Hello there,
My name is Lisa and i have this issue with my graphics card, i would really appriciate if you could help me resolve it.
I am running Windows XP professional edition on a Intel Pentium 4 , 1.5Ghz , 640MB SDRAM, 40GB 7200RPM WD HDD. and i have GEFORCE 256 32MB graphics card.
A month ago i connected to the Cable Internet and ever since for some reason i began having an issue with the graphics.
one morning my computer simply crashed without any notice. i restarted the computer and once the PC started, (before the windows even began to load). i saw lines crossing my screen (like bars). on the Pentium 4 loading screen i saw the lines, on the windows starting screen i saw lines.
once it reached the scandisk and it was finished, the PC simply got stuck and won't go any further (won't start windows).
thou when i tryed to run safe mode, the PC started without any lines issue.
i gave up, went into a vacation, came back and tried to start the PC again, and walla, everything worked fine for some reason. and i didn't do anything to fix it. but after a few days the whole story came back again. now i would want to mention before that sometimes the PC , in the middle of a game or a while i am watching a video, screws up the graphics, everything goes with lines again , but not the whole screen , just the video. or while i am running a game, the PC turns off the monitor for a moment, then starts it back again only that the game gets stuck , or the PC works EXTREMELY slow (as if it stops for a monent, then comes back for a second to work again, then stops again and so on).
and when i start the PC again i get an error message from windows saying i had a major system crush and the cause to that seemed to be the drivers for my NVIDIA GEFORCE 256 card. i tried to reinstall the graphics card, also downloaded the latest driver for my card from nvidia.com website, and it seemed to fix the problem for a while, but then it all came back again..
i am working with computers for years and i know alot about them, i am working as a network administrator for a local ISP, but an issue like that i never experienced and i don't know how to handle it.
i also seem to be infected with alot of viruses , now i know what you will say , that i have to format, that's what i am going to do. only i have another issue with that, the windows XP won't let me format. it says something like (the drive is in use by another user/program, when i try to lock it so i could format it, it says failed to lock. and there is no DOS mode in windows so no matter what i do it won't let me format.
i would really appriciate any help regarding the issue with the graphics card of mine, i would add a screenshot of my screen right now but i can't in here, anyway i see blue lines all over my screen right now. thou i am sure that the problem seems to be going along with the drivers cuz my PC wouldn't start now, so i REinstalled directx 9 and reinstalled my geforce 256 drivers, and the pc started again in normal mode (not safe mode). but the lines are stilla ll over the screen and now i also have weird shadows all over the scren. i mean when i right click or open some window, it stretches sort of a shadow to the edge of the screen, dark lines and everything. i wish you could see it. but even if ill take a screenshot i don't think you'll be able to see it cuz it's my graphics card that is screwed up and you will just see a normal screenshot.
I would REALLY appriciate any help because i am ready to give up
i have no time to bring the PC to a lab , besides i have a bad experience with labs, once they erased all my important data on my HDD and i lost thousands of dollars by that.
i would also backup my important data and then format, but it won't let me format either.
please help me if you can.
Thank you for your time.
Lisa.