PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: JPY313 on April 08, 2004, 10:22
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Hi, i was hoping for a bit of advice, i have recently installed roxio cd / dvd creator on my computer, it works great until i want to burn a dvd, then it asks me to set my screen res to 1024 x 768, however when i try and do this my computer just rolls over and dies, i ll be the first to admit that the graphics card i have is worse than shocking (some crappy 8 meg excuse) but i was wondering if this is where my problem lies? if it is my graph card, could anyone reccomend a cheap upgrade, as i have company video footage that i need to burn in a bit of a hurry, but at the same time i dont want to spend too much as i want a whole new pc soon too ??? ???
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Well, I'm by no means an expert, but if it is your problem, and you want a cheapish graphics card, here's a small selection you could look at. The last one is a PCI one, in case you don't have an AGP slot.
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/graphicscards/productView.htm?quicklinx=10MN
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/graphicscards/productView.htm?quicklinx=2LGC
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/graphicscards/productView.htm?quicklinx=30RD
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how do i know which one i need? is there anything on my existing card that will tell me weather i need agp or pci?
cheers
john
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It's more a question of where it is, John. I assume you're talking about an independant card, rather than on board graphics? If that's the case, pop the side of your case off, and have a look to see where it's seated. If it's in a small brown slot, it's AGP. If it's in one of the white slots, possibly next to your modem or sound card (?), it's PCI, but if that's the case, have a look to see if there is an empty brown slot, above the PCI slots, towards the middle of the motherboard, in which case you could probably upgrade to AGP.
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Thanks for the much appreciated advice, its next to my soundcard, and comes out if i give it a quick tug(!!?) so i take it that means that its a pci card, i noticed that on one of the links you gave that its classed as a 128mb DDR card - my mem is SD, will this cause confliction? while im on my power supply i have noticed is only 2.5, if im running the following, will i need to upgrade power too?
1 x liteon cd writer
1 x panasonic DVD writer
1 x <unknown> DVD ROM
80gb excelsor HD
and a few usb peripherals (broadband modem, mouse, mp3 etc)
???????????? ??? ??? ???
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Bit too technical for me, that! ;D
Of the ones I listed, if you only have PCI available, the last one, the GeForce 2 MX400 64MB DDR PCI, is the only option anyway. I actually have the AGP version of that one in my own PC, and it does everything I ask of it. I don't believe you will have to upgrade anything else, and I also don't think there could be a memory conflict, because the graphics card memory is separate, as far as I understand it. Hopefully someone will be able to confirm that for you soon, John.
:)
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;D
thanks for that, all im really wanting is to backup / burn dvd's, so if it works for that then i will be over the moon.
i ll try and pick a cheap one up at the weekend, and let you know how i get on, otherwise come sunday morning there may be an advert for a cheap graphics card posted!!! - (and possibly a kicked in computer >:( )
Thanks again!!
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It works out a little cheaper from here (http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/product_detail.asp?stype=5&productcode=1511-3043&group=PCIV&pgroup=VID), and it's next day delivery (but of course, the Easter Weekend will bugger that up!), but as I said in the beginning, you might want to wait for one of the proper techies to confirm that the graphics card is indeed the problem.
:)
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Just a quick question when you said the computer rolls over and dies - what exactly happens? I ask this as if it's a monitor related issue (unable to handle the resolution) then you'll get the same problem no matter what graphics card you then put in. If a 'computer lock up' then it would more likely be the graphics card thats a problem.
You also say that roxio works fine until you try and write a dvd - you have got the drive formatted as NTFS and not FAT32 have you (as FAT32 is limited to a 4Gig file size and DVD images tend to get bigger than that).
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when i reset the res i get thin coloured lines flickering horizontaly in the middle of the screen, and i have to restart in safe mode and reset the res, one of my mates is going to give me one of his old 16 meg graphics cards to see if that solves it, but other than that im up sh1t creek for ideas. as for my hd, that isnt fat32. My monitor is about 10 years old, as i saved on a monitor in favour of a more expensive base unit. :-*
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What happens when you change the Rez and leave it for about 15 seconds? Does the original picture come back?
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yeah dack, the original res comes back on after 15 secs if i leave it, do you think i need a new monitor? also, unrelated, do you think i should upgrade my power supply from 250?
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Have you tried dropping the colour quality before you change the screen res and maybe adjusting the refresh rate too may help.
What happens if you just try and burn the dvd without altering the screen res, will it let you ?
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hi sandra,
i havent tried dropping the colour yet, but will do tonight, as for refreshing, i wouldnt know how to do that to be honest, the prograqmme stipulates that the screen must be at that res before the burn dvd feature can be accessed :'(
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The refresh rate is in Display Properties/Settings/Advanced and then under Monitor.
Try dropping the colours and then see if it will allow the higher screen res and then change it back after you have burned your DVDs if successful :)
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i ll give it a go as soon as im out of work, if this works, does that mean that i have a problem with my graphics card or monitor???
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If it allows a higher screen res with a lower colour setting then I think that means that the graphics card isnt up to running the higher res and full colour mode, as far as I know the monitor should be ok with almost any card subject to the limitations of res and colours of the graphics card :)
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I'm inclined to think the monitor cannot handle the refresh rate for the resolution you are trying to put it into. If the graphics card was failing then it either wouldn't have switched resolution or would not have returned to the correct resolution.
What settings do you have in display properties, settings, advanced, monitor? Do you have the "Hide modes this monitor cannot display" selected?
Try dropping the refresh rate down to 60Hz and then setting the 1024x768 resolution - If it doesn't work then a new monitor is likely to be the best option. Second hand at computer fairs works out at about £30-£50 for a 17" CRT.
Failing that get hold of some other software for the DVD writing - Nero usually has a free 30day trial version over on www.ahead.de (http://www.ahead.de)
If you are trying to convert video then the Nerovison express is reasonable too (don't know if that has a free trial version though)
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yeah dack, the original res comes back on after 15 secs if i leave it, do you think i need a new monitor? also, unrelated, do you think i should upgrade my power supply from 250?
The more power the better is the usual case BUT if you are not having problems at present then I wouldn't worry too much. Also if you have a non-standard case then it can be a real problem getting a replacement with a higher rating.
BTW what processor are you running?
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im running a pentium 3 processor, and i will try all the suggested remedies after a small half of diet shandy on my way back from work,
thanks everyone, i will post the outcome a.s.a.p. ;)
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thanks for all the help guys, it was indeed my monitor that was the problem, i have acquired a new one now, and have no problems getting a decent rez, now all i need to do is save up some pennies for a decent graphics card and im laughing.
THANKS GUYS AND GALS
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D