Strange red/blue dots appearing all over my screen.

[TheFlyingToaster]

Hi I just signed up here cause I was having this problem so hopefully this is fine and all in the right place, if not then sorry.

This started yesterday and was pretty subtle but seems to be getting worse. I actually first noticed it playing a game. Now It's constant and they are all over my screen. Also I'm completely unable to play games any more (actually the only one I've tried is League of Legends but it doesn't work), when I go in the game just fails to load properly and I can get into the game but it's unplayable. The dots all over the screen flicker a lot and they sometimes do move along with a picture or something if I have one open, though it seems to have stopped doing that.

I took a screen of my desktop since the dots all seem to show when I take a screen.



I tried some searching but couldn't find anything that seemed to describe the same thing as what I was seeing. My PC is a few years old and this only just started yesterday, It's used pretty frequently the only other thing was that I did get a couple errors a week or so about the CPU overheating, and one of the things I found when searching said I might need to replace the CPU if it's a problem with that.

Anyway thank you for any help you can give .

[truenorth]

My money is on the video card. More specifically the memory component of the video card. However first ensure that the cable between the computer and the monitor is secure.If you have another cable try that also. When your computer is being started and is displaying the BIOS screen do you see the dots then also? Have you tried using another monitor? Have you tried taking the current monitor and using it on another computer? I suspect ultimately there will be a replacement video card in your future.truenorth

[TheFlyingToaster]

Hi thanks for the reply. It's not my monitor, I used my ps3 on it and it was fine and I plugged my tv into my pc and the same kind of dots show up on there too. It's not the exact same but yea stuff shows up from the first start up screen too. More lines etc but the same type of thing. Though when I first turned it on today it was actually fine for the first 5 minutes or so. Also when I play videos there are more dots/lines on those and they are pretty distorted.

So does this mean it's definitely the video card? is there something else I should try?

[truenorth]

There may be more but a failing RAM module may lead to this as well excessive heat can induce it also. However for my money it is a classic video card issue.Is the current video card an on=board module or is it a standalone card? If and when you get to adding/changing the video card here is an excellent link (from CH) to help you with the process.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000193.htm
truenorth

[patio]

Welcome Aboard...
List some more info on your system and components...

[TheFlyingToaster]

My card is a radeon hd 1gb 4800 something. I found something with images that looked a lot like what I had to deal with when i tried to play a game and said underclocking the card could help? is that right? I don't really have the money to get any new parts right now so if there's nothing I can do I'm kinda screwed for a while.

[quaxo]

The fact that you are able to capture these in a screen shot would mean it's not the cable or screen. You could try underclocking the card through ATIs Overdrive, not sure if it will help though. Download memtest86 and test your system RAM overnight (this will not test your graphics card's RAM, but let's eliminate your system RAM as a possible culprit).

Have you checked the temperatures of the card, CPU, and system?

Are you having any other issues? (i.e. random lockups while gaming, etc.)

[quaxo]

You know, after looking at it very closely again, there is a repeating pattern to the dots.

Could you do us a favor? Take a screenshot with an all green background. Like forest green, not lime green. It's hard to see where the blue dots are with a blue background

-=EDIT=-
Ran your screen shot through some filters in Photoshop to get the dots to show up more. I've also highlighted the patterns. There are 4 patterns of 8 dots that repeats over and over. That would lead me to believe it's the card or driver if you're not experiencing any other issues.



[year+ old attachment deleted by admin]

[TheFlyingToaster]

Hi thank you not sure if you still need after your photoshopping but like this?



Also I can't play games at all I can show you a screenshot of what a game looks like when i go into it if that helps. Like it starts up but it's just unplayable. This game actually started out ok only with a few errors on the map and stuff but I could still play, then it went like that and worse tbh, so I took a screen and haven't played it since. That was a day or two ago.

[patio]

By any chance have you tried removing and re-seating the vid card with all power removed ? ?

[TheFlyingToaster]

No I didn't think to but could that be the problem? :/ I'll try it soon, might as well, will let you know thanks .

[TheFlyingToaster]

No I didn't think to but could that be the problem? :/ I'll try it soon, might as well, will let you know thanks .

Can you not edit posts? thought I saw a modify option but can't see it now, sry for the double post. Tried it didn't seem to make a difference. I guess I just want to be 100% sure on the problem now before I go out and buy a new card or something.

[patio]

Post editing was being abused awhile back by some goofy newcomers so there is a post minimum before it kicks in...sorry for the inconvience caused by script kiddies.

[quaxo]

Oh wow, that screen is really messed up.

It's starting to look more and more like it's the graphics card. Is there any chance you can borrow a card from someone to test out?

Judging from what I've seen, I'm pretty convinced it's the card itself.

[TheFlyingToaster]

I was trying to borrow one but I don't think I can unfortunately. Is there anything else I should try to be more sure it's the card?