Screen turns red :(

[karolisss]

Hello people, I need your help.

When I try to run video game such as Counter strike. It goes alright for like 20 seconds and then it turns red and the graphics are messed up.
Before installed new windows it was running perfect. I got newest video drivers aswell.

Any ideas what is wrong?

[liam858]

Welcome to VDr :)


We could do with some more info, system specs firstly including OS, was it self built?, and where the drivers from a driver disc or downloaded?


Liam

[karolisss]

Thanks for welcome and fast reply :)

Info:

System

Windows xp sp2 pro
amd athlon processor
1.24 ghz, 512 mb of ram
The pc is self builed

The drivers are from nvidia.com

I hope its enough Not sure what other info u need

[liam858]

The graphics card model too please, and also what OS did you have installed prior to XP? what are your settings on Counter Strike(and other games) - resolution/quality etc ? Is it just games that you are having problems with? any errors in Device Manager under Display Adapters?


Liam

[karolisss]

I dont know what os and i dont know what u mean settings on counter strike :(

geforce4 mx 440 with memery of 128 mg
video Driver: 6.14.0010.7777
Directx.9.0c
1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60hz)

The problem is just with game like counter strike.

[liam858]

Doesn't matter about the settings, i was just wondering if you were really pushing the card to the max, is everything okay in device manager? Is this the driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_77.77.html ???



Liam

[karolisss]

Yeah thats the driver I got.
How can i check if my device manager is okey?

[liam858]

Start|My Computer|Right Click and select Properties|Hardware Tab|Device Manager|Display Adapter see if there is a yellow mark next to the card, if so click it and read the error details, if not try reinstalling the card - Right click it and select uninstall and then reboot, XP will pick it up upon boot and reinstall it.


Liam

[karolisss]

No there is no yellow mark there, what els it could be? Maybe u need more info?

[liam858]

Go to Control Panel|Display and the Settings Tab and click Advanced on the Troubleshoot Tab make sure Hardware Acceleration is all the way to the right, and check colour settings are on the highest too.



Liam

[karolisss]

Hardware Acceleration is on full, Color settings highest 32 bit. What els can it be:eek:

[karolisss]

I added u to my msn. Could u sign it :rolleyes:

[Nixius]

Hello! I also have a PC that is doing the same. It was running games fine, then after installing UT2004 the game graphics started to turn red.

Because I hadn't played games for so long I have no idea if this happened before or as a result of installing UT2004. I have tried numerous things, including newest drivers, drivers I once used I knew worked, swapping my ram slots and sticks and recently re-installed windows as well. I also fiddled with Windows Torubleshoot ideas, and the hardware accelerator, again didn't work.

I tried running the FFXI benchmark as a quick test to see if the graphics worked but to no avail. The screen turns red most of the time, however, infrequently it does display SOME normal graphics. Also, sometimes the textures on some objects go very... weird.

PC running Windows XP Pro, 800Mhz Duron, GeForceFX 5x00 128MB (i fink its a 5100, 5200 or 5300.. Can't remember, but I got it about a year ago). 256+128MB Ram but lat the moment its just got one stick in because I was trying different combinations.

I am really stuck for ideas, any help will be muchly appreciated!!

[Etherus]

Pentium 1.6ghz
256 Ram
GEforce4 MX 440 64mb

I know this computer isn't the greatest but I see no reason why it should effect the problems I too am having. (The minimum requirements for these games are met).

I have been searching for a cure myself for 3 months,
"THE RED SCREEN OF DEATH!" as I like to call it, will one day send me over the edge.

Sometimes my games work for 30 minutes until the red takes over and makes the game impossible to play (I know, because i've tried!). It doesn't really seem to matter what game I play or what I try to do - i'm beaten.

I've tried downloading drivers, changing all the settings including '16bit - 32bit' colour, screen res, performance settings, screen refresh rate. But nothing seems to help.

Please save US!

Danny

[Europa]

I too, am having the exact same problem. It happens only with certain games. I downloaded the demo for Dungeon Siege II, and it happened on that game. I have a brand new monitor and a brand new video card (Nvidia G-force 5500). I also have downloaded new drivers, DirectX, played with the video settings, etc. and nothing seems to work. I have an AMD Athlon 1.2G. I don't have problems with Dungeon Siege I (also downloaded). Is there anyone who can help :confused: PLEASE!!!

[liam858]

Hi Danny/Europa, and Welcome to VDr. :)


Danny:

Try removing the graphics card, cleaning the contacts, and reseat it. Clean off any dust from in and around the AGP slot too.

Europa:

Check Device Manager and see if the card is "Working Properly" and see if there are any red or yellow splats next to it.

Also try going to Start|Run|type: dxdiag and see if any errors are reported.

BOTH:

You may also both want to Download and Install Everest Home, from my signature, save a logfile of your system info, and post them back here please.

Liam

[Europa]

Hello liam,

I am not getting any problems in my device manager. I have downloaded everest and am posting my system info. I am still having a problem any help will be appreciated.

[liam858]

Hmmm, how is video playback? have you tried either booting into Safe Mode, and trying a game again, or while in Safe Mode, check Device Manager for duplicate entries/conflicts.


Liam

[Europa]

Well, I have given it my best shot, none of those above tries has worked. I get a normal screen for a few seconds and then it turns red and although you could still play it is impossible because you cannot see. lol

[liam858]

Well, I have given it my best shot, none of those above tries has worked. I get a normal screen for a few seconds and then it turns red and although you could still play it is impossible because you cannot see. lol

Tut.:rolleyes:

This is a weird one, and you're all experiencing it.

How did Device Manager look in Safe Mode?


Liam

[Vintersorg]

Hey all,

First of all, I'd like to mention how glad I am to have found people with the same problem as me, I was beginning to think it's just another product of my usual bad luck concerning technology and how little it desires to work for me.

CPU specs -
900mhz, pentium 3
256mb ram
27 GB hard drive
Windows XP

I have an ASUS NVIDIA X series v9520 128mb , brand new from the shop. I was sick and tired of not being able to play many games because I was using a rubbish on-board graphics card. Got home, inserted it, installed all drivers, updated drivers, installed "The Movie's" and to my horror, the screen kept changing from red to normal colours every couple of seconds, images become distorted, along with some text (This applies to 2D menu screens and normal image files eg bmp, jpg, png but ONLY in video games, Windows works just fine), although 3D models can appear as they are meant to, but skins can sometimes be missing or made to look like mesh. Tried all my games, both old and new, and it's happening to all of them. Liam, I've tried everything you've suggested already, and I'm praying that you might've solved this problem in the time that this thread has stood still... Or has anyone on this thread solved it themselves somehow? I'd like to keep buying a new card as a last resort...

Thanks in advance for any help, and good luck in solving it if you haven't already,

Mike

[ginky4]

This is a shot in the dark but I recently encountered a similar problem with somebody telling me that when they played online card games in Pogo that the card colors would turn all red. The fix was to install the most current version of Java since these particular games were running in Java. Once I did this the cards no longer turned red. You can give it a try by downloading the latest version of Java from here >http://www.java.com/en/

[Vintersorg]

Thanks Ginky4, but it's a problem to do with non-java/web based games, it's happening on every game I play which is bought from a store. I rang up the place I got my card from, and they've reccommended I upgrade my bios/motherboard drivers... I've found the correct update, but it's extremely confusing... I've read everywhere that you require a .rom or .bin file, and the flasher .exe to be put onto a freshly formatted floppy disc, and then turn it into a system disc... But there's no .exe in the .rar folder I downloaded from PC Chips website, there there's more than 1 .bin file in there... PC Chips website is very unhelpful and they seem to expect you to know how to do everything already... All help appreciated...

Mike

[wojo629]

a long shot - do you own these games? are they demos, whose time has expired?

[Vintersorg]

Nope, original copies straight from the nearest video game retailers... I've given up now, just gonna buy a new motherboard (Since it's impossible to find out which drivers I need to update my motherboard because PC Chips have far too many versions and don't make it clear as to which ones I need, or even how to use them... I've read up on the usual way to update motherboard drivers but there's nothing the sites mention in the zip file I download from PC Chips... What's stranger is the fact my computer won't format a floppy disc when I enter format a:/ s in dos/run, but will happily read it and transfer files to it... Is that just a DOS problem?)
Once again, thanks for all suggestions and help...

Mike

[wojo629]

did try playing/loading games on another PC?

[Vintersorg]

Some of them I've taken round to friends houses to show them (Like the almighty Europa 1400) and they work fine... It's definitely a problem with my own PC. The graphics card works in a friends computer, but not mine. I've even borrowed a monitor and the same problem occurs. I'm buying a new motherboard on Friday anyways, hopefully it'll be all over then (My motherboard drivers are dated back to 2001, and since its manufacturer fail to make it clear as to update its drivers, a new motherboard would be the better option - also giving better performance all round I guess...)

Thanks again,

Mike

[Europa]

Sorry haven't posted for so long, I too am out of options, I have just bought another computer game called Sacred from the bargain bin to try it out and it does the same thing. The computer screen will turn red and I cannot read anything, then it will flash back to normal for a half a sec and back to red, I cannot play any games.

[photolady]

Since Liam added this after your previous post, have you gone to the link in the thread below to see if your video card, and or your pc can even play those games?

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?t=206800

But from the sound of all this it sounds like your video card is the fault. In other words, you need a new one.

[Vintersorg]

I too apologise for not posting for so long, and I should have done so earlier to conclude this post.

The reason it was happening to me is because my motherboard was a rather old model and quite simply didn't get along very well with such a new graphics card model. Your only options my friend are 1) Buy a lesser graphics card model, 2) Buy a new motherboard, and I would certainly reccommend a jump to skt939. savastore.com are selling Athlon 64 3700+ with 1mb cache (most A64's have only 512kb) for about 100GBP (if you're on a budget perhaps a 3200+ at 60GBP might be a good plan), and a motherboard isn't too much more either... Some places sell skt939 motherboards with both AGP and PCI-E slots (40GBP average) so you can make that jump to PCI-E at any time in the future...

My PC is now a total beast and I cannot stress how much better my PC is now after that upgrade... We should look upon this error as a sign of the times, a signal to move on to the age of 64-bit computing, and you have my best wishes Europa!

Mike

[liam858]

Glad it's resolved Mike, thanks for posting back.:)

AMD's prices are being slashed when the Intel conroe hits the shops, and the 939/AM2's will be coming down dramatically, Abit do the dual graphics interface boards, and as Photolady mentioned a new card may be the best bet, as Mike mentioned above though PCI-E and AGP on a single board would give you the future proofing to buy a cheap card now, and a better next-gen card later.:)


Liam

[Europa]

Hello again,

I know that it is not a Video Card problem because I just replaced mine thinking the same thing. I have heard from others that it may be a BIOS problem, what do you think?

[Vintersorg]

You could try flashing it to the latest version, but if your motherboard is old and discontinued, even the latest BIOS update might not be enough to make the card run properly. I updated my BIOS and it made no difference, however there's no harm in trying and I reccommend it... But there's nothing I can reccommend more than upgrading to a 64 bit compatible board and CPU. If I had a girlfriend, she'd be smashing my PC to bits right now out of pure jealousy. That's when you know you've got a PC to be proud of!

Mike

[Europa]

Hey Mike,

I am going to look into all possibilities first. If it may be a processor problem. AMEM.......
Maybe you need a new girlfriend,, J/K, but if you were mine I would be fighting you for the best Puter.... I wasn't really looking into getting another puter for a while but if I have to.... I guess I have to..... Dual Processors for me now.