Got a Video Card Issue ?
Graphics Card Problem Troubleshooting

Usually the most common video card issue can be resolved simply by reinstalling the graphic cards driver, or checking on the manufacturer’s website for a new more up to date version of the driver.

If this makes no difference read through the following common issues and resolutions

Computer appears to boot up ok, but you get no image or and out of range error on the screen.
Usually happens when the resolution or refresh rate the computer is using is not supported by the monitor, to rectify this power on the computer and hit the F8 key as it powers on, then you should see a small menu with a number of options, one of them is Safe Mode – choose this and then login to your computer, it will now boot up in a low resolution, right click on the desktop.

Select Properties (XP) or Personalize (Vista) – now choose settings and drag the slider down to lower the resolution – choose something low like 800x600, reboot your computer logging back in as normal – once you have logged in you will be able to increase the resolution settings, common resolutions are 1024x768, 1280x1024 or widescreen formats such as 1440x900.

If your computer is suffering from slow or jumpy video, its worth checking to make sure the problem is actually due to the video card, or even your computer.

By this I mean does your video card issue occur only with online videos? This will probably be down to your internet connection being too slow, or the website on which the video is located is too slow or overloaded, the easiest way to test is to try another video from another website, also try one in a lower resolution as high resolution videos can make very large files. If you find it to still be slow download the video locally and test.

If the problem occurs with videos running from your pc locally then the issue could simply be the graphics card is not powerful enough to run, try running low resolution videos to confirm this as even very low powered graphics cards will be able to run this type of video, so if it cannot even do this then the issue could be the driver, especially so if you have just rebuilt your computer as Windows will install a compatible VGA driver if it does not have the correct driver within the Windows installation, this will offer very limited graphics abilities. Visit the graphic card manufacturer’s website for the correct driver which will hopefully resolve your video card issue.

Generally the key to pinpointing and resolving a pc video card issue is elimination, this applies to both software and hardware problems, and elimination just requires logical thought, for example imagine if you encounter lines on your monitor, and even after rebooting they still persist, then by plugging the monitor into another computer will determine if the problem is with the monitor or pc, then if its found to be the pc trying another graphics card will let us know if the problem is actually with the graphics card.

Don’t know what video card your computer has in it? if you would like a hand to find out the make and model of your video card checkout our article which offers a whole range of many ways to help you.

Have a new video card you would like to install? Not sure how? Usually it’s very easy to install a new graphics or video card just make sure you follow a few safety tips such as earthing yourself and you’ll be up and running before you know it

Is your laptop graphics slow or lagging? Did you know there are a number of things you can do to increase its performance such as lowering the amount of Windows colors or some of the eye candy, find out more here..

Laptop video card cards – Laptop video card upgrades may be limited but there are some possibilities, find out what upgrade options are there available, and what is the easiest way to improve the graphics performance of your laptop, read the good and not so good things about laptop graphics.

Are you looking for a new notebook computer? Wait hang on a minute.. Did you know many laptops or notebooks come with slow and underpowered graphics cards, find out what makes a good notebook graphics card, find out the difference between shared and dedicated memory types.

Do videos lag or stutter on your computer? Find out what causes these problems and more importantly how to fix the most common of these problems,

Headaches and computer monitors – If you have to use a computer for long periods of time make sure its setup correctly it’s totally free and only takes a few minutes, did you know poorly setup computer screens are a big cause of headaches and eye strain.

Would you like to use two monitors on your computer? Regardless of whether you have a laptop or desktop computer did you know there are ways to setup two monitors giving you twice the display space for very little money as the cost of monitors is pretty low

Connecting your computer to your TV – Connecting your pc to your TV means you can give your videos or games a whole new lease of life, once you watch videos or play games on a large LCD or Plasma TV a laptop or desktop computer screen just does not compare, find out how to do this and how easy it can be.

Checkout our first video card issue article where we look at common issues caused by hardware problems with many simple fixes for them

If you have a graphics card problem read more on video card issues such as card limitations and incompatibility with possible fixes and solutions

computer adviser video card issue article