Righteo, well I had a problem similar to this a while ago, and re-installing the GPU drivers solved it, albeit temporarily, then it happened again, swapped the GPUs around, re-install the drivers. But now the problem is back, and it's got a whole lot worse!!

Right, basically I get RED pixels all over the screen, it's not a case of one or to, it's like the whole god damn screen, I can still use the desktop, but it's not easy and yeah, I don't really want to run it like that, I mean, who would? Now, whilst I've tried all the possible combination of GPU setups I can, it doesn't stop. The thing that's got me suspecting that it's the HDD, is the fact that it's almost constantly clicking, just continuously. And IIRC, that can be a sign of a failing drive, not happy, I can try and get a few photos of it, but they won't be great, but you'll get the idea.

I honestly can't think of what else it could be really. I'm stumped. Oh, btw, the primary drive is a Maxator Diamondmax 320Gb one, heard bad things about them, but yeah, any help would be great!

Thanks peeps

mars

Hi mars-bar-man

It is possible that your power supply is failing so Hdd is get low voltage.
It is also possible to be failing Hdd. Or power lead is loose.
Do you have a spare PSU or Hdd?
Could install OS in a different Hdd and see if problem resolves. That way will not lose data on original and if not cures problem can put Hdd back in.

Well, after speaking to a few people, I reckon it could be the mobo, a while ago, I pumped a bit too much voltage throught the NB, I think that may have damaged it, but it's strange that it's borked now. I'll give installing Ubuntu on to the second HDD a bit later to see if it does the same thing, hopefully not, I can deal with a broken HDD, but mobo isn't something I wasnt broken. I've checked all the power leads, and they're all in scurely, so it can't be that. I also got rid of all OC settings I had, so now everything is at stock.

If it the mobo, I think I'll just buy a new one, I have bad experiences with RMAing. Don't care to repeat the 2 hour phonecall argument I had with AdvanceTec about my 8800GT.

Run a linux Live CD, but don't install it. If the problem persists it isn't the hard drive. Red dots to me sounds like a GPU problem, but if it happens regardless of what GPU is installed, it's the motherboard - or you are unlucky enough to have two borked GPU's!

If it goes away using the Linux CD, it is either the hard disk or the Windows GPU drivers.

Oh, I've had a Diamondmax running happily for three years - I've retired it now (by putting Vista SP3 (W7) on it..), but never had a problem with it

What you describe is usually an artefact of video card problems / overheating. If the mobo got over juiced, it is possible that something there is causing the artefacts. I would think HD is very unlikely, otherwise everything would be corrupting and nothing would run properly...

As a cheap longshot, you've tried reseating things? Especially the GPU?

It does look like artefacts, but if it's that, I'm going to be pissed, 2 GPU's dead, not happy. At all!

I'll get some photos when I get home and stick them up to see if it'll help. I'll try re-seating all the parts, I'll just run it out of the case on the mobo box, see how it goes. As for the overheating, I've run it withoug the side panel on to allow the GPU's some fresh air almost.

I'll give it another shot when I get home.

Cheers peeps.

Ok, well, I've got a few piccys, and I set it up to look like a test bench, and guess what? No more errors....really weird...

Well, here's what it looked like:


And here's what I had to do to get it 'solve' it:



*sigh*, I think I might just keep it on my desk...seems to be working fine now, stupid computers...