Wtf…. Seriously weird problem

FrenchAffair

New Member
I am having a very odd problem with my video that I do not understand.
I recently started my computer up again after having it off for about 3 months. I installed a new game (Medieval II: total war), It started up fine I went into a battle and all of a sudden these odd lines were extending accost the game screen (though not impacting the menus). I exited out thinking it might have been a driver issue, I never had this before with any of the game I play. I updated the drivers but still the same thing. So I figured since it needed to be done anyway that I would format my computer. I did this and started compelatly from scratch. I updated all drivers, made sure had the latest version of directX and started up a new game (civilization IV). The game started up normaly, then after about 30 seconds of playing the same thing occurred.
Here are some screenshots since it is kind of hard to explain.

The game starts normaly, no issues
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Then after about 20 seconds or so of play, this occurs. These lines start to fluctuate accost the screen and distort the entire thing
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few more images of what happens. None of this is static, the lines will move when you move in game, it seems that the objects in the game effect the distortion. Though oddly none of the menus are affected. It is like this in every game.
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This one here illustrates how the in game menus are not affected.
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Nothing else on the computer is problem by this. Video play back is fine, I’ve watched movies, both downloaded and streamed. No other programs are affected (Photoshop, explorer, itunes…) it is only games, and only the portion of the game in which the actual “game” occurs, not the menus or such.

I have a Radeon 9800pro video card, running on an ADM Athlon 64 3000+, Gigabyte k8t800 motherboard and 1gb of memory.

I appreciate what ever help can be given to solve this issue, thank you.
 
does that card support Hardware T&L.
I had the same issue running Civ IV on my laptop that does not support Hardware T&L.
 
Isn't that graphics tearing? Ive experienced this before in WoW and another game. I would make sure, like another poster said to make sure your vid card has support for hardware T&L, if not you might have to swap out vid cards. Also..have you tried the tech support forums for the game you play? I have found that they are loads of help.
 
Thank you for the suggestions, how ever they have not worked. I did a detailed dusting of the computer, got all the dust possible out of it and vacuumed it up. This did not have any effect, I still encountered the same error. I then went to the next step that was suggested and took the side of my computer off and directed a huge house fan into the computer and put it on full. It is still there and the tempture of my computer has gone down 6 degrees C. All the fans in the computer are working, including the one on the video card. How ever I unfortunately still encounter the same problem.

Is there anything else that could be causing this problem?

I appreciate any suggestions and am willing to try anything to fix this issue. Thank you.
 
look for a path for the game , like said above check the game forums.

It is not an isolated issue to any one game, it is occurring in any game I play. Civ IV, Rome: Total War, Medevil II: Total War and Age of Empire III. All these games have worked flawlessly previously on my computer.
 
Then perhaps your video card is going bad? If the games you played worked fine previously then there is no reason, I can think of, that would make this happen to you, aside from a bad video card. Perhaps would be the time to step up :)
 
They just "go bad"... lol. I bought it maybe 1.5 years ago, it is a decent video card that in till this problem i never had an issue with. If it has just "gone bad" is there a warrenty of any kind that ATI has? would takeing it into a computer shop maybe provide me with some results?
 
the warranty is probably for a year, so your probably outa luck. I has a problem with my nvidia card overheating to where it would lock up my computer while playing games and my screen would get all screwed up, I would just get a new card .
 
That problem is indicative of a card overheating, I get that problem when I overclock too much. Increasing ventilation or cleaning the cooling system should help alleviate any heat issues.
 
I agree with Bob and elitehacker, your card may be overheating.

Turn off your computer > Unplug it > Take out your video card > give it a good clean, with some compressed air, just get all the dust off it and make sure the fan is spinning Ok.
 
they are £4.99 in asda (Wallmart as known in the US)

i was gonna pick up some sunday but they had none in stock :rolleyes:
Just my luck :D
 
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