Dropping from video card in Windows 7

[Art Todesco]

Hi All,
I have had my Windows 7 computer now for a few months. I added a video
card to replace the on board video. It is an NVIDIA GeForce 9500. I
have installed the latest drivers. I am (still) getting some extra junk
left on the screen when you close a window. I also get some junk at the
top of the Start tool bar. Sometimes a portion of a window gets stuck
on the screen. Hitting the "Show Desktop" button, cleans it up. But,
I've never had this problem before. Do I have a bad video card? Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Hi All,
I have had my Windows 7 computer now for a few months. I added a video
card to replace the on board video. It is an NVIDIA GeForce 9500. I
have installed the latest drivers. I am (still) getting some extra junk
left on the screen when you close a window. I also get some junk at the
top of the Start tool bar. Sometimes a portion of a window gets stuck
on the screen. Hitting the "Show Desktop" button, cleans it up. But,
I've never had this problem before. Do I have a bad video card? Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If it were my card, I'd return it to the store.

This is not a definitive answer, but it's my own

Meanwhile, please wait patiently for some of the more knowledgeable
posters to reply.

 

[SC Tom]

Hi All,
I have had my Windows 7 computer now for a few months. I added a video card to replace the on board video. It is an
NVIDIA GeForce 9500. I have installed the latest drivers. I am (still) getting some extra junk left on the screen
when you close a window. I also get some junk at the top of the Start tool bar. Sometimes a portion of a window gets
stuck on the screen. Hitting the "Show Desktop" button, cleans it up. But, I've never had this problem before. Do I
have a bad video card? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Did you uninstall the old video drivers before installing the Nvidia ones? If not, uninstall the current ones, reboot.
When you get the "new hardware found" message, cancel out of it. Run the updated driver file that you got from Nvidia.

Other things to consider are the power supply, and whether or not the card is fully seated. IIRC, that's a PCI-X card.
Make sure the end farthest from the connectors is snapped in all the way, and that there are no components under the end
that is preventing it from seating all the way (ran into that with my old 9800GT).
I would think your PS should be at least a 450 or 500 watt one to provide enough power for everything. Is there an
auxiliary 4-pin Molex connector on that card? If so, make sure there's a power plug from the PS plugged into it (don't
know about the 9500, but my 9800 had one).

I know it's a new-ish system, but is there any dust inside, or does the case and/or CPU fan seem to run inordinately
fast, even at idle? You may not have enough airflow to help keep the air around the components cool enough. Excessive
heat (and not a lot of it) will cause screen artifacts.

If you have another video cable, you might try that. Reseat both ends of the one you have and see if that makes a
difference. If there are two connectors on the back, try the other one and see if that makes a difference.

If all this is good, then MTL it's the card itself. Then I agree with Gene; bring it back for a replacement :-(

 

[Vic RR Garcia]

Hi All,
I have had my Windows 7 computer now for a few months. I added a video
card to replace the on board video. It is an NVIDIA GeForce 9500. I have
installed the latest drivers. I am (still) getting some extra junk left
on the screen when you close a window. I also get some junk at the top
of the Start tool bar. Sometimes a portion of a window gets stuck on the
screen. Hitting the "Show Desktop" button, cleans it up. But, I've never
had this problem before. Do I have a bad video card? Any suggestions
would be greatly appreciated.

Well, the 9500 is an obsolete (5 yrs old), cheap piece of crap, so
probably cannot handle Aero at all, better go back to your inbuilt video.

 

[Art Todesco]

Well, the 9500 is an obsolete (5 yrs old), cheap piece of crap, so
probably cannot handle Aero at all, better go back to your inbuilt video.

I guess that's why it was cheap! I know that the computer that I have
doesn't have a really big power supply, but it isn't that small either .
As I recall when I bought the card, the power supply was about the
size recommended by the video card manufacturer. I might try a
different card or go back to the on-board. Or maybe even upgrade the
power supply.

 

[Vic RR Garcia]

I guess that's why it was cheap! I know that the computer that I have
doesn't have a really big power supply, but it isn't that small either .
As I recall when I bought the card, the power supply was about the size
recommended by the video card manufacturer. I might try a different card
or go back to the on-board. Or maybe even upgrade the power supply.

Really doubt the PS is the problem, unless you have a lot of peripherals
attached, or a super-small PS, the 9500 uses little power.
The comments about PS came from an user with the 9800GT, that card is a
high power one.
Most likely is the card, cable or a bad connection.

 

[Char Jackson]

I guess that's why it was cheap! I know that the computer that I have
doesn't have a really big power supply, but it isn't that small either .

Big and small aren't exactly technical terms, so they don't do a good
job of describing the output capacity of your computer's power supply.
Look at its label to see exactly what its ratings are.

As I recall when I bought the card, the power supply was about the
size recommended by the video card manufacturer. I might try a
different card or go back to the on-board.

Was there a reason why you stopped using the mobo video in the first
place? What problem were you having? Was it similar to the problem
you're having now?

Or maybe even upgrade the power supply.

Not without an actual reason, I hope.

 

[Art Todesco]

Big and small aren't exactly technical terms, so they don't do a good
job of describing the output capacity of your computer's power supply.
Look at its label to see exactly what its ratings are.


Was there a reason why you stopped using the mobo video in the first
place? What problem were you having? Was it similar to the problem
you're having now?

I've never like the mobo video. I guess that was from the "old days"
when processors were slower and every bit of RAM was important. When I
did a lot of video editing, the on-board video always caused problems.

Not without an actual reason, I hope.

I'm a hardware engineer, so that really doesn't bother me that much.

 

[Char Jackson]

I've never like the mobo video. I guess that was from the "old days"
when processors were slower and every bit of RAM was important. When I
did a lot of video editing, the on-board video always caused problems.

Does that mean you weren't having any video-related problems but you
decided to "upgrade" anyway? (Upgrade in quotes since it sounds like
you actually did a major downgrade.)

I'm a hardware engineer, so that really doesn't bother me that much.

I don't know what that means. As a rule, do hardware engineers upgrade
random components of their computer systems without having a reason to
do so? I thought the upgrade (actually downgrade) of your video system
was a fluke, but perhaps it's standard behavior for folks in your
field.

 

[charlie]

Does that mean you weren't having any video-related problems but you
decided to "upgrade" anyway? (Upgrade in quotes since it sounds like
you actually did a major downgrade.)


I don't know what that means. As a rule, do hardware engineers upgrade
random components of their computer systems without having a reason to
do so? I thought the upgrade (actually downgrade) of your video system
was a fluke, but perhaps it's standard behavior for folks in your
field.

It was more likely due to:
Price and confusion caused by the video card mfrs numbering changes.
Some of the 5 year old cards work OK (but slowly) with win 7.
My laptop has 8600m MBD video that is 5 years old, and works, just not
as fast as I'd like. It might work better if NVidia ever fixes the
server hosting the updated drivers. 22-29k per second is a bit slow.

The games side is where the older cards tend to be really inadequate.