# [Resolved] Video Problem {bad card}



## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

After I installed "Carnivores~Cityscape," I tweaked a few of the settings on the "Options" screen of the game.

When I shut the game down and got back to Windows, my video was messed up. The screens are in a "dull" color mode. Also when typing text, like this, there are dull grey horizontal lines running to the edges of the screen along each line of text.

I have gone back to the game and played with the settings and I have un-installed the game but neither helped.

I have gone to the "Display Properties" > "Settings" menu and have changed a few settings and I have re-adjusted from 800x600 back and forth to 640x480 a few times but this does not help.

I have unplugged my monitor and connected it to my wife's PC and it works fine.

I am running a Win98 Ver 4.10, 450 Mhz Gateway Pentium2 with 256 Mb RAM, GeForce2 MX video.

Any ideas out there? [I'll bet it is one of them "head slappers" it is so easy to fix...]

By the way Carnivores~Cityscape looks like a real junko game so far but then again I only played about an hour...


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Since you've uninstalled the game, you're best bet may be to try restoring a registry dated either the day of, or prior to, the installation of the game. To do this in Win98, go to Start>Shutdown>Restart in MD-DOS mode. At the c:\windows\> prompt, enter:

scanreg /restore

select a started registry from one of the first 4 displayed which precedes the install. These are dated backups for the last 4 days. The 5th or oldest, will often fail to restore.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

You might also download and install(or reinstall) the most updated drivers for your video card/display adapter, and also download and install the Microsoft DirectX 8.1b multimedia drivers.

Frank's Windows 95/98 Tips


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Hi folks,

Thanks for the responses!

I tried the regscan and went back to the day before I installed the game but it didn't fix it. I thought for sure that would work!

I downloaded the latest upgrade to my Nvidia video card, but that didn't do a thing. How do I know if the video card is "finding" the new driver?

The Carnivores CD had a copy of DirectX 8.1 on in and I installed it.

Any more ideas ~ this does not sound good....


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Well that is very strange indeed, a scanreg /restore really should reverse any settings changes which could affect the display. One thing you might try doing is downloading and overinstallling DirectX8.1 again, in case there was a bad install there. There are DirectX uninstallers, but they can be a bit dicey to use.

You can check on your display driver install by going to start and running *dxdiag* and clicking on the Display tab. This will give the current driver version info. It should match what you installed.

You haven't mentioned what the current Color Depth is set at; a registry restore would have reset that, but it is possible the new DirectX is not happy with your old setting. Too high a setting presents an undue load on memory resources.

Also, just out of curiousity, if you reduce hardware acceleration a notch in System Properties>Performance>Graphics, does it affect anything? Try this after running a complete dxdiag test.


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## GayleCSC (Jun 12, 2002)

Try going to Display Properties- Settings Tab- Advanced Button- Adaptor tab- select Optimal for Refresh Rate.


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

I tried re-installing DirectX 8.1 again. This time from the program I had downloaded long before this screwup happened, so I know it was a good program. It didn't help any...

Current color is 16bit, 800x600 pixels.

I also reduced the hardware acceleration a notch, but again nothing good has happened. I still have a dull colored screen and those light grey lines running horizontal on each line of text.....


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

First, let's see if you have any issues in your normal startup configuration. Go to Start>Run, enter *msinfo32* and click on Software Environment and Startup Programs. Then click Edit>Select All>Edit>Copy and paste the copied text in a reply.

It's possible the "dull" color could be due to a reduced "gamma" setting for your Display Adapter. If you have this, it might be in the path Display Properties>Settings>Advanced>Color

Also, I'm curious to know if the same characteristics occur in Safe Mode. This will test both for an issue with the Display drivers and for conflicts with installed programs.

To eliminate startup software conflicts for a test, while remaining in normal display mode, run *msconfig* and reboot with the "Startup group", autoexec.bat and config.sys Unchecked on the "General Page".

You can also test load a safe mode like VGA driver by clicking on the Advanced tab and checking the appropriate box. But I would do that as a separate test.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

If your current color setting is "16-bit(high color)", it shouldn't be washed out. Did you mean to say "16 color"? That would definitely be washed out, big time.


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Hey Folks,

Thanks for the comeback again! This problem is driving me nuts! My eyes get "watery" from just trying to read your ideas and then type my answers.

No, the color is set at "16bit". I have changed it to 32bit and back a few times with no change in the screen.

As for the Refresh Rate, I have been there and changed it to 90, 75, 72 with no changes in the screen. It is set back to Optimal.

Hey Rog ~ I will have to get back to you on your suggestions as I haven't tried them yet ~ I may not get to them today as we are having a barbeque and I have some things to do. But then again I may just work on this....

Thanks again guys....


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Back Again!

OK! I checked the gamma setting and increased it and tweaked it up and down to no avail...

I think I need to mention something that I think may shed a little more light on the problem. When I turn on my PC and start to Boot up, the screen is already dull and washed out long before I get to Windows. The Gateway emblem is faded and nothing is the brilliant white printing that it usually is. In fact it was so dull that when I first ran into this problem, I went to the monitor adjustments in the little box on the bottom front of the monitor and had to adjust the Brightness and Contrast up in order to read anything. It has been that way since. But remember, when I plug it into my wife's PC, the screen is perfect!

Could this be something "burnt out" on the Video card?

Anyway, back to the other steps Rog asked me to check...

In the Safe Mode I still get the same washed out colors.

As for your suggestion where you said "You can also test load a safe mode like VGA driver by clicking on the Advanced tab....", Rog, I didn't know what you were referring to...

Here are the MSINFO32 readings you asked for:


Windows Guardian	Startup Group	"C:\Program Files\the HelpSpot!\Fawgrd32.exe" /STARTUP
Screen Saver Control	Startup Group	C:\WINDOWS\FSScrCtl.exe
PowerReg Scheduler.exe	Startup Group	C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\PowerReg Scheduler.exe
Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders	Startup Group	"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe"
Microsoft Works Update Detection	Registry (Per-User Run)	C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\WkDetect.exe
NVIEW	Registry (Per-User Run)	rundll32.exe nview.dll,nViewLoadHook
ScanRegistry	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
TaskMonitor	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
SystemTray	Registry (Machine Run)	SysTray.Exe
Multi-function Keyboard	Registry (Machine Run)	GWHotKey.exe
HPSCANMonitor	Registry (Machine Run)	c:\windows\SYSTEM\hpsjvxd.exe
StillImageMonitor	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
EnsoniqMixer	Registry (Machine Run)	starter.exe
Norton Auto-Protect	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVAPW32.EXE /LOADQUIET
POINTER	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~6\point32.exe
Norton eMail Protect	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\POPROXY.EXE
WorksFUD	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\wkfud.exe
RoboForm	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\Program Files\Siber Systems\AI RoboForm\RoboFormWatcher.exe
Cookie Pal	Registry (Machine Run)	"C:\PROGRAM FILES\CPAL\CPBrWtch.exe"
NAV DefAlert	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\DEFALERT.EXE
dla	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\WINDOWS\system\dla\tfswctrl.exe
HP CD-Writer	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\Program Files\HP CD-Writer\Mmenu\hpcdtray.exe
NvCplDaemon	Registry (Machine Run)	RUNDLL32.EXE NvQTwk,NvCplDaemon initialize
nwiz	Registry (Machine Run)	nwiz.exe /install
RealTray	Registry (Machine Run)	C:\Real\RealPlayer\realplay.exe SYSTEMBOOTHIDEPLAYER
QD FastAndSafe	Registry (Machine Run)	
winmodem	Registry (Machine Service)	WINMODEM.101\wmexe.exe
LoadPowerProfile	Registry (Machine Service)	Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
SchedulingAgent	Registry (Machine Service)	mstask.exe
ScriptBlocking	Registry (Machine Service)	"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Script Blocking\SBServ.exe" -reg
PersFw	Registry (Machine Service)	C:\Program Files\Tiny Personal Firewall\persfw.exe


Thanks for all your time again, folks.....


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Well if this problem is occuring so early in the boot process it is probably not going to have anything to do with the startups I had you list.

However, just for the heck of it, you could try running *msconfig* an under the startup tab, for one test at least uncheck the nvidia related entries:

1 -- NVIEW Registry (Per-User Run) rundll32.exe nview.dll,nViewLoadHook

2 -- NvCplDaemon Registry (Machine Run) RUNDLL32.EXE NvQTwk,NvCplDaemon initialize 
nwiz Registry (Machine Run) nwiz.exe /install

Yes it could be a problem with the card itself.
However there is another possibilty that involves Nvidia GeForce cards. There are some conflict issues regarding the MSbackup utility. The documentation for this is spotty, although there is a GeForce FAQ with some information

http://www.tweak3d.net/faq/faq.cgi#hw:gef:troub:startup:startlock

To eliminate this possibility, do the following. In a Find Files search enter the following:

*Drvwcdb Drvwq117 Drvwppqt*

These three files will be found in the c:\windows\system\iosubsys directory and will have .vxd extenstions.

Right Click on each and Rename them with .old extensions. (for example: Drvwcdb.old). This will prevent them from loading and, if nothing else probably speed up your boot process a little.

Then go to Add/Remove programs>Windows Setup > System Tools and remove the check for Backup. Click apply and ok and reboot.

Just an additional thought here, you mention the Gateway emblem being washed out. If I'm not mistaken this would be seen very early in the boot process (before the Windows "splash" screen?), perhaps even before the above vxds would begin to load. And that would suggest a BIOS related problem. If all else fails, watch the screen early on to see what key to press to get into the BIOS setup. (Often it is the Del key). Look for the option to reload the BIOS (setup) defaults and exit with saving.


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Hi Rog,

I ran MSCONFIG and unchecked those nVidia lines, then rebooted but it did nothing that I could see....

Then I changed those dot "vxd" extensions to dot "old," my "backup" is not checked in the System Tools area, then I rebooted, but saw no change there either....

I opted to Reload the BIOS but I still get the dull bootup lines, the dull Gateway emblem and the dull grey lines in any text.

I guess my video card is "toast."

I guess I should be taking this junker to the fix-it shop, ya think?

Maybe, I'll just buy a new PC....


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

It's a very strange problem, and to be honest I just haven't seen any precedent for it other than possibly a bad video card. At this point, before junking it or taking it to someone, I would at least pop the hood and remove and reseat the card and check all the cables -- including those to the Monitor. Could just be some bad contacts there.


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## GayleCSC (Jun 12, 2002)

It may have nothing to do with your video at all. As suggested check your monitor. I have had systems come in with so called video problems to find out that a kid has played with monitor brightness and contrast and that was all that was wrong. If you have already checked this out I would then try a new video card. Buy a cheapie just to test it.


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Hi GayleCSC,

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I had unplugged my monitor and plugged into my wife's PC and it worked fine. Thanks for the suggestion anyway...

Rog,

I unplugged everything and physically took the video card out and reinstalled it ~ still the same...


I think we are going to the shop tomorrow...


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## hi808hi (Jul 11, 2002)

I think that im am having the same prob with my HP. When its running with out any windows up it seems to work fine, but when i click on any window where ever there is text faint gray lines seem to go along the width of the screen. I had a card i put in my computer so i could run it to my TV but it has not given me any probs it just started out of the blue. I think that im going to try and hook it up to my roommates computer and see what happens. If you have any idea of anything else i could try i would be more then happy to hear from you thanks alot people ALOHA


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## Drgnhrn (Jun 21, 2002)

Found out what my problem was at the repair shop ~ my nVidia GeForce2 video card went bad. That's a shame, I only had that card for about a year or so...


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Sorry to hear that,  but at least we know that we covered all the bases before forcing you to put out some bucks. I guess that's something to be learned. 

Thx for the follow-up.


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