Filmstrips My mom is having a problem with her Dell Dimension 4600 computer. When she boots it up, the monitor display has lines and what she tells me looks like 'filmstrips' of different colors that sometimes move and sometimes do not. They are pretty much blocking the view of everything on the desktop. We troubleshooted the monitor on two other computers and the monitor works fine. Can anyone tell me what this issue is? Is this a video card thing or what?? Thanks a lot for any assistance you can provide!

Change the VGA cable from the monitor, first but sounds like it's the video card that's failed. I would check the monitor with another computer to make sure it's not that.

the issue is most likely the resolution you set the panel to. also make sure you select a generic flat panel driver under the Display properties EXP: if your panel is a 17" Panel chosse 1a driver with a max resolution of 1024X768 @ 60hz to start and go on from there you will solve it.. let me know if you need more help.. Marcelo

Plug the monitor into another computer to determine if the monitor is damaged or working properly. You can also plug another monitor into your computer to determine the same thing.

You have not installed your graphics card drivers! ----------
The drivers are here ---> Since I dont know which graphics card you have you will have to try each one... dont worry if the driver dosent find your card it wont install.
Do you know the full model number of your system , it is printed next to the serial number if you give me this number I can link you directly to the driver -----------

Start your computer in "Safe Mode".
Change the screen-resolution to 800 by 600 at 60 Hertz.
Shutdown, and restart.
If you eventually see your "wallpaper", try setting your screen-resolution to 1024 by 768, and "test" it. If OK, try setting your screen-resolution to 1280 by 1024, and 'test" it.

I used the reset button on my last one whenever ctrl/alt/del failed to soft boot
my computer.

Here is what Dell Chat tells me to do if ctrl/alt/del doesn't work:

Turn off the system from the power button. Remove the plug to the
power supply from the back off the system tower.Then hold the power
button on the tower down for 10 secs ( with the power cord removed).
Reconnect the power cord and then restart the system.This time do a
normal shutdown.

Regards,
Pp

bought a new one. thanks! rg

Turn the computer's power on.
Immediately put the original Windows XP CD into the drive.
Tell the computer to boot from the CD (not from the hard-drive).
Does it start to boot from the CD?
Do you get as far as the "repair/install" boot-screen?
If so, your basic hardware is OK, and turn your computer off,
rather than choosing "repair" or "install".
Then, it's probably either the hard-drive that is failing,
or the installed copy of Windows XP is fuddle-duddle-ucked up, so that it cannot finish the "Windows startup" processing.

are you getting the DELL logo screen.

Did you recently change or install a program that would affect the resolution and card output? Try booting into safe mode by holding the "shift" key during boot. From there right-click on the desktop and hit 'properties'-> 'display properties' -> 'settings' , check your resolution and drop it to 800x600 and then reboot. If everything goes back in normally make sure you have the right windows drivers for your video card. You can also check the driver version and settings while you're in safe mode. Sometimes the windows update drivers can act screwy and I would recommend getting them directly from your card manufacturer.