Weird display problem. Can anbody help?

[79TransAm]

I am encountering something very strange. When I am playing SH3 i have no problems when in mission. but once im back on base i hear a strange sound comming from inside my case. Its hard to describe its pretty faint but it sounds like a cable just barley touching a fan. Ive looked inside and no such thing is happening. Anyways i hear that sound then i start to get some red dots flicker on my screen and if i dont close the program or get to sea the game eventually freezes. Its more noticable when Im in the sub set up screen or the crew management screen where you do awards and all that. Any ideas on why its doing this I have similar problems with COD2 but no other games that i play. Rainbow six 3, IL 2, Pacific fighters all work without a care in the world. Now the real strange thing is i have not changed or touched my comptuer at all and these games worked just fine for 2 months. my comptuer is 3 months old
comptuer specs are
AMD 64 3200+
Geforce 7800GT
2G Ram
80G hard drive
Any help or suggestions would be great
thanks and happy hunting
Jon

[Evil Duckie]

Eh...

If it sounds like a cable is hitting a fan, that might actually mean that a cable is hitting a fan...

You may want to open the case and see if everything is in order there. Use some tie wraps to make sure all fans are clear of obstructions.

[79TransAm]

Yeah i just had the case open and no cable is touching the fan, its just really the only way i could think to describe the sound. and the sound is only present at the menus its not there during patrols. Any other ideas?

[79TransAm]

Ok this is like the best i can describe it. It sounds like a combination of a cable tie hitting the fan and the sound a TV makes when its on that you can only sometimes here. But i dont know if it has to do with this sound cuz COD2 doesnt make the noise but i have the same problem

[79TransAm]

bump

[mapuc]

Sounds like it's the graphiccard fan or the graphic card it self.

Markus

[BigBadVuk]

I hade very similar problem on my Ati 9800XT
Solution:CLEAR the fan from dust!...but be careful..If u dont have steady hand bether go to expert with your card...

[79TransAm]

Cleared the dust. Still have the same problem. I am begining to think its hopeless

[VonHelsching]

*Probably* there is something in that BdU office screen that your graphics card doesn't like. My best advice would be to change your nvidia drivers. Try upgrading drivers, and if it doesn't work try downgrading.

Also, on the hardware side, check both your M/B and graphics cards for any swollen capacitors. The capacitors are colored barrel shaped components (~8 mm) that have a cross on the top side. It should be pretty obvious if you have a problem. They are either swollen and a crack in the cross is visible, or leaking capacitor fluid. This is a quite common problem that people doesn't know about.

[BigBadVuk]

M8 when i say :Clear the dust, i mean remove the fan totaly,remove(oh my english suxx when it comes to technicals advices :/\!! )his bearings and totaly dismantel the whole mechanisam...clear all and put some oil ,very little, on shaft.Then it must rotate freely even when u just move him in the air!...Next check the paste between the cooler and the GPU itself and get a new 1 there if the old is in bad condition but first make shure to remove previous layer.Dont put to much!...then go to some benchmark and (if u didnt do something right u will know very fast...system will becom ehighly unstabile and u will have a lot of artifacts even on desktop..) run that program to test your card if it dont freeze or make some glitches and artifacts after 3-4 hrs u r then 100% free from hardvare troubles and u can turn to software issues like bad or coruppted drivers,DirectX troubles,some overclocking residental programs etc,etc...

[79TransAm]

Well i called EVGA and talked to tech support and he said it sounded like a hardware problem and that its covered under warrnty so they are going to send me a new card. Thanks for all your help guys
Jon Jones