Going Green...

[beaky]

Not sure exactly when it started, but I've noticed a very slight increase lately in the frequency of this event... I'm referring to the tendency of my GeForce 5700LE to start producing huge swaths of green while running FS9. Usually it's the whole sky;  sometimes more areas are affected. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it: lower settings don't necessarily help, and the temps are normal as far as I can tell. Sometimes it happens after hours of flying, sometimes when I first start out. Hitting the "Alt" key twice clears it up, and I rarely see it twice in one session.
I also noticed when I recently fired up CFS3 for the first time in months that at screenshot-quality settings, there were little green cubes scattered all over the mission target areas. Weird.
 Now before anyone gets too concerned, bear in mind that I'll soon be building a new rig almost exclusively for flight-simming, so I'm not too worried... I'm just curious.
Is the card on its last legs? Opinions?

[ctjoyce]

Yup, this sounds exactly like what my friends 9800XT did before it died.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

sounds like the cards begining to die.  you could try running ATI tool: http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
I know it's called ATI tool but the scanning for artifacts (what your seeing) still works on nvidia cards.

[beaky]

thanks, kip... I'll try that, but I'm also contemplating reinstalling my old card (some 128 MHz POS, don't even remember what it is) in case this one goes belly-up before my new build.
How much time do you think I have, Doc? Give it to me straight...

[ctjoyce]

4 months tops. However you may just be haveing moniter problems.

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

I would perscribe a new windows install and drivers before righting it off.

[beaky]

I would perscribe a new windows install and drivers before righting it off.

Oh, sure... and how about a root canal while I'm at it?

Not a bad idea, though. I was thinking of doing that when I build the other rig: this one will need housecleaning anyway before I set it up for multimedia duty.
Which reminds me: another anomaly I've seen lately is my active video window going all green, with various programs including Media Player... symptom of the same problem?

[kipman725]

sounds like it.  Try reinstaling directx.

[beaky]

Tried ATI Tool briefly... it'd be nice if there was a tute with the program, hello!?
Not too sure what to make of the results, but that furry cube is kinda cool.
I'm going to run it again and do a bit of flying at the settings it picks out... we'll see what happens.

[PisTon]

bump the monitor LIGHTLY, see if that gets rid of it. Also see if all the plugs are in.

In my friends computer, there screen goes all green, when you jump it fixes it.

[beaky]

bump the monitor LIGHTLY, see if that gets rid of it. Also see if all the plugs are in.

In my friends computer, there screen goes all green, when you jump it fixes it.

No, no, it's not that; I know that one. Sounds like your friend needs a new VGA cable: that cable has separate conductors inside for red, blue, green, and horizontal and vertical sync. If there's a short or other problem there, sometimes one or more colors can drop out. The fact that physically touching it clears it up sometimes indicates it's the cable or maybe even something inside the monitor.... but it's usually the cable. If it's hard-wired to the monitor it's going to be harder to fix, but it can be done. but yes, the cable could just be loose...
My problem is artifacts (only certain areas going green) while running the sim, and the active video window going green while playing video clips, especially while editing video, which is a pretty demanding process for my graphics card. But soon I'll have my nice new machine for simming and editing, and this old clunker will do nothing but surf the Web and play DVDs and music files, which it does just fine.