all of the sudden one day I turned on my pc and the desktop graphics were all screwed up, looked like safe mode, very few colors, I reinstalled my video card drivers and I was all set, then a couple days later it did it again, then while I was playing BF1942 the thing rebooted itself, and now the performance is not what it was before this [Please Control your Cussing] started happening, could it be my power supply maybe???

Specs

AMD 2700XP
Abit KD7 E
Crucial 1GB 2700DDR
Geforce 4 TI4600
Santa Cruz
cable hookup
420 watt Enlight power supply
XP Proffessional w a ton of free space
40 GB Western Digital HD

Dumb question - are you using the absolute latest video drivers from the manufacturer?

Welcome to TechSpot

I don't think you have a driver-problem. More likely your graphics-card cooling may be starting to conk out.

Switch the PC off, unplug the power-cord, then reseat your graphics card and check that the fan is properly connected (and working properly, once switched back on).
While you are at it, to be on the safe side, also reseat your memory-stick(s).

Your PSU should be giving more than enough power for your setup, but check the voltages in the BIOS anyway. Report any discrepancies.

Im using 43.45 Detonators, I remember running dxdiag and the next time I restarted the graphics were screwed up up, I have since installed dx 9b and it hasnt happened again, my system seems a little sluggish though, keep in mind that my system is stripped off all background tasks and all that crap, its strickly a game machine, thanks for the help, what do I compare the voltages in the BIOS too as far as discrepancies??

my core voltage is 1.65 can I bump that to 1.75 safely??

Here are 2 errors I noticed:

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine CoCreateInstance. hr = 0x80040206.



The COM+ Event System detected a bad return code during its internal processing. HRESULT was 8007043C from line 44 of d:\nt\com\com1x\src\events\tier1\eventsystemobj.cpp. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services to report this error.

In the BIOS, you would find the expected voltages listed, with the effective voltage next to it. A difference up to 10 percent of the nominal value is the maximum you should tolerate.
If for instance your 5 volt consistently gives 4.7, or 12V give 11.2 or something like that, you should upgrade your PSU to a better regulated one. Giving MORE is hardly ever a problem as long as you stay within the 10 percent limit.
Well-built PSUs like Enermax stay within a 5% tolerance.

As to upping your core voltage, you would be moving into overclocking territory, about which I have no knowledge. Certainly somone else will be able to help you here.

You have a graphics card problem friend, make sure your bios is configured properly, make sure your agp apature size is properly configured to your vid card ram (64 or 128) 128 being the optimized size for most systems, also make sure your mobo isnt using shared memory for video. Also as realblackstuff said you need to make sure your card is seated properly and proper cooling is applied. Also play around with fastwrites to see which is better for your computer. Oh and lowman on a forum people that ask questions about their computers and need info isnt considered as a "dumb question" check yourself. Good Luck!

shad0w

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)
System Manufacturer: Custom
System Model: Custom
BIOS: Award Medallion BIOS v6.0
Processor: AMD Athlon(TM) XP1800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.7GHz
Card name: RADEON 9700 PRO
Memory: 512MB RAM