[GLLUG] [WLUG] Re:its back, Icons and tool bars changed size.

Sun Apr 19 12:49:04 EDT 2009

Or you could just stick a $1 fan in there to blow on the card's heatsink

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Hans Kokx <skipmeister123 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Gordon,
>
> I've had this problem myself.  The fan on the video card quits turning, and
> the video card overheats.  You'll get strange distortions, and perhaps
> blocks of color. (In my case, I had blocks of yellow).  Unfortunately, once
> you''ve gotten to this point, there's nothing you can do but replace the
> card.  I'm not sure what Dell's warranty is like nowadays, but perhaps it's
> under warranty, being only 18 months old?
>
> Hans
>
> On Apr 19, 2009, at 11:24 AM, gordonwebb1 at yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> Hello Jeff
>>
>> Thank you for taking the time to teach me.  I am overwhelmed with all
>> their is to learn about computers.
>>
>> If the first blue "DELL" screen has fuzzy vertical lines the system will
>> not boot up to the log in screen.  The screen just goes black.
>>
>> The worst thing I did was I forced the computer off by holding the button
>> down when it was at about 95% of its long check last December.  I am
>> confused did this hurt my operating system, the video card, or both?
>>
>> The bottom of the video card had a small fan that was NOT running.
>>
>> This Dell inspiron 530 is only about 18 months old no one has messed with
>> the hardware.
>>
>> After the problem happened again I looked at the video card (its the card
>> with a ribbon cable coming from the monitor's connector?)and the fans. Both
>> 3" black fans were running. However the bottom of the video card had a small
>> fan that was not running. The capacitors all looked new.  Cards and cables
>> appeared to be pluged in correctly.
>>
>> I was able to run the memory test with memtest.  When it reache 100% after
>> about 20 mins I hit esc to reboot.
>>
>> Should I replace the vidio card with the dead fan?
>>
>>
>> Gordon Webb
>>
>> --- On Sat, 4/18/09, Jeff Hanson <jhansonxi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From: Jeff Hanson <jhansonxi at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [WLUG] Re:its back, Icons and tool bars changed size.
>> To: "gordon webb" <gordonwebb1 at yahoo.com>
>> Cc:
>> linux-users at lugwash.org
>> Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009, 9:23 PM
>>
>> On 4/17/09, gordon webb <gordonwebb1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>>
>>> Previous post for this problem can be seen at:
>>> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1101351
>>
>> Read it.
>>
>>> What happened to my start up, and the screen's display?
>>>
>>
>> Wrong screen resolution.  If set manually it's in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
>> but usually it's automatic.
>>
>>> I am using a Ubuntu 7:10 for an operating system.
>>
>> It's obsolete when Jaunty (9.04) is released in a week.  No more
>> updates will be available!
>>
>>> The Icons on the desk top
>>> are larger then they were. When I open the yahoo screen the
>>> display and
>>
>> tool
>>>
>>> bars are larger then they were. Even by using ctrl+-
>>> leaves the text looking
>>> fuzzy.
>>
>> Screen resolution is determined by X.org (the graphics system) by
>> communicating with the video card through the driver to find out what
>> resolutions/frequencies it can handle.  It also communicates to the
>> monitor (through the video driver and video card) using the "Display
>> Data Channel" which is a communication channel that is a couple of
>> wires inside the video cable:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Data_Channel
>>
>> It compares what the monitor can handle with what the card can handle
>> and uses the best mode available.  If the driver is not communicating
>> to the video card (wrong/broken driver), or the video card can't
>> connect to the monitor DDC (bad cable for instance), or the monitor is
>> lying about its
>> capabilities (some do) then X.org can end up with a
>> poor quality display.
>>
>>>
>>> This started after loging on once in December, it was going through the
>>> long
>>> check. At about 95% I hit the escape key. Nothing seemed to change
>>> so I pushed
>>> the computers off button. On restarting the computer it
>>> came up with a box
>>> saying a graphics card was not found of un
>>> recognizable. At that time the pre
>>> login screens, wallpaper, photos and
>>> other documents look normal.
>>>
>>
>> Did it power itself off or did you hold the button down to force it
>> off?  The latter is very naughty and will mess up most operating
>> systems (Windows, OS X, Linux) depending on how the drive was
>> formatted.
>>
>>> Then I went to the terminal and typed in code:
>>>
>>> sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
>>>
>>> At that time the above code did the trick.  Things
>>
>> worked fine.
>>
>> Good job!
>>
>>>
>>> Now even after typing in the above code the screen's size is still
>>> diffrent.
>>> Also, when trying to turn the computer on boot up takes a longer time.
>>>
>>
>> Sounds like hardware fault.  Check the cable and restart the system.
>> Also check the video card.  Make sure it's all the way inserted into
>> its slot and the fan is working (if it has one).  Some video cards
>> require a separate power connection.  They will work without it but at
>> slow speed/low resolution.
>>
>>>
>>> So I went back to the post mentioned above to reread the responces.
>>> When I
>>> came to the responce by Therion "Do you see drivers LISTED in
>>> that menu
>>> though? If you do you should be able to click on them to
>>> activate one.  I
>>> activated "NVIDIA".  Some times the system still takes 2 or 3 trys to
>>> boot
>>> corectly when turning
>>
>> on the computer. The screens
>>>
>>> size is still diffrent.
>>> When trying to change the screens resolution to
>>> 1024 X 768 no resolutions
>>> higher then 640 x 480 are advalible for
>>> selection.
>>
>> Really sounds like a hardware problem if the system doesn't want to
>> boot.  Check cables and fans.  Look for bad capacitors on the
>> motherboard:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
>>
>> Test the memory with memtest.  If you hit ESC when the Grub boot menu
>> prompt is shown at boot you can select it from the boot list.  Let it
>> complete one complete pass.
>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for any sugestions on what to do or check next.
>>
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