Member Avatar for Terry.Yang

Hello. First time post, please be gentle.

I have a graphics card problem; I'll probably try my best to explain the problem and hope someone or anyone can help me find a solution.

At any time I have a game that requires the use of OpenGL, I seem to get these random white flickering of graphics randomly on Icons, Backgrounds, Text, or anything that is an image. Here are some images to such problems if it helps.


Warcraft3; Notice the background is white, and it reguarly flickers to white and back to normal. So do those icons with text on them.


World Of Warcraft; All the icons and some graphics are flickering in this picture.

http://img138.echo.cx/my.php?image=notflickering8ol.jpg
World Of Warcraft; Same picture, just not when it's exceesively flickering. This is what I would hope it stays like...

The flickering are sporadic and yet very frequent, with 3 or 5 seconds interval. Happens in *every* game I own. I've asked a lot of people, and friends; the most they give me are a tilted head then say, your eyes must hurt.

I am using;
P4 Intel(R)
Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz
1GB of RAM
Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
DirectX 9.0c
19" Flat Panel LCD hs94p Sony

nVidia GeForce FX 5700LE
128MB PCI CARD (sorry no AGP slot!)
ForceWare Version 71.89

Things that I have done are;
Updated Driver
Uninstalled Old driver
Cleaned Registry
Tried older versions of nVidia Drivers
Tried different PCI slots
Kicked the computer
Examined the Video card if fan is broken, it's not.
Insulted it, and apologized to it.
Searched Google for almost a week.
Stuck a HUGE fan next to the computer
Latest DirectX installed
Adjusted Frame Rate for games to match desktop's framerate.
E-mailed nVidia, they said to update driver...
Exchanged the video card. Same problem.

Integrated card doesn't seem to have the problem, but this video card does. I either have a double bad luck on fluked video cards or there is something wrong on my half, which I am hoping to find out. Apparently this is the best PCI card I can possibly get without having to upgrade my motherboard for an AGP slot, so I hope I find some sort of solution.

Any help or suggestions (except buy a new computer) are welcomed!

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  • 2 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by noraantonia

Dani AI

Generated

Quick practical read: the symptoms you show (random white/bright patches in OpenGL games) can come from either driver/OpenGL regressions or — when the same behaviour appears with multiple cards in one PC — from system-level power or motherboard problems (bad caps, unstable rails) or failing GPU memory/thermal issues. ’s airflow point is valid, but because the fault persisted across card swaps it’s sensible to move the focus to power/motherboard diagnostics first. (blog.silverpc.hu)

Priority checklist (do these in order; each step narrows the cause):

  1. Try a known-good PSU in your machine (or test the suspect card with a different PSU) — unstable/aged PSUs often cause artifacting.
  2. Put the PCI card into a different working PC. If the flicker follows the card it’s almost certainly the card; if it only appears in the original system, suspect PSU/motherboard/slot.
  3. Boot to BIOS or a Linux LiveCD — artifacts visible before Windows/drivers load point to hardware.
  4. Inspect motherboard and nearby caps for bulging/leakage (the capacitor‑failure era caused lots of video problems).
  5. Monitor temps/voltages while stressing the card (use HWMonitor/GPU‑Z) and run a short stress test like FurMark to reproduce the glitch safely; stop early if temps or artifacts spike.
  6. Swap monitor/cable and try another PCI slot if available. (cpuid.com)

If stress tests show immediate artifacts or BIOS shows corruption, the card or board/PSU is likely failing and RMA/replacement is appropriate. If temps are high, clean the heatsink and consider re‑applying thermal interface; if voltages bounce under load, focus on PSU/motherboard. Mentioning : replacing the card is often the fix — but only after isolating system-level causes above; replacing parts without isolation can get expensive. (blog.silverpc.hu)

Member Avatar for Grimmstone

This might be a possibility that you might want to look into: The logistics of your cards.

For example, if you have another large card in next to your gfx card, it could choke off the airway to the fan, thus causing it to heat up, thus causing it to flicker. You should either leave the PCI port next to your AGP port open or put a relatively small card in that slot, like an ethernet card.

Member Avatar for noraantonia

I program in opengl-visual c++ for my diploma degree. I have the same video card and i can't stop the flicker in my program. I don't know what to say... i heard other people had this problem also. i think you should change the video card to fix the problem.

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