Graphics Card Driver Infinite Loop

[Varmint]

About a month ago, while using Windows 7, my computer began getting driver problems. The computer would freeze, then it would go black, and then it would go back to normal and a message would come up saying that Windows had recovered from a graphics card error. I ignored it but it became worse and worse. Quite often the computer would go black and never return to normal so I would have to restart my computer. I then installed Windows XP, but the problem remains. It started out as a non-problem but it's become worse. The problems I experience now are:

• Scrolling is terrible, especially in-browser; it isn't smooth at all
• Quite often the screen goes black for a while and then returns to normal
• Half of the time the computer doesn't work at startup and I have to restart
• Sometimes I get a blue screen

The bluescreen tells me I have a problem with ati2dvag, something to do with an infinite loop. I don't know what to do. HD videos work fine, although moving the video around is not smooth at all. I am using an ATI Radeon HD 3850 graphics card. What solutions should I try?

I found this post on another forum: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic15393.html, but I don't see the CPU to AGP options.

Thanks in advance,
Varmint

[zpiders]

Have you tried uninstalling the drivers and installing the most up-to date ones? To remove your drivers completely, you should use the following drive sweeper program from guru 3d, it will completely remove all the files associated with your graphics drivers from your PC so that you can install a fresh new copy.

As I cannot post links yet, you should search for guru3d drivesweeper on google.

[Varmint]

I have tried that programme and it wouldn't work (kept encountering an error). Since I have installed a fresh copy of Windows XP and I still have the same problem. Thanks for the help anyway.

Does anyone know what else I could do? Please, my computer is almost unusable, even though I have reinstalled my OS.

[blueball]

Remove the card you have and make sure there isn't hair/fluff/dust in the connector slot or on the card connector.
Try the card you have in a different slot.
Try a different card?

It may be hardware rather than driver related.

[vinnyT]

To test whether or not it is the hardware causing the issue, dload Ubuntu Linux from here http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download.

Burn it to a cd/dvd, leave it in your drive and re-boot your pc and (assuming that your dvd drive is your first boot device) it should give you an option screen, choose the top option. This will boot into a Linux desktop, but will not install anything on your pc.

When you get to this stage you can do most anything you can with windows, use the pc and see if it crashes. If it doesn't crash within the time you would expect it too on windows, then the problem is most likely windows related, if it does crash, then hardware is most likely the cause.

[Varmint]

It may be hardware rather than driver related.

I have removed the graphics card and cleaned out all the dust (there was a lot), but the problem remains. Is there any way I could increase the fan speed of the graphics card, or would that not help?

When you get to this stage you can do most anything you can with windows, use the pc and see if it crashes. If it doesn't crash within the time you would expect it too on windows, then the problem is most likely windows related, if it does crash, then hardware is most likely the cause.

I have ruled this out, because now there are discolorations and weird lines and patches even on the loading screen (the ones that come before Windows: in my case the logo of my Gigabyte motherboard and some text).

If anyone has any other suggestions please mention them.

Thanks!
Varmint

[blueball]

If there was a lot of dust then it is possible, although not certain, that your card has already been damaged due to heat. It really would be helpful if you could borrow a card from a friend to try it and see if there are any probs.