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Screen covered in artifacts and lines

fixME
By fixME
in Troubleshooting
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Posted

I had this issue 3 days ago when I went to watch a movie on my computer.  Immedatiely when I clicked on the video this happened.  I tried escape and multiple key combinations but couldn't get anywhere.  I left the computer on for about a minute before manually restarting.  Everything was back to normal when it booted up again.
 
Today it just happened again when I was about to watch a Youtube video.  This time I left the computer for 3 minutes and the screen turned to black like it was off.  I then unplugged the DVI cable to my graphics card and put it back in.  The screen came back to normal and here I am.  Only thing I noticed was that flash player crashed.
 
I have seen a similar problem in the past that was related to the gpu.  I had a customer's 9800 GTX which would give the same vertical and horizontal lines, although this was on boot up.  The computer was unusable due to this issue.

 

Hopefully it's not my gpu.  The card is barely a year and a half old.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/98k12m92tj8gjpm/0492810293752223.mp4

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@fixME My initial reaction "WTF.....:O" ouch.

What display interfaces are available other than the DVI? Might need a new one if it doesn't continue to work.

Please become a member of the Linus Tech Tips forum, keep writing smug remarks & let us love you. Peace out.


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My gpu is a Powercolor 7870 Tahiti at stock clocks and my monitor is a 6 year old Samsung.

 

I'll try a different cable but this has happened twice with a 3 day gap in between.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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So this just happened again.  First time in 2 weeks since making this post.

 

This time it happened straight from the desktop.  I wasn't watching a movie or about to open a Youtube video or anything.

 

Horizontal and vertical lines of different colours across and artifacting across the screen.  There was something different though.  This time the desktop, albeit covered in artifacts, was still visible.  In the video I posted the screen was black with artifacting on top.

 

I tried unplugging the DVI and leaving it for a few seconds, but the computer ended up restarting.  Windows had a blue screen crashed error when I got back to the desktop, but everything was normal.

 

I wanted to wait a while before trying a new cable.  So now I am going to use a DVI to HDMI cable for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference.

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Posted

can you upload the video somewhere else or upload a photo?

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So this just happened again.  First time in 2 weeks since making this post.

 

This time it happened straight from the desktop.  I wasn't watching a movie or about to open a Youtube video or anything.

 

Horizontal and vertical lines of different colours across and artifacting across the screen.  There was something different though.  This time the desktop, albeit covered in artifacts, was still visible.  In the video I posted the screen was black with artifacting on top.

 

I tried unplugging the DVI and leaving it for a few seconds, but the computer ended up restarting.  Windows had a blue screen crashed error when I got back to the desktop, but everything was normal.

 

I wanted to wait a while before trying a new cable.  So now I am going to use a DVI to HDMI cable for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference.

BSOD can be driver issue or broken GPU, I recommend getting a BSOD reader and see if that's of any use...

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Well I did update the gpu driver about a month and a half ago.  Prior to that I was using the driver that came with the card and I had no issues.  I only upgraded because I heard there was some performance improvements over the last few months.

 

The first time this happened, the computer restarted and there was no Windows BSOD message.  The second time I prevented it from restarting by unplugging the DVI cable.  The third time it rebooted and had 'Windows did not shut down successfully' and then there was the blue screen error report when I got to desktop.

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This could be software and it could be hardware. Re install your GPU driver, do a full security audit, if the problem persists, re install windows.
If the issue is still present, it is likely hardware. Reset your BIOS and if you still have issues, RMA it.

 

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If it's happening even when you're doing nothing try rebooting into safe mode to rule out driver issues.

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Well it just happened again, in the middle of a Youtube video.

 

This time the computer lasted for about 25 minutes before it restarted itself.

 

I tried unplugging the DVI cable like the other time, leaving it for a few minutes, and plugging it back in.  No go.  The first time I did that, the artifacts came back.  The next few times, the screen just remained black.

 

I tried plugging a DVI (connected to monitor) - HDMI cable (to graphics card) but no difference.  The artifacts remained.

 

I used a VGA cable from the monitor to a laptop to rule out the monitor.  No problems there.  Though that was VGA not DVI which I use with my desktop.

 

My AMD catalyst version is 13.12 and I see there is now 14.4.  So I am going to try that.

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If you have a spare GPU on hand it may be a good idea to test it and see if that one works     

 

I've found that excessive dust build up can cause overheating and completely break GPUs.  This happened to one of my very old cards and it showed artifacts on the monitor.  After that the GPU was bad and couldn't be used as all.   

 

I hope thats not the problem for you as its a bummer.

 

good luck with that 

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Sad to say I am back here 4 weeks later with the same problem... 

 

I didn't actually get the black screen with artifacting/lines, but earlier today while gaming there was pixelation on certain areas of the game - not the whole screen, but on like little icons and such.  Firefox also had pixelation on images and scrolling would make the browser black.  That was about 8 hours ago.  Just now I got a BSOD.

 

I was hopeful the 14.4 Catalyst driver would fix my problem but I guess it didn't.

 

Anyone have any other suggestions or I guess it's time to contact Powercolor...

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Hey does your motherboard have integrated graphics? I havnt read every response on here but open up your side panel and make sure the fans on your card are spinning. If they are, then remove your graphic card and use your onboard graphics. Unfortunately you will have to wait a few days for the problem to pop up again. IF IT DOESNT, then something is up with your graphic card or the drivers. 

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Just happened again... 10 seconds into a Youtube video and I get BSOD.

 

Here is what the viewer says...

 

071314-9360-01.dmp    7/13/2014 8:38:44 PM    SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED    0x1000007e    ffffffff`c0000005    fffff880`0f142dbb    fffff880`03cb3228    fffff880`03cb2a80    atikmdag.sys    atikmdag.sys+128f6f    ATI Radeon Kernel Mode Driver    ATI Radeon Family    Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.    8.01.01.1390    x64    atikmdag.sys+c7dbb                    C:\Windows\Minidump\071314-9360-01.dmp    4    15    7601    280,936    7/13/2014 8:39:28 PM    
 

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  • 3 months later...
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So just an update. 

 

Coming up on 4 months and this seemed to have resolved itself... thankfully.

 

I am still on Catalyst 14.4 but haven't experienced anymore BSOD's, crashes, or artifacts in the last 4 months.

 

So I am not sure if it was a Windows driver issue or some bug in Catalyst that is now resolved.

 

Hopefully it won't happen again!

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Is this happening just on the boot of your PC or also when you manage to load the operating system. Try the monitor on another PC also just to eliminate this from the equation, might be the monitor and could save you some money if you end up replacing your GPU or another part inside.

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I once had the same problem, mine got fixed with a Bios update. (not sure what the Bios update fixed) could be ram.

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This happened to me is caused by insufficient power to the GPU causing it to break so long and short is your gpu is bust :/ sorry mate

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Is this happening just on the boot of your PC or also when you manage to load the operating system. Try the monitor on another PC also just to eliminate this from the equation, might be the monitor and could save you some money if you end up replacing your GPU or another part inside.

No as I said above it usually happened when I went to open a video on my computer or a Youtube video.  Like I could watch one fine, then come back half an hour later, click a video and get BSOD.  Games also had artifacting appearing.

 

 

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This happened to me is caused by insufficient power to the GPU causing it to break so long and short is your gpu is bust :/ sorry mate

Did you read the update?  I haven't had any problems for 4 months.

Also my psu is more than enough to power my system.

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No as I said above it usually happened when I went to open a video on my computer or a Youtube video.  Like I could watch one fine, then come back half an hour later, click a video and get BSOD.  Games also had artifacting appearing.

 

What's your refresh rate on your monitor?

 

What graphics card do you have?

 

Just want to know these things before I think of anything else haha.

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Probably the GPU. Try the monitor on another pc

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