no, i'm not trying to watch naughty movies on a computer that doesn't get cinemax. however, it sure looks like it... about a week ago when i started playing high heat 2004 (which i'd been playing for weeks beforehand on the exact same comp), after the opening screens and the intro movie finished, as
soon as the game got to the 1st user selection menu, the image started pulling away from the sides of the monitor, like scrambled cable. it started out slow, just a couple of horizontal patches that didn't want to stay put, but by the end of the first inning the game was unplayable. i ended it, reloaded the game and it was even worse as soon as i got to that screen. what's more is that as i left the comp on overnight, i woke up and with no programs running, etc., (only 5 small progs installed on this comp, its destiny is to become a streaming media player now that i have a p4 775 cranking away in my aria rig) the screen had degraded and was doing the same thing as when i load the game, except the game wasn't on. when i close the game, the screen reverts as soon as the desktop comes up, but over time it seems like it just gets worse anyway, even if i don't start up the game from the time i log on to windows. eventually, the screen goes completely black, the happy green light becomes the worried orange light (my monitor signal indicator) and i begin crying.
this is my comp:
Software:
i'm running windows server 2003, tweaked in most places, and definitely in graphics, to workstation performance-level, with the latest catalyst drivers from ati, directx 9.0c, etc. the game worked perfectly before, as did much more 3d-intensive games like knights of the old republic.
HardWare:
amd athlon xp 2000, stock everything
asus a7v8x-mx
512mb pc 2700
ide00=wd 40gig
ide01=nothing
ide10=liteon sohw 1633s dvd burner
ide11=liteon sohd 167T dvd rom (cos for some reason my burner CANNOT read)
xTasy radeon 9200se agp 8x
d-link pci gigabit ethernet card
soundblaster live 24bit pci card
the main hardware note i will add is that this comp is networked to my other comp and ALSO the two share a KVM switch. this is an issue because the one thing i have not done extensively is test the video cable running from the kvm box to this computer, although lots of moving it around, unscrewing it, re-plugging it, etc., did not affect it or even slightly reduce/increase the quality of the image. the monitor DOES work fine when switched to my other comp, although i have not tested games on it. the kvm setup has been fine for at least 2 months now, and i thought if something was wrong with the cable, it would show up immediately, not degrade over a long period of time.
i've tried everything from checking every available refresh rate to installing and testing every version of catalyst drivers since i think 4.2. for some reason though, it seems like a hardware issue, as the monitor works fine with the other unit, and that computer is likewise left on for long periods of time, with no video issues.
well, i have only two possibilities right now i can think of:
either the video cable going to the graphics card from the kvm switch is busted, or the video card is busted. i will switch the cables up tonight and see what happens to test the first scenario, and i left the comp on last night with the radeon card taken out (i have onboard graphics, but they're crappy and can't even run highheat which is pretty light on required 3d features) and will see what the monitor looks like tonight to test the second scenario.
does anyone know what could be up with the computer? has anyone seen/heard about this sort of issue? i can't think of anything beyond the two above factors that could be causing this problem, but the fact that nothing has changed on my comp, no one has touched the kvm setup since it was put together, and the graphics card is only a couple of months old and is NEVER put under any appreciable load, lead me to wonder what else could possibly be going on that would be hardware specific to this computer, as a my other computer has a nearly identical software setup with a similar but faster hardware setup and works fine for weeks on end with intel onboard graphics (which won't however, play the game).
thanks in advance for any advice!
soon as the game got to the 1st user selection menu, the image started pulling away from the sides of the monitor, like scrambled cable. it started out slow, just a couple of horizontal patches that didn't want to stay put, but by the end of the first inning the game was unplayable. i ended it, reloaded the game and it was even worse as soon as i got to that screen. what's more is that as i left the comp on overnight, i woke up and with no programs running, etc., (only 5 small progs installed on this comp, its destiny is to become a streaming media player now that i have a p4 775 cranking away in my aria rig) the screen had degraded and was doing the same thing as when i load the game, except the game wasn't on. when i close the game, the screen reverts as soon as the desktop comes up, but over time it seems like it just gets worse anyway, even if i don't start up the game from the time i log on to windows. eventually, the screen goes completely black, the happy green light becomes the worried orange light (my monitor signal indicator) and i begin crying.
this is my comp:
Software:
i'm running windows server 2003, tweaked in most places, and definitely in graphics, to workstation performance-level, with the latest catalyst drivers from ati, directx 9.0c, etc. the game worked perfectly before, as did much more 3d-intensive games like knights of the old republic.
HardWare:
amd athlon xp 2000, stock everything
asus a7v8x-mx
512mb pc 2700
ide00=wd 40gig
ide01=nothing
ide10=liteon sohw 1633s dvd burner
ide11=liteon sohd 167T dvd rom (cos for some reason my burner CANNOT read)
xTasy radeon 9200se agp 8x
d-link pci gigabit ethernet card
soundblaster live 24bit pci card
the main hardware note i will add is that this comp is networked to my other comp and ALSO the two share a KVM switch. this is an issue because the one thing i have not done extensively is test the video cable running from the kvm box to this computer, although lots of moving it around, unscrewing it, re-plugging it, etc., did not affect it or even slightly reduce/increase the quality of the image. the monitor DOES work fine when switched to my other comp, although i have not tested games on it. the kvm setup has been fine for at least 2 months now, and i thought if something was wrong with the cable, it would show up immediately, not degrade over a long period of time.
i've tried everything from checking every available refresh rate to installing and testing every version of catalyst drivers since i think 4.2. for some reason though, it seems like a hardware issue, as the monitor works fine with the other unit, and that computer is likewise left on for long periods of time, with no video issues.
well, i have only two possibilities right now i can think of:
either the video cable going to the graphics card from the kvm switch is busted, or the video card is busted. i will switch the cables up tonight and see what happens to test the first scenario, and i left the comp on last night with the radeon card taken out (i have onboard graphics, but they're crappy and can't even run highheat which is pretty light on required 3d features) and will see what the monitor looks like tonight to test the second scenario.
does anyone know what could be up with the computer? has anyone seen/heard about this sort of issue? i can't think of anything beyond the two above factors that could be causing this problem, but the fact that nothing has changed on my comp, no one has touched the kvm setup since it was put together, and the graphics card is only a couple of months old and is NEVER put under any appreciable load, lead me to wonder what else could possibly be going on that would be hardware specific to this computer, as a my other computer has a nearly identical software setup with a similar but faster hardware setup and works fine for weeks on end with intel onboard graphics (which won't however, play the game).
thanks in advance for any advice!
