Screen flickers/blinks when playing MxO

[Tbone]

Most of you know of my problem, but I figured I'd have an official thread to try to solve it. I have a 20" LCD screen and a 256MB Radeon 9800XT video card.

The other month my screen began to flicker/blink sometimes when playing MxO or Oblivion. Sometimes I can play all day with no problem. Other days it starts as soon as I load the game up for the first time. Sometimes restarting helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I can wait a while and it is back to normal, sometimes not. It ONLY happens when playing the game, NEVER outside of the game. I have two monitors running. It still flickers when I disable the second monitor. Only the main monitor blinks.

I've...
updated video drivers as well as tried Omega and Ngo drivers
updated DirectX
checked connections
unplugged video card and plugged back in
checked fans
tried different VSync settings
forced the same refresh rate
ran the game on the second monitor (no flashing on that monitor)
tried different resolutions as well as full screen and windowed mode

Nothing has worked. I would say it is the monitor, but the monitor ONLY blinks when running the game. If it was the monitor, it would blink regardless of what is running. I would say it is the video card, but the second monitor seems to run fine, and doesn't even blink while the main monitor is blinking. I can't find a solution and it is a HUGE headache (literally...try playing on a blinking screen). All help appreciated, only DON'T tell me to reformat. I hate people who think that's the solution to everything.

[Lithium]

try dressing up like a woman...works for me

[Ash]

What settings have you changed / modified within the game?  
Try removing any costom "useropts" files.
Try re-installing the game.
Does it only happen in MxO or Oblivion Too?

[Tecknik]

I'm still trying to think of anything it could be...  Do you know anyone that has a spare video card lying around?  I'd say try playing both games with a different card.  The card may be defective, but only shows signs under heavy rendering, such as needed for MxO, and Oblivion.

[Tbone]

Yes, both games, so it is not the MxO settings. I do not know anyone with a video card that could probably play MxO/Oblivion. If it is the video carding screwing up, shouldn't BOTH monitors flicker, since both are connected to the same card?

[Tecknik]

You would think that, but the only real way to find out is to try another card.  Is your card a PCI, or an AGP?

[Styan]

Yeah, I'm going down the defective card road now.  

Are both of your monitors analog? or is one digital and the other analog?  (White DVI connector, Blue VGA connector)

[Avzeke (Khr0n1k)]

well since your second monitor is in a different plug maybe the plug the main monitor is bad?

[Tbone]

Digital and analog (white and blue). PCI card

[Pirus]

not sure if you have tried this im sure you have but just throwing it out there.  The refresh rate could cause the flicker and would account for the flicker being there on one monitor and not on another so have you tried to increase the refresh rate of the monitor?  Thats the only thing i know to do other than start replacing things.  Typically if it was the card it could be explained with both monitors by the fact that its over heating when its using 3d acceleration applications (usually due to dust on the card and in the fan) but it seems to work fine on the other monitor.  Wait.... I got it.. It's trucidos lol we'll just blame everything on him from now on.

[Styan]

Woohoo for more questions!!

1) Which one is acting up? The DVI or the VGA?  

2) I'm assuming the LCD is the one on the DVI port, are you going straight on to the DVI port, or are you using a little DVI-VGA converter (aka dongle)?

3) If you're not using a DVI-VGA dongle, any chance you can get one and try the CRT on the DVI port? (I'd offer to send you mine, but I gave it to my cousin like 2 weeks ago.)

4) Blame Truc!

[Tbone]

Yes, I've tried using different refresh rates.

1. DVI
2. Straight to port
3. Eh? Sounds costly
4. Ah, I'm not even gonna go there.

[Pirus]

Nah they are very inexpensive, but basically he is saying to hook the lcd up to the analog port through the dvi-vga connector(foogle), and see if it works correctly. Seeing as how, your other monitor works on the analog port, hooking your lcd through that port would fix the problem(assuming the problem is the dvi port).  Then again, if there was a problem with the dvi port, I would suspect it would flicker all the time, not just during a game.

[Avzeke (Khr0n1k)]

is your desktop res different than your game res?



Oh yeah and reformatting is the solution for tons of things, but for you i dont think it would fix it, and two if you reformat regularly(like me) you have a routine going that makes it really easy to do and would only take a couple hours to do the full thing like backing everything up and formating and installing windows.

[Tbone]

Yes, the res's are different Khronik, but I've tried all kinds of resolutions with no luck. I mostly play in windowed mode (for instance, MxO is almost 1600x1200, but played in windowed it is slightly less - Oblivion is played in 1280x1024 in windowed mode). And yeah, a faulty port would equal a stable problem.