Dimension 8300 And New Video Problems 1757

It sounds like heat to me. The 9800 has a fan on the card itself. I'd guess (and it is a guess) that the fan has failed.

Open the case and turn on the machine and look.

Any decent 4x-8x AGP card will work fine.

Tom Hi. I have a Dimension 8300 3.0 ghz, with an ATI Radeon 9800 128 mb Video Card.

All of a sudden the other day I started experiencing what seem to be video problems. They came on suddenlyl, and I had not done any major changes .... software or hardware-wise.... to the computer at all.

When I boot, that black Windows XP screen shows all kinds of colored pixels and larger squares. When I get to the desktop, it looks fine in that regard, excpet for icons that either disappear or look all pink and faded. The little folder icons and the PLUS and MINUS signs in the Headers section of NG's in Outlook Express look pink and "funny" as well. Sometimes the mouse cursor has little black lines that move along with it. I know this sounds very weird, and it's kind of hard to describe.

I went to the Dell site to look for upgrades of the video drivers, as that's what everyone tells me to do, but the only one I could find for this machine, gave me a NOT FOUND error message when I tried to download. I think it said it was for dual monitors anyway, which I don't have.

My questions are these:

1. Do you think a video driver update would help and can I get one from the ATI site? I have read here in the past that Dell machines won't let you do that, and you have to use Dell acquired drivers.

2. Is it possible to replace a video card with another one, bought from any 3rd party on a Dell? I've also read here in the past that you can't do that either.

3. And do you think I am looking in the right direction with the 2 above? Could this be from something else?

Thanks so much in advance! I appreciate any help!

Cee