HI , I have a dell dimension xps b800r about six years old , and the image has just developed what i can only describe as horizontal light grey shadow bands across the screen , going from a dark object across the lighter area of the screen , for instance where there are rows of text or blocks of colour . also some colours seem a little too vivid . the normal screen controls don't make any difference . i have tried another monitor and it makes no difference , i have also downloaded the latest driver , and also tried a system restore , i am using xp . i am now wondering if it could be a fault on the graphic card . i look forward to your reply , thanks tony .
Hi poorpixel , with regards to the graphics board , I took it to a local computer shop , and obtained a new equivalent , the original power supply is managing fine . If however I had obtained a more powerful version , then the power supply may well have struggled , so stick to the same size spec and it should be fine , regards GODGER
Hi CODGER, You?ve eliminated the monitor and I?m assuming the video cable as well since you probably switched that at the same time. As you?ve already figured out it could be the video card, video driver or *something else*. If you haven?t done any upgrades or software changes my guess is probably the video card as well; however, I would first eliminate everything else. First off try removing the video card and cleaning the contacts with a regular pink non-abrasive, clean pencil eraser. After removing all the eraser material from the card carefully reseat the video card and test. Sometimes oxidation builds up on the contacts and you can see odd things like this. If you have a PCI buss video card try installing it in another socket. You haven?t mentioned if you?ve tried reinstalling the latest, greatest driver but if you haven?t I would try that first. You didn?t mention the video card you had but if you have the original install CD try that. If you need assistance finding a driver source let me know the details of your card. If you?ve tried that to no avail the next thing I would try is to replace the original video card with a working, older video card and see if the problem goes away. You may be able to borrow one from another computer or if you don?t need anything fancy you can pick one up fairly cheaply on Ebay. Just make sure your replacements buss is the same type and it has drivers for XP. Chances are pretty good that one of these will solve your problem, however, I have had an occasion or two where the fault was *elsewhere*, motherboard, weird power supply, BIOS or chipset problems. I?ve even had a case or two where failing capacitors on the motherboard caused video problems. Trouble shooting *everything else* gets expensive real quick unless you have a supply of free spare parts. If you get to this point you might want to stop and think about how much you want to invest in a six year old computer when a new one can be had for $400. I hope this helps, let us know if you have any other questions and please don?t forget to rate the posting.
The above problem is exactly what's happened to my Compaq 7118US Desktop running Windows ME. My machine is appox. 6 years old, and started behaving the same way. I went and purchased a new LCD moniter with the change. I've run the nVidia diagostic with does not indicate anything wrong. The response by Swobovike did not come close to answering the problem. Is there any help out there? [email protected]
It most certainly sounds like a graphics card problem, especially since it's been working fine up to this point. You might also want to try a different monitor cable just to make sure. Although the components used in today's computers are much more reliable than they used to be they do still fail occasionally. Good luck.
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Hi , thankyou everybody for your help with my display problems . The update is as follows :- a few days ago the cooling fan on the video board started making a noise , and it was obviously not rotating at anywhere near the right speed , and hence not cooling the chip properly . This has obviously been happening for some time and was the source of my problems . I could not obtain a replacement fan unit , and probably the board had already been damaged by now. A visit to a local computer shop enabled me to obtain the latest version of the board for just under £30 , no fan on board , just an enormous heat sink!, everything is now fine , so thanks once again to everybody for their advice , CODGER .
DRIVER`S I DONT HAVE
I have exactly the same problem with my Dell xps b800r.
What replacement video card did you get?
All the new PCI graphics cards expect a min power supply of 250W.
I think the b800r power supply is rated at most 200W.
I am worried that a brand new graphics card will burn out the old
underpowered power supply over time.
-Graham
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