[FTLOSM]

Hi everyone, first post here, normally I can figure stuff out but this has been bugging me for about 2 weeks now and I can't seem to fix it or pinpoint what makes it happen even.

I am running a windows xp pro system, quad core 6600 (no overclocking), 3 gb ram, with 2 msi nvidia geforce 8600 GT video cards (both dual head running 4 monitors at once).

This system has been darn stable for over a year here, no issues till recently with some weird artifacts in some programs and they hang around even after I close the programs at times. A variety of programs make this happen not just one (quicktime, slideshow program, picture viewer, media player and others) but it always seems to happen on the bottom left screen, i get a squiggle block of nonsense that stays there (hard to use the program with the squiggles in there) and I cant figure out why this is happening.



I have tried moving the program to other screens yet same problem, i double checked all my dvi cord connections and confirmed both video cards are well seated, no new programs installed or removed lately, just kinda stumped as to what might be causing something like this?

Any ideas of what I can do or check?

Bill

[DSTM]

Hi  FTLOSM.Welcome to CHF.

A Techie should be along shortly to assist you.

Have you the lastest Drivers for your Video cards?

[FTLOSM]

Actually had updated them back in april 2010 but just went and checked and there is a new version that JUST came out, will update those for sure now...

[FTLOSM]

updated them to the latest drivers, 7/9/2010 then rebooted and confirmed in device manager they are upto date, opened that same program in image above still same weird garble i get thru the image, its not always in the same spot sometimes higher or lower, and it happens with quite a few different programs but has never happened in a browser (mozilla or ie8).

I can pull the program window to different screens but the garble still stays, most programs open in this window due to it being set as the primary 1 monitor, maybe i will goof with display settings to choose display 2 as primary so they open there and see if it replicates, heck I dunno kinda stumped tho...

[DSTM]

I think that is a good idea to set another Monitor as primary.Also reset the cards and check all connections.

Does this happen from bootup,or after a period of time?

Have you checked the Card Temps?

I use Speccy for system temps and info. http://www.piriform.com/download

Just ask you to be patient, as the Techies shouldn't be long.

[Dalo Harkin]

Hi,
As you are using 2 GPUs in SLI have you configured the SLI within the new driver?
remember that when you remove a driver and install a new one that any 'settings' you did have you have to redo.
SLI is much better than it used to be and you should have no problems using the Nvidia settings to set it up when you right click on the desktop and select Nvidia (cant remember what the rest is called as havent used XP in a while)
you get lots of options within the driver to setup SLI, its straight forward

The problem you mention can also be attributed to the RAM on the GPU, is the RAM getting sufficient air flow (is it covered by the main cooler, or passively cooled, passive is heatsinks, if heatsinks add a fan thats directed close to them, you can test this theory by adding a desk fan blowing at the RAM for a while and see if the problem is resolved)

When you installed the new driver, what process did you follow for it, I recommend the following procedure.
* Download new driver and save to the desktop.
* Uninstall the old driver using add/remove programs from within control panel (be careful if your Motherboard uses a Nvidia chipset as these include the Ethernet drivers, just make sure you ONLY untick/tick the display driver)
* Go to C:/ Nvidia there will be a folder with the last driver name for example 192.68 DELETE the whole folder (if there are multiple entries delete them all)
* Restart the PC
* Install the downloaded driver from the desktop
* Restart the PC
* Configure any options from within the Nvidia display panel (set resolution etc, configure multiple monitors, SLI etc)