[Gemini]

Hello,

I've tried asking about this on another forum, but didn't really get an answer, so I'm hoping I'll have better luck here. For about 9 months now, while trying to run a graphic-heavy program (Second Life) my screen will flicker, freeze and then my computer will crash. When the computer restarts itself, my display is all "big" and messed up. I find myself having to restart the computer manually several times before my display goes back to normal.

I've tried reseating the card several times, cleaning out the dust inside my computer, switching the cable connecting the card to the monitor around, rolled back my drivers, installed the latest drivers. And I still have the issue. Since it seems to me that it is a faulty video card - I ordered a new one and it'll be here soon.

After crashing, I noticed that on the black boot up screen (I'm sorry, I don't know the name of it lol) all the characters are strange. There are exclamation points where there should be numbers, misspelled words, flickering characters... it's just really strange. When I see that screen looking all crazy like that, I know my display is going to be screwed up too - and it always is. Would a faulty video card cause that to happen to the boot up screen? Or would there be another problem causing it?

Overall question: Do all my problems seem video card-related?

Thanks in advance for any help! And please let me know if you need any additional info!

-Joy

My Specs:

Operating System: Win XP Home
Antivirus Software: AVG
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Motherboard: Gigabyte M57SLI-S4
Ram: 4GB
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT 512MB
Power Supply: 750 Watts Thermaltake ToughPower

[redden137]

Sounds like your graphics card, it`s not that good for gaming or to run a graphic`s-heavy program, the rest seems fine