Try different VGA cable.

agent_x007 wrote:

Try different VGA cable.

I used a different VGA cable, and the problem still persists. I would think that if it was an issue with the VGA cable, the corruption would appear in all video modes, not just VGA 640x480x16, but I guess the cable could've had damage in the areas where the information for a more complex video mode like that was transmitted, and it didn't have any damage where DOS would've sent frequencies through.

I fear that my video card is dying, or that I'm doing something wrong. I just don't get why everything works great right up until the point where I start Windows 98 setup.

yeah it seems to me you need a new vga... image like this is a dead giveaway of a semi-dead card

keropi wrote:

yeah it seems to me you need a new vga... image like this is a dead giveaway of a semi-dead card

I just got this card a little over a week ago. It was the first actual time-accurate card that I have- I'd have to return to that garbage TNT2 card that I have if this one was on its way out. I won't be able to get another good card like this for a very long time, if this is really the case.

I'm hoping that this isn't a bad card, because I have very few options if it is.

I changed it out with a couple of other cards, including an apparently failed S3 Savage 2000 (the PC refused to POST at all with that in there, and it kept beeping at me), and then I put in an Intel i740 AGP GPU, it POSTed, I was able to get to Windows 98 SE setup, and there was no problems, as I was checking to see if it was something like the monitor or the motherboard.

I put back in the Rage 128, and Windows 98 SE setup ran fine at first. After the first stage, the same problems appeared, but I continued through setup and now Windows 98 SE boots up fine to the desktop without any corruption. If this thing is failing, I've at least got a couple of months or so before it kicks the bucket. I'll install drivers and see how it does with games. Hopefully, it'll pull through until I can get a replacement card of some kind. If it lasts long enough, I might not even need to replace it.

It may have just been a weird thing with the drivers that Win98 setup uses, I have no clue.

If it only does that artifacting during the setup, it's probably just some quirk of the setup software and nothing to worry about. I don't think a card with bad video memory ICs (whether or not that's what's the matter with your card) would necessarily pose a hazard to the rest of the system in the meantime, either. If you install the drivers, run some applications and/or 3D games (e.g. put an actual legit load on the GPU), and then see the same or similar artifacting going on, that's when you should start worrying that the card is kaput.

I agree, looks like a exotic quirk and the video card is fine.

I wonder if the corruption is there all the way through 98SE setup..
Because, the first part of setup is based on a cut-down Windows 3.1 (mini.cab) with a vga driver (if setup was started from DOS).
Second part is Windows 9x then. You'll notice the transition by looking at the dialog windows.
Windows 3.x has a white background and rounded buttons; Win 9.x is gray with rectangular buttons.

The problem seems to be with the VGA connector on the card itself, or the cable (I changed that out with a new one earlier, though). The same weird lines came up on the Windows 98 desktop, I unplugged the cable, and when I plugged it back in, they stuck on some parts of the screen, like the taskbar, but went away on others when I moved any windows that had the bars on them.

It's very strange. If the windows with those bars refreshed in any way when I re-plugged the VGA cable back in, the bars would go away. On reboot, the problem is gone again.

I don't think this is a life-threatening issue with the card as much as I think that it's something weird with the connector or something like that. I'm not sure.

Have you tried a different monitor to rule out an issue with the current one? You can also try using some contact cleaner it could be oxidation on the connector causing a bad connection.

Looks like video ram going bad to me.....

One last thing you can try: Clean the agp connector on the card. But again, I think the memory on the card is dying.

What happens if you wiggle the VGA cable on the card side when those artifacts are onscreen? Do the artifacts jump around, change shape, or disappear? Do they get worse? Maybe it's some cold solder joints on one of the ICs or the VGA output connector that get (dis)connected whenever the card PCB is flexed a little.

like meljor said, looks like bad video ram to me. I just ran into this with my 7800 gt in my XP setup a few days ago. and my previous geforce 2 gts in my win9x build exhibited the same issue, it then later on fully died and is now replaced temporarily with a all-in-wonder card. as a last resort you could bake the card, but that really is a last ditch attempt.