Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS 512MB showing odd characters and garbled video

XP Pro
Asus P4T533C motherboard
1MB RAM

This card worked well in my system for about a month yet now displays
odd characters at system boot up and displays a highly distorted image
of the motherboard splash screen and windows log in. After that, the
system reboots itself.

I put the card into another machine and had the same result at startup
and in Windows 2K.

Is there any possibility of flashing the firmware of this card in
hopes to solve it's distorted/garbled output?

>'molstaderik' wrote:
XP Pro
> Asus P4T533C motherboard
> 1MB RAM
>
> This card worked well in my system for about a month yet now displays
> odd characters at system boot up and displays a highly distorted image
> of the motherboard splash screen and windows log in. After that, the
> system reboots itself.
>
> I put the card into another machine and had the same result at startup
> and in Windows 2K.
>
> Is there any possibility of flashing the firmware of this card in
> hopes to solve it's distorted/garbled output?
_____

No.

How could it? The card worked - then it did not. The card BIOS can not
change without intervention.

Since you have already performed the most useful diagnostic (placing the
card in a known good system) the problem is shown to be the card (if the
cable and monitor on the trial system are not from the original system. It
cannot be a driver fault as the drivers are not loaded during the
motherboard BIOS splash screen.

However, if you post a more complete description of the 'distorted screen'
and the type of monitor (LCD/analog LCD/digital CRT) you might get a few
suggestions as to what might be wrong. Sadly, chances are that the card
must be replaced.

Phil Weldon

<molstaderik@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b77761df-269c-41e1-af49-26894adb0405@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> XP Pro
> Asus P4T533C motherboard
> 1MB RAM
>
> This card worked well in my system for about a month yet now displays
> odd characters at system boot up and displays a highly distorted image
> of the motherboard splash screen and windows log in. After that, the
> system reboots itself.
>
> I put the card into another machine and had the same result at startup
> and in Windows 2K.
>
> Is there any possibility of flashing the firmware of this card in
> hopes to solve it's distorted/garbled output?

Phil Weldon wrote:

>
> However, if you post a more complete description of the 'distorted
> screen' and the type of monitor (LCD/analog LCD/digital CRT) you might
> get a few suggestions as to what might be wrong. Sadly, chances are
> that the card must be replaced.
>
> Phil Weldon


Most likely a short/break in a video RAM cell, since video ram data is
mostly arbitrary, even when it faults it 'works', just not as intended.

> No.
>
> How could it? The card worked - then it did not. The card BIOS can not
> change without intervention.
>
> Since you have already performed the most useful diagnostic (placing the
> card in a known good system) the problem is shown to be the card (if the
> cable and monitor on the trial system are not from the original system. It
> cannot be a driver fault as the drivers are not loaded during the
> motherboard BIOS splash screen.
>
> However, if you post a more complete description of the 'distorted screen'
> and the type of monitor (LCD/analog LCD/digital CRT) you might get a few
> suggestions as to what might be wrong. Sadly, chances are that the card
> must be replaced.
>


Is there possible intervention for a video card's bios similar to
updating a router's firmware (which gets corrupted relatively often on
low-end units)? I'm doubting it but asking as a long-shot.

Both systems used the same CRT and cable with the analog output from
the card. Another older card works fine in both systems.
Definitely the 7600 is the issue.

About half of the characters during boot up are replaced with random
characters interspersed throughout the text. The motherboard's splash
screen has 1 inch horizontal lines split from the graphic and
displaced and various pixels are displaced it seems. The windows
login is a rectangle of sparse pixelation.

I actually haven't tried the digital output yet as the primary
display. I'll attempt that.

'molstaderik' wrote:
> Is there possible intervention for a video card's bios similar to
> updating a router's firmware (which gets corrupted relatively often on
> low-end units)? I'm doubting it but asking as a long-shot.
>
> Both systems used the same CRT and cable with the analog output from
> the card. Another older card works fine in both systems.
> Definitely the 7600 is the issue.
>
> About half of the characters during boot up are replaced with random
> characters interspersed throughout the text. The motherboard's splash
> screen has 1 inch horizontal lines split from the graphic and
> displaced and various pixels are displaced it seems. The windows
> login is a rectangle of sparse pixelation.
>
> I actually haven't tried the digital output yet as the primary
> display. I'll attempt that.
_____

The extra information helps with diagnosis, but the cure is the same...
replace the card. The BIOS display of recognizable but incorrect
characters shows a problem with the memory system on the video card (the
boot-up and BIOS setting screens are displayed in a non-graphical text-only
mode; a bad memory location produces an incorrect character rather than
image artifacts.) The operating system start-up screen shows a different
type of error because a VGA (or SVGA, XVGA, or ...) display method is used
rather than a text-only mode. The failure might be a bad memory chip, bad
solder joint, broken land, shorted pin or land, bad capacitor. While a bad
capacitor can be replaced, the other, more likely causes are not repairable
(if a good shake isn't sufficient.)

Using the digital out signal will not change anything because the problem is
with the video card memory system.

The BIOS in a video card (if it can be changed at all) requires the computer
system to accomplish a flash update. The video BIOS content can not change
at random nor without intervention through the computer system.

Options:

1. Remove card from system, bang card vigorously, reinstall, retest.

2. Replace card if (1.) does not fix problem.

Phil Weldon



<molstaderik@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:6890f885-fa23-400f-8062-da6f84b28ae6@34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>> No.
>>
>> How could it? The card worked - then it did not. The card BIOS can not
>> change without intervention.
>>
>> Since you have already performed the most useful diagnostic (placing the
>> card in a known good system) the problem is shown to be the card (if the
>> cable and monitor on the trial system are not from the original system.
>> It
>> cannot be a driver fault as the drivers are not loaded during the
>> motherboard BIOS splash screen.
>>
>> However, if you post a more complete description of the 'distorted
>> screen'
>> and the type of monitor (LCD/analog LCD/digital CRT) you might get a few
>> suggestions as to what might be wrong. Sadly, chances are that the card
>> must be replaced.
>>
>
>
> Is there possible intervention for a video card's bios similar to
> updating a router's firmware (which gets corrupted relatively often on
> low-end units)? I'm doubting it but asking as a long-shot.
>
> Both systems used the same CRT and cable with the analog output from
> the card. Another older card works fine in both systems.
> Definitely the 7600 is the issue.
>
> About half of the characters during boot up are replaced with random
> characters interspersed throughout the text. The motherboard's splash
> screen has 1 inch horizontal lines split from the graphic and
> displaced and various pixels are displaced it seems. The windows
> login is a rectangle of sparse pixelation.
>
> I actually haven't tried the digital output yet as the primary
> display. I'll attempt that.
>
>
>
>

> The extra information helps with diagnosis, but the cure is the same...
> replace the card. *


True.


The BIOS display of recognizable but *incorrect
> characters shows a problem with the memory system on the video card (the
> boot-up and BIOS setting screens are displayed in a non-graphical text-only
> mode; a bad memory location produces an incorrect character rather than
> image artifacts.) *The operating system start-up screen shows a different
> type of error because a VGA (or SVGA, XVGA, or ...) display method is used
> rather than a text-only mode. *The failure might be a bad memory chip, bad
> solder joint, broken land, shorted pin or land, bad capacitor. *While a bad
> capacitor can be replaced, the other, more likely causes are not repairable
> (if a good shake isn't sufficient.)



Thanks that gives me a better understanding of the malfunction, and
with what you and Mr.E described, the memory seems to definitely be
the issue. Now I wish I would have gotten the 256MB version (less to
go wrong). The 512MB happened to be at the same price where I got it.



> Using the digital out signal will not change anything because the problem is
> with the video card memory system.
>
> The BIOS in a video card (if it can be changed at all) requires the computer
> system to accomplish a flash update. *The video BIOS content can not change
> at random nor without intervention through the computer system.


Yes, I was wondering if you had ever seen such a flash utility for
Nvidia cards.


> Options:
>
> 1. *Remove card from system, bang card vigorously, reinstall, retest.
>
> 2. *Replace card if (1.) does not fix problem.



I'm going to give the card a whack on it's head to see if I can jog
its memory.

molstaderik@gmail.com wrote:

> Yes, I was wondering if you had ever seen such a flash utility for
> Nvidia cards.

That isn't going to help anything unless you know something secret.

NiBiTor

http://www.mvktech.net/

Flashing the BIOS to avoid the damaged memory is a clever, and
charmingly futile idea. Best of luck with that!

Thanks for that info; it's good to know that exists (albeit
secretly). No, it won't help in my situation, since the memory
is bad, but it might help with future issues with another card.



On May 5, 12:34 pm, "Mr.E Solved!" <Iamsin...@askme.out> wrote:
> molstade...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Yes, I was wondering if you had ever seen such a flash utility for
> > Nvidia cards.
>
> That isn't going to help anything unless you know something secret.
>
> NiBiTor
>
> http://www.mvktech.net/
>
> Flashing the BIOS to avoid the damaged memory is a clever, and
> charmingly futile idea. Best of luck with that!