Hi. I'm looking for counsel and input on a hardware issue I'm having. Attached are six screenshots illustrating the problem. The internals are a Radeon 9800 Pro 128 AGP & Gigabyte GA-7VRXP w/an Athlon XP 2600+ and 512 MB RAM. I'm running Windows XP2 patched to currency (Don't be fooled by the Vista theme in the last shot) and using Cat 7.2/7.3 drivers. It shows itself massively during 3D games and video, but to a variable degree in 2D (desktop and boot-up screens). I've removed and reseated the card. Removed and cleaned it. Cleaned the connectors and shot air through AGP slot. It started while I was running the Cat 7.2, which I uninstalled and reinstalled. Tried the Omega and Cat 7.3 video drivers. I sold my spare card that I would have otherwise used to diagnose the problem. One conclusion could be that the problem lies with the video card. But I've never had a piece of hardware fail on me, so then I thought 'what if it's the mainboard or the AGP slot?' Now, one might think I'd be jumping for joy or doing a slick moonwalk in my underwear and socks, screaming "I get to upgrade!!" but that poses the whole questions of replacing the faulty component. If it's the card, do I drop in another AGP device? Do I bail on AGP and upgrade everything? DO I say screw it and just buy a cutting-edge system that's brand-new (read obsolete by the time you respond)? Well, hurdle number one is figuring out what's happening in the immediate. Any thoughts, people? Thanks in advance.

It could be couple of causes, if installing older/original drivers didn't fix anything (after completely removing the previous drivers of course)it'll either be that your PSU is flaky/dying, or your GPU is dying/Overheating, i suspect the later being the more likely cause. Seeing how you already checked that your GPU fan is turning and dust free. I'm thinking that the GPU is dying on you. As far as upgrading, well firstly are you on a budget and if so how much. If not and you are able, id kiss AGP goodbye and up the lot to current standards.

I would say its the video card. I had a similar card as yours, which served its purpose for a long time. Ended up putting it in my sons computer and a few weeks ago it ended up doing the same as your screenshots show. I reinstalled it in my own comp and the same problem. Eventhough the fan was working etc etc the card was shot.Paul