[Andy57]

Hi

Sorry this is long & a bit sketchy - It's my son's desktop who's at Uni. Visited him yesterday and apparently about a week ago logged on, got to deskop and then the PC froze with "flickering" pixels all over the screen (I saw this for myself) Start it in safe mode and it works ok (+ no pixel issue) - tried to do a system restore but no restore points available earlier than October 1st this year, yet the pc is over 2 years old (the restore failed anyway) He's running AVG protection, plus the Uni network should be protected and I'm trying to decide if it's hardware, software or a virus... I should have more pc hardware details on the original invoice if that would help - any advice where to start appreciated - He's running Win XP.

Andy

[xactly]

At first it sounded like the graphics card was on its way out but there were no issues in safe mode, it sounds like a graphics driver issue to me.

Try uninstalling current drivers through control panel and then with Driver Sweeper.
Download the latest driver for your card, either ATI or Nvidia and install them.

[Steamwitz]

Other things you could try, to start on the simple side:

Make sure all the connections are tight. A poor connection/one with debris in the connector can cause that kind of problem.

Change the desktop resolution to as low as it will go in Windows, and see if the artifacting still occurs. If that clears it up, step the resolution up until artifacting starts again, then go down one step. Temporary fix, but it would also help for troubleshooting the root problem.

See if it is actually the monitor. Find another LCD and plug it into the card - if no problem comes up, it may be a hardware problem in the monitor itself.

Check to make sure the computer has good ventilation. Blocked vents can cause the video card to overheat and cause artifacting.

[xactly]

Originally Posted by Steamwitz

Other things you could try, to start on the simple side:

Make sure all the connections are tight. A poor connection/one with debris in the connector can cause that kind of problem.

Change the desktop resolution to as low as it will go in Windows, and see if the artifacting still occurs. If that clears it up, step the resolution up until artifacting starts again, then go down one step. Temporary fix, but it would also help for troubleshooting the root problem.

See if it is actually the monitor. Find another LCD and plug it into the card - if no problem comes up, it may be a hardware problem in the monitor itself.

Check to make sure the computer has good ventilation. Blocked vents can cause the video card to overheat and cause artifacting.

Originally Posted by Andy57

...Start it in safe mode and it works ok (+ no pixel issue)

There are no problems in safe mode so your entire post is irrelevant.