"Shattered screen" graphics

ElPuerco · Nov 14, 2005, 08:03 PM

I come bearing gifts. And by gifts, I mean problems. Would appreciate any help you could give me on this one:

Something's wrong with my computer. It runs fine at most times, but when I start up World of Warcraft, the graphics go all shattered-screen on me. I'm running a laptop which I haven't tried to open up to check the fan, although nothing seems to be running hot, and this problem occurs on a fresh startup where no load has been placed on the card, and I don't overclock.

Here's a screenshot.

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5...actured8ob.jpg

Again, this ONLY happens when loading up World of Warcraft (or, I assume, any other fullscreen game). Anyone got ideas?

Judas · Nov 14, 2005, 10:42 PM

looks like video corruption to me.... either A: bad video card/onboard or B: bad memory. either case not good..

cause i haven't heard anyone mention anything about WoW not working on any of the ati cards/mobility products that actually support the game.

ElPuerco · Nov 14, 2005, 10:52 PM

Shoot. It has extended to graphical oddities during startup, as well.

I never really thought it was WoW, but I was hoping it was a driver/direct3d issue rather than a shot card, but I'm starting to lose hope on that one.

Sobek · Nov 15, 2005, 02:03 AM

That's definitely a damaged/faulty GPU, the checkerboard effect is a dead giveaway, the stretching and tearing textures just puts the final nail in the coffin.

While it's possible it can be solved with a little trickery, I do highly doubt it. One thing that might be worth a shot (and it has solved many a graphical anomaly issue with laptops for me in the past), is to download a program called '3dAnalyze'
http://www.tommti-systems.de/main-Da...lyzer-v236.exe

Using this, you should select the WoW exe from within the program, and tick the boxes labelled 'Force SW TnL' and, if that doesn't work, also tick 'Emulate HW TnL Caps'. This has in the past solved graphical corruption issues in WoW with laptop video chispets for many, many people.

Give that a whirl, and good luck!

ElPuerco · Nov 15, 2005, 07:48 AM

Thanks a lot for the confirmation and the suggestions. That program didn't work, so I guess I'm stuck trying to get the damn thing repaired. Ugh.

redsolar · Nov 18, 2005, 01:57 AM

What video card is it ? Can you touch it and see how hot it runs? Does it have a thermal probe, or do you have one of your own you can use to check temps ?