Member Avatar for omalika

Hello,

I Reciently did a pretty major system upgrade which included my RAM, Video card, sound card, power supply and case...

I've had a few problems along the way, but this one i can not solve...

Shortly after getting everything installed I noticed the screen every now and then flickered, usually 3-5 horizontal lines that slightly distort my image, lasting anywhere from 3 seconds up to 30 seconds... extremely annoying.

I've come to the conclusion that it is not being caused by my monitor... I might be wrong but, my monitor breaking down RIGHT after a system upgrade just doesnt seem like a likely coincidence...

but I still dont know how I would fix this if it were a Video card issue... I've tried several drivers, and everything on my system is up to date.

The flickering seems to be completely random... my video card runs 40C idle and 44C while gaming. I've also tried different refresh rates and different resolutions, no dice.

Here is my system specs

Viewsonic Ultrabrite A70F+ 17" CRT 1280x800 (60hz)
nVidia GeForce 6200 256MB AGP GPU(latest drivers)
ASUS P4S800 mobo(latest BIOS)
Pentium 4 2.4ghz
1024MB Geil DDR400 RAM
80GB Western digital HDD
Windows XP home(SP2)

Thanks, and all comments are appreciated!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by chrisbliss18
Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

60hz is fairly low. I never run my monitors under 70hz since I notice flicker under that refresh rate. Are you sure that setting your refresh rate higher than 60hz doesn't address the issue?

Does this flicker only happen at certain times, such as when you are watching a video or have a certain program loaded or does it happen periodically no matter what the system is doing?

Are you able to connect a different monitor to the system in order to confirm that a different monitor reproduces the flicker?

BTW... Your resolution choice is odd. A resolution of 1280x800 has an aspect ratio of 8:5 while your monitor has an aspect ratio of 4:3. You might try changing your resolution to one that matches your aspect ratio, such as 1280x960.

Member Avatar for omalika

Hmm,

At 1280x800, 60hz is the only refresh rate i get... Could you name other 4:3 resolutions? i've been using 1024x768 for the longest time also.

I've tried at 70hz, 72hz, 75hz under 1024x768, all had the flickering.

Well, now that you mention it, it does seem that it happens more commonly during games and watching media... Do you think it could be that i dont have a big enough power supply? I have a 400W Max Power supply made from Rosewill.

On the monitor thing, I will get back to you on that shortly.

Thanks for the suggestions :)

Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

The commonly used 4:3 resolutions are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, and 1600x1200.

I don't think your power supply is the issue. If it was, you would get periodic system shutdowns not screen flicker.

Test with a different monitor, that will show whether we need to focus on the monitor or the system.

Member Avatar for omalika

Hmm, I've discovered that this problem is caused by my cell phone. why? i'm not sure, but when my cell phone is off i have no problems whatsoever. thanks anyways!

Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

Cell phones will frequently send data across the network in order to check for voice mail, updates, etc. This data transmission will often disrupt nearby electrical devices. When my cell phone connects to the network, my speakers hiss, pop, and make nostalgic analog modem sounds. I can usually tell that my cell phone is just about to receive a call by the specific noise that my speakers create.

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