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

Sun Apr 19 15:06:36 EDT 2009

If it's a high-end card (like a Geforce 6800 or something), you can replace
the fan and heatsink combo for about $20-$30.  Otherwise, I'd suggest
picking up a new low-end Geforce (something like a 6200 or 7200 for $20-$25)
that doesn't need a fan.  Those little video card fans add a lot of noise to
a system and nearly always fail before the hardware is obsolete.  I started
making my video card purchases specifically to avoid fans (even on my 7950).

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 12:49 PM, Karl Schuttler
<karl.schuttler at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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.
> >>
> >> --
> >> ***  Sent from linux-users at lugwash.org  ***  http://www.lugwash.org
> >> to unsubscribe: `echo "unsubscribe" | mail
> >> linux-users-request at lugwash.org`
> >> --
> >> ***  Sent from linux-users at lugwash.org  ***  http://www.lugwash.org
> >> to unsubscribe: `echo "unsubscribe" | mail
> >> linux-users-request at lugwash.org`
> >
> > --
> > ***  Sent from linux-users at lugwash.org  ***  http://www.lugwash.org
> > to unsubscribe: `echo "unsubscribe" | mail
> linux-users-request at lugwash.org`
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> linux-user mailing list
> linux-user at egr.msu.edu
> http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/public/linux-user/attachments/20090419/47a7cc41/attachment.html 