Re: Disappearing Words and Letters

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Bitstring >, from the
wonderful person M-Sully > said
>On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 19:07:40 +0100, "Ian"
> wrote:
>
>>From what? programmes like word? items from the desktop? How much time are
>>you talking about? Your post raises many more questions....
>>
>>
>>
>>"M-Sully" > wrote in message
...
>>> Does anyone experience disappearing words and letters when using XP
>>> over time?
>>>
>>> -M
>>
>
>The words and letters seems to disappear from IE Web browser and some
>of other program's icons (i.e Eudora, Excel). Most of the disappearing
>seems to occur on buttons - it could be within a website or on
>application's button. Sometime the disappearance occur in the title
>bar. I usually had to restart the computer so that all the words and
>letters re-appears. It usually happens if I use many programs .. I
>tried to track down WHICH program and I couldn't. *sighs*

Only time I've seen this was with an old Creative Labs Riva TNT2
graphics card, which has some memory problems. Not only would words get
lost off of icons, but whole icons would get corrupted and turned into
black (or red, or whatever) boxes.

Lots of these icons/windows are cached on the video card (in video
memory), and that's where they get corrupted .. Windows and the video
drivers ask for the cached version to be spat out at the screen Ok, but
what comes out is garbage.

If you can adjust your video card clock speeds, try slowing them down.
In case it is overheating, try with the side off the case. If all else
fails, try a different video card.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

[M-Sully]

On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 23:26:54 +0100, GSV Three Minds in a Can
]> wrote:

>Bitstring >, from the
>wonderful person M-Sully > said
>>On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 19:07:40 +0100, "Ian"
> wrote:
>>
>>>From what? programmes like word? items from the desktop? How much time are
>>>you talking about? Your post raises many more questions....
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"M-Sully" > wrote in message
...
>>>> Does anyone experience disappearing words and letters when using XP
>>>> over time?
>>>>
>>>> -M
>>>
>>
>>The words and letters seems to disappear from IE Web browser and some
>>of other program's icons (i.e Eudora, Excel). Most of the disappearing
>>seems to occur on buttons - it could be within a website or on
>>application's button. Sometime the disappearance occur in the title
>>bar. I usually had to restart the computer so that all the words and
>>letters re-appears. It usually happens if I use many programs .. I
>>tried to track down WHICH program and I couldn't. *sighs*
>
>Only time I've seen this was with an old Creative Labs Riva TNT2
>graphics card, which has some memory problems. Not only would words get
>lost off of icons, but whole icons would get corrupted and turned into
>black (or red, or whatever) boxes.
>
>Lots of these icons/windows are cached on the video card (in video
>memory), and that's where they get corrupted .. Windows and the video
>drivers ask for the cached version to be spat out at the screen Ok, but
>what comes out is garbage.
>
>If you can adjust your video card clock speeds, try slowing them down.
>In case it is overheating, try with the side off the case. If all else
>fails, try a different video card.

I suspected heat as the culprit.

If heat is the issue, then why was the problem solved after
restarting?

-M

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Bitstring >, from the
wonderful person M-Sully > said
<snip>
>I suspected heat as the culprit.
>
>If heat is the issue, then why was the problem solved after
>restarting?

Two possible reasons - 1) the temperature of everything is significantly
lower when you restart, and 2) the video card memory gets flushed on a
restart, so icons/windows are going into a different area for caching ..
when that fills up you are back to using the 'bad' area (or maybe the
video processor is just trying to use more video memory than actually
exists).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

[Unknown]

If they reappear after rebooting it is an indication there is a
communications problem between your computer and display.
"M-Sully" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 19:07:40 +0100, "Ian"
> > wrote:
>
> >From what? programmes like word? items from the desktop? How much time
are
> >you talking about? Your post raises many more questions....
> >
> >
> >
> >"M-Sully" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Does anyone experience disappearing words and letters when using XP
> >> over time?
> >>
> >> -M
> >
>
> The words and letters seems to disappear from IE Web browser and some
> of other program's icons (i.e Eudora, Excel). Most of the disappearing
> seems to occur on buttons - it could be within a website or on
> application's button. Sometime the disappearance occur in the title
> bar. I usually had to restart the computer so that all the words and
> letters re-appears. It usually happens if I use many programs .. I
> tried to track down WHICH program and I couldn't. *sighs*