[Resolved] Video Artifacts

mfillpot

Ok, now it looks like I ave a true problem with my system.

Tonight the screen started displaying misc character at random locations (including in the grub bootloader screen), when I boot into CLI mode I get blue vertical bars around the screen on top of the terminale due, Additionall when I attempt ot go into a GUI my monitor reports no video input.

I have already connected my monitor to another comp and confirmed that is not the issue.

I beleive that my vid card went and it is no longer able to do accelerated video, please give you input if you think the problem could be caused by something else.

Goineasy9

You didn't say which video card your using. I have nvidia cards, and there is a utility called nvidia-smi that is present on my Fedora 11 install (nvidia-smi is in the proprietary driver). Type nvidia-smi --help and see if it has use for you. Although I have never used it, it does testing (smi=system management interface).
Never heard of anything but a video card causing artifacts like that, you might have to break down and test another video card to make sure.
Just thinking out loud, does memtest check video card memory?

mfillpot

I am using a GeForce 8800 Gt, and tested it in Slackware, Unbuntu, Kubuntu and Windows. Unfortunately all of my attemptes to install Fedora have failed with massive errors, so using a fedora tool is out of the question, but I will check to see if it is present in Slackware.

i will see if I can get my hands on another vid card to test with.

mfillpot

I became patient and worked through the artifacts and get to the bios settings and reset the bios to the fail-safe which has fixed the problems. It appears that the surges and power outages in my area last night caused the corruption of my bois configuration, which has now been fixed.

Goineasy9

Wow, bios corruption due to power fluctuations, I never would have considered that. BTW, the nvidia-smi is a nvidia app that comes with the driver, it wasn't just a Fedora thing. At least that was my impression. Glad you worked it out though.

mfillpot

the bois refresh fixes it, but it comes back after advanced graphics are called. So just in case I am going to try to get my hands on another PCI-e video card to test it further. This could just be an advanced sign that something(s) need replaced.

I did find nvidia-smi on my system it is part of the nvidia drivers.

Goineasy9

I just looked at nvidia-smi myself. I thought it did diagnostics, unless I'm missing something, I just see it as a sort of setup program that can monitor gpu temp. Since you had your problem, I realized it would be nice to find a gpu diagnostic app that works with linux, everyone I find seems to be windows only. Going to keep my eyes out for one, maybe look a little deeper on nv forums over the weekend, or maybe see if there's something on my Hiren's CD that will do the job.
I'll let you know if I find something.

Tom