Weird Graphics problem

[Bregdania]

<p>Could someone tell me where to post for some advice as to what is happening to my graphics please. This has been an ongoign random problem and I'm now on my second video card (now 12months old)</p><p>I'm wondering if this game burns through graphics/video cards?  You can see I'm desperate for answers.</p><p>I'm only posting two pics for now.  Thanks for any help </p><p><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/DebCal/EQ2/EQ2_000131.jpg" width="768" height="540" /></p><p><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/DebCal/EQ2/EQ2_000190.jpg" width="768" height="540" /></p>

[Seidhkona]

<p>I expect you are low on memory here.</p><p>To give you more exact answers, can you do this... Go to your <strong>START </strong>button, then <strong>RUN</strong>, and type <strong>dxdiag</strong> and hit <strong>ENTER</strong>.</p><p>That will run the DirectX Diagnostic program.  After it thinks a minute, you will have an option to save the results as a text file. You can open that up in Notepad.</p><p>Let us see the stuff from the following sections in the dxdiag.txt file:</p><ul><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>System Information</em></span>: just the Operating System, Processor, and Memory lines</li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Display Devices</em></span>: just the Card Name and Driver Version</li></ul><p>Alternatively, you can run the diagnostic at <a href="http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest" target="_blank">Can You Run It?</a> -- Use the Kingdom of Sky option.</p>

[Bregdania]

<p>Wow thanks - I have been getting occaisonal messages saying running low on virtual memory.  </p><p>So is this the information I need to show you?</p><p>Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600)</p><p>Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU     6600@ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs)</p><p>Memory: 3326MB RAM</p><p>also including Page File: 2390MB used, 1290 available</p><p>I run two monitors as I often 2 box but this problem happens when only running one account.</p><p>NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT</p><p>Main Driver :nv4_disp.dll</p><p>Version 6.14.0011.6921(English)</p><p>Details on Display 2 are the same.</p><p>Huge thanks for your help here</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p>Hokay... the Knowledgebase says <a href="http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=16089" target="_blank">your video card is supported</a>. SOE recommends the <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_190.38_whql.html" target="_blank">nVidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 190</a>, which has the most current release as 07/21/09. I'll bet that's more current than what you are using.  Before upgrading that driver, you might read through the EQ2 Performance Support Forum post on <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=376876" target="_blank">Upgrading Display Drivers</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the usual recommendation for pagefile size is 1.5 x RAM, which in your case should be 4989MB.  It appears that you have 3919MB in the pagefile total, and as you can see, your machine is using 61% of that at the time you ran the dxdiag report. That means you don't have enough pagefile and should probably <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417" target="_blank">increase the pagefile size</a>.</p><p>There are some other general maintenance items I'd recommend also:</p><ul><span ><li>Run a tool such as the free <a href="http://www.ccleaner.com/" target="_blank">CCleaner</a> to remove unnecessary temp files that may be cluttering up your PC.</li><li>Run the complete <a href="http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407" target="_blank">Major Geek's Malware Removal Protocol</a> to make sure your PC hasn't picked up cooties your normal antivirus may have missed.</li><li><a href="http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Computer_Science/2008/disk_defragmentation.asp" target="_blank">Defrag your hard drives</a>. </li><li>If you can, <a href="http://windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/04/27/pagefile.html" target="_blank">move your pagefile to a different physical hard drive</a> than where you have EQ2 installed.</li><li>On WinXP machines, try <a href="http://www.driverheaven.net/driverheaven-tools-discussion/44608-dh-tunexp-1-5-final.html" target="_blank">TuneXP 1.5 from DriverHeaven</a>.</li></span></ul><p>If you try these steps and are still having problems, then I'd definitely direct you to the <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/forums/show.m?forum_id=2637" target="_blank">Performance Support Forum</a>.</p>

[Bregdania]

<p>Huge thank you for this - you can gather by now I'm not too smart with this stuff and I'm carefully going through your recommendations.  </p><p>I am trying to increase the page size to 4989MB but am being told I must select an amount below 4096MB</p><p>I can see at the bottom of this screen it tells me under the Total paging file size for all drives is recommended to be 4987.  Do I need to change the allocation between the drives I have which I use "C" and also and "F" drive that I have?  If that is the case I think I'm in strife as I read about partitioning and that it woul dhave to be formatted.  I already have information sorted on that "F" drive. (I will keep following through with your recommendatiolns anyway)</p><p>I'll go check the temp files and check on Malware although I do have an up to date version of Norton</p><p>The Hard Drives have been defragged and are not showing an fragmented files.</p><p>I'm also reading up on moving my page files that you have linked.</p><p>All in all - I now have plenty to keep me quiet and if I could give you a RL hug for this awesome amount of information, I would!!!</p>

[Rijacki]

<p><cite>Seertam wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'll go check the temp files and check on Malware although I do have an up to date version of Norton</p></blockquote><p>Norton is anti-virus, malware is something different. Malware is applications that are installed, commonly as tag-alongs, which have a seemingly benign purpose (helpful little utilities.. like.. a password keeper) but are actually rather malicious in their execution (commonly serving up hundreds of ads or using the "idle" cycles on your CPU) and usually have rather large "foot prints" (the amount of memory space they take up) and are difficult to get rid of though conventional means (uninstall will often just put it in a hidden mode instead of removing it or it will silently reinstall on reboot). Nasty things.</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p><cite>Rijacki wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Seertam wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'll go check the temp files and check on Malware although I do have an up to date version of Norton</p></blockquote><p>Norton is anti-virus, malware is something different. Malware is applications that are installed, commonly as tag-alongs, which have a seemingly benign purpose (helpful little utilities.. like.. a password keeper) but are actually rather malicious in their execution (commonly serving up hundreds of ads or using the "idle" cycles on your CPU) and usually have rather large "foot prints" (the amount of memory space they take up) and are difficult to get rid of though conventional means (uninstall will often just put it in a hidden mode instead of removing it or it will silently reinstall on reboot). Nasty things.</p></blockquote><p>/nods</p><p>Of course this wouldn't be your problem, but you can get some kinds of malware just visiting [Removed for Content] sites. Other notorious culprits are e-greeting cards, various freebie wallpapers, cracks/hax/keygens, popups, malicious e-mail attachments, "helpful" add-on toolbars, and so forth.</p><p>It's probably a good idea to run through the malware protocol every six months or so, unless you are having problems that indicate doing it sooner. Regular PC housekeeping should involve CCleaner every few days, and a defrag once every month or two.</p>

[Bregdania]

<p>Thanks both of you for the heads up about malware.  Ha ha - I'm not into [Removed for Content] sites and I have to say I don't download stuff for this very reason.  The closest to downloading stuff has been things like Microsoft updates, Google Chrome, Profit UI etc - things that are renowned for being ok.  I probably err to far on the side of caution atm.  But no doubt something could slip in without me knowing so I shall do as you suggest.  </p><p>I appreciate all the advice as I have much to learn beyond my current knowledge.</p>

[Kleitos]

<p>Things I'd check if I was you...- Power supply, how many watts is it? 500w or more is ok, depending on what hardware you have installed.- Remove hardware you don't use, everything that doesn't have its own power source will work off your power supply.- Do you need those 3 extra dvd drives, harddrives, the blinking mouse pad, usb coffee warmer, usb fan and so on? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />- Try running with just one monitor for a while, do you get the same problem then?Some things that can help finding your problem.- Does this happen instantly when you start EQ2 or does it take a while.- Does it happen with other games?- Get a monitoring program, there are many applications that can show your computer temp, fan speeds, power usage and everything you didn't know you wanted to know.- Get memory test program, they take ages to run but it will find if you have any faulty memory sticks.You say that this happened with your previous gfx card and it burned out or?Also, also did you buy the system completely built by some expert or did you build it yourself?Expert in this case is not your little brothers friend that has played WoW for 3 years, but some place that will actually leave a warranty on the system they build.The reason you can't have a larger page file then 4Gb is that you are running a 32bit system, they are not very good at counting past 4Gb and can barely handle that.You have enough RAM so you shouldn't have to worry about the page file, 3-4Gb RAM is plenty for WinXP.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>Judging by those screenshots, it looks like your graphics card is overheating.  If you're comfortable doing so then open the case and point a large fan at the graphics card.  Try starting the game again and see if that makes a difference.</p><p>Getting an actual heat reading on the card would be helpful too, assuming you have a card/software capable of doing so.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>TSR-DanielH wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Judging by those screenshots, it looks like your graphics card is overheating.  If you're comfortable doing so then open the case and point a large fan at the graphics card.  Try starting the game again and see if that makes a difference.</p><p>Getting an actual heat reading on the card would be helpful too, assuming you have a card/software capable of doing so.</p></blockquote><p>Agreed. I had an old nVidia 7950 GX2 that I had to put to rest. It was a pathological overheater (regular EQ2 temperatuer in the inner core of 80C... got up to 90C/freeze-and-crash in Fallout 3) even when carefully cleaned and when it was overheating I would see things like that where both the game textures and UI elements became corrupted.</p><p>Since then I moved to a GTS250 DK that is a single-card format with a large, open-fin cooler design. I absolutely love the thing, it barely gets about 40 or 45C in even burn-in testing. My suggestion to the OP would be to 1) run with you case open and a fan blowing over your video card and see if it improves. If it does, then 2) carefully clean all the dust out of your card (and your case in general). Get a can of air, but be sure to <strong>hold</strong> the rotating part of any fan when using the canned air on it, if you don't it can overspin and damage the bearings.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>My suggestion to the OP would be to 1) run with you case open and a fan blowing over your video card and see if it improves. If it does, then 2) carefully clean all the dust out of your card (and your case in general). Get a can of air, but be sure to <strong>hold</strong> the rotating part of any fan when using the canned air on it, if you don't it can overspin and damage the bearings.</p></blockquote><p>Please make sure that your computer is completely unplugged if you are poking around inside the case.  Also, before touching anything inside I would recommend grounding yourself to lose any static that you might be holding.</p><p>Failing to do those things could lead to electrocution or computer damage.  If you are uncomfortable doing these things then I would recommend asking a computer savvy friend or a professional.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>TSR-DanielH wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>My suggestion to the OP would be to 1) run with you case open and a fan blowing over your video card and see if it improves. If it does, then 2) carefully clean all the dust out of your card (and your case in general). Get a can of air, but be sure to <strong>hold</strong> the rotating part of any fan when using the canned air on it, if you don't it can overspin and damage the bearings.</p></blockquote><p>Please make sure that your computer is completely unplugged if you are poking around inside the case.  Also, before touching anything inside I would recommend grounding yourself to lose any static that you might be holding.</p><p>Failing to do those things could lead to electrocution or computer damage.  If you are uncomfortable doing these things then I would recommend asking a computer savvy friend or a professional.</p></blockquote><p>Definately! If you put your computer together yourself or clean it semi-frequently I suggest getting a cheap anti-static wrist band (basically a wrist band with a metal surface running to a wire with an alligator clamp that you clip on the chasis to ground yourself). And always make sure your computer is unpluged and allow at least a minute for the capacitors to discharge before poking around at anything inside the case.</p>

[Curs3]

<p>classic overheating artifacts. also know as discoing</p>

[Bregdania]

<p>Thank you everyone for your multitude of responses.  I am slowly going through trying each of the suggestions so I daresay this is going to take some time - particularly as the occurence is very random.</p><p>With the previous Nvidia card I had there was definitely an over heatign problem - the fan had seized and the screen problem did look identical.  This time though I had an additional exhaust fan installed and according to the testing the internal temperature is ok. Unlike with the previous card.  </p><p>Thanks for the advice about external fans, earthing myself etc - With the hassles I've had I've been well versed a number of times <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Also all the equipment is individually powered and all run through a UPS so there shuldn't be a power supply problem.</p><p>The computer was built by a bona fide business but unfortunately I did not specify clearly enough that this was essentially a gaming machine.  So I feel the memory is still some sort of issue.  I will get to looking at the partition and the drives soon.  This is an area I'm not prepared to do alone so think I shall take the URL from here to the computer shop and let them read your recommendations.  You see I don't have the technical savvy to talk with them but I at least understand what you guys have told me (sufficient that is to point them in the right direction)</p><p>Thanks again.</p>