all posible colours is checked off in the display properties). My video card is fully seated and i'm using the most up to date drivers for Windows 2000 (I'm running and ATI Radeon 32 DDR). When I installed the drivers I uninstalled my previous drivers, and installed the new ones (yes I'm sure they're the right drivers). Also, every once in a while (having no pattern that I've noticed) my display will go completely haywire, and I'll get all this red crap over my screen. I've taken screenshots of these problems, and you can go here to see them:

CLICK HERE TO SEE SCREENSHOTS (56Kers beware!)

Well that checkerboard pattern over the desktop screams poorly seated card or a bad card (probably a RAM problem). I doubt it's drivers.

could it possibly be linked to my computer catching fire earlier? I hope not, 'cause that would suck some ass...

Well fire + computer never = good.................................

feel the ram modules....are they hot to the touch when it garbles the screen?

if theyre not overly warm then it's most likely a seating problem/card failure

Eek. I know this is a dumb question, but was the computer running when it caught fire? Or did the fire come from something outside the computer? I'm thinking there may be fire/smoke damage...

Was this the system that had smoke coming out of the ATX power connector? Hell yes it could be related. You may have been drawing too much power from the 5 volt bus.

Have you checked the power conenctor to see if it melted or bunred? If it's burned or charred, or just has some soot on the power pins then you're probably not getting full current for the video card.

I'd also check your voltages (and not in BIOS - use a digital meter). Anything that will make smoke is likely not good for the PSU. It may be putting out bad voltage.