View Full Version : NVidia 8800 Windows 7 problem
czajunia
10-26-2009, 03:34 AM
Hello,
Recently I've noticed some unusual pixel flickering under Windoews 7 using Gainward 8800 GT PCX. There are red pixels randomly switching on and off on some dark areas of the screen. First I thought it was definitely a graphic card problem but then I realized that I didn't see any of these under WinXP. I double checked and when running XP the card was fine. I had the latest Win7 nVidia drivers installed so I thought that maybe there was a bug and downgraded to the first Win7 drivers available but the problem is still there.
I uploaded a video (http://vimeo.com/7238207) showing what it looks like. The displayed picture was intentionally darkened with a color balanced changed a bit so it's not that extreme in real life and the pixels are usually more random compared to the video. Also they are red and look much smaller (pixel size).
Has anyone noticed similar problems? How likely is that the card is fine and there are some drivers/monitor incompatibility issues?
Thank's a lot for your answers and suggestions.
SteveLord
10-26-2009, 02:26 PM
Only new thing I noticed, was black bars with the latest drivers and Win7 when gaming. Changing to native res in-game fixed it though.
czajunia
10-27-2009, 02:26 AM
Weird thing is that after I posted on the forum yesterday I haven't had any issues even under Win7. The problem was unbearable a day before as I could see red pixels even while watching a movie. But it's gone now. It's happened before as well - the card would work fine and suddenly start showing the problem. Someone on other forum suggested that if this doesn't happen all the time maybe I should check the connections. So following this piece of advice I have unplugged all the cables, removed the card and put everything back together just to make sure everything was plugged in properly.
So far so good - I still don't see any red pixels but maybe it's just a coincidence. If the problem comes back I'll try to underclock the card to see if this does the trick. I haven't played any games yet but I ran GPUTool Stress test for a couple of hours and it was fine.
I'll keep you posted.
SteveLord
10-27-2009, 07:15 PM
Stress tests dont always determine stability with games. Good luck.
czajunia
10-28-2009, 01:59 AM
Stress tests dont always determine stability with games. Good luck.
True, but apart from red pixels issue I haven't had any problems running games. Cheers!
Anyway, the card has been running fine since Monday so it might have been just a connection problem.
SoulsCollective
10-28-2009, 02:04 AM
VGA or DVI connection? VGA carries distinct colour streams, so a loose connection or bad cable problem shows up as the entire screen going funny colours, or losing a colour stream so everything is eg. pinkish or blueish. DVI, on the other hand, does not carry distinct streams (instead being all digital), so connection errors show up as odd coloured pixels (in my experience, usually red) or random garbage.
Has anyone noticed similar problems? How likely is that the card is fine and there are some drivers/monitor incompatibility issues?
Hi czajunia, i've a XFX 8800GT 512 reference nvidia and a 9800GT 512 Gainward (always G92) and work fine on W7 64 + 191.07 english (i had a installation problem with 191.07 italian, english version ok).
Have you overclocked a PCI-Express frequency?
czajunia
10-28-2009, 03:46 PM
VGA or DVI connection? VGA carries distinct colour streams, so a loose connection or bad cable problem shows up as the entire screen going funny colours, or losing a colour stream so everything is eg. pinkish or blueish. DVI, on the other hand, does not carry distinct streams (instead being all digital), so connection errors show up as odd coloured pixels (in my experience, usually red) or random garbage.
DVI, so it makes sense actually as I had lots of red pixels.
Hi czajunia, i've a XFX 8800GT 512 reference nvidia and a 9800GT 512 Gainward (always G92) and work fine on W7 64 + 191.07 english (i had a installation problem with 191.07 italian, english version ok).
Have you overclocked a PCI-Express frequency?
No, I haven't. I locked it to the default speed.
Judging by the card's performance at the moment and after what SoulsC said I'm almost 100% sure it was a connection issue - the card is still working fine, no problems since Monday.
czajunia
11-06-2009, 02:07 AM
For anyone who followed this thread - just a closing post. After a few days of playing a 3D FPS I can definitely say it was a connection issue. I haven't had any problems since last week.
Thanks again for your input!